The hardest thing in the world is to get above physical force when you are yourself confronted with it. It is very true that violence is the last resort of the desperate and the stupid. Bush's dramatic assertions as to what Iraq has done/will do constituting a threat of physical violence and essentially particpating in the system of idea and logistics that led to the 9-11 murders is imopressive as hell until one asks for the facts. The intel picture is a mosaic of partial indications and interpretative assessments and that is understandable. But there is nothing partial or interpretative about the tens of thousands of American men and women currently standing by or en route to the Middle East prepared to follow the planes in.

I, too, deplore the quick enthusiasm for military force that Bush has demonstrated. I think it is pathetic. However, I also concede he is in a difficult position and has no idea how to get out of the situation he is in except by blasting, and somehow that overrides the costs in human misery he is signing up for. If I were in his shoes Iw ould also weant to be very sure that the potential catastrophe of Iraqi-supported terrorism never happened on my watch; I can understand his nervousness on the point.

But I believe if he had learned a little more about promoting humanism and a little less about pulling strings and working connections, he would be in a better position to deal with it.

A