To the Point

President Bush-s Credibility and Plans for War in Iraq

When did the Bush White House really begin to plan the war in Iraq? Was the invasion really necessary to the war on terror? These questions have been raised by former Treasury Secretary Paul O-Neill and by a report recently released from the Army War College. O-Neill says war planning began three months after President Bush took office. The War College report calls it a -detour- that has diverted attention from the real threats facing the country. We debate both issues with the director of the US Army War College and experts at the Council on Foreign Relations, American Enterprise Institute and Center for American Progress. Making News: The White House Responds to O-Neill-s Book Last night on the CBS program 60 Minutes, former Treasury Secretary Paul O-Neill said that planning for the war in Iraq began long before September 11. He also compared the President-s behavior in cabinet meetings as that of -a blind man in a room full of deaf people." Dana Milbank of the Washington Post says the White House, while limiting its formal response, is privately trying to cast doubt on both O'Neill and Ron Suskind, author of The Price of Loyalty. Reporter's Notebook: A Primary without Representation Five of the 9 Democratic presidential candidates have dropped out of tomorrow-s first-in-the-nation primary, because it-s only a beauty contest. The National Democratic Party demanded no delegates actually be chosen so that Iowa and New Hampshire would get all the attention. For the District of Columbia, that-s par for the course. Author-historian Gore Vidal, whose latest book is Inventing a Nation, considers the disenfranchisement of nation's capital and its primary without representation.