George Bush is the biggest threat to your security...

The following is an excerpt from the epilogue of Chain of Command by Seymour Hersh, the reporter that broke the My Lai story (which turned out to be much worse than his initial reports) during Vietnam.

As he campaigned, in the summer of 2004, George Bush repeatedly reassured audiences that his policies had made America safer. "We've turned the corner," was the refrain in his stump speech. "We're moving America forward by extending freedom and peace around the world." Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, "are now governed by strong leaders. They're on the path to free elections." America, he added, would engage its enemies around the world "so we do not hae to face them here at home." The President did not mention the missing weapons of mass destruction, the growing G.I. death toll, the civilian casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the devastation to all aspects of civil life in Iraq. He did not mention the adverse Supreme Court decisions in June of 2004 that challenged the legal basis of his postwar prison system, and told him that foreigners, as well as American citizens, were entitled to due process even in a time of war. And he did not discuss growing alienation and bitterness as Americans, already town by racial and religious differences, became increasingly politically and economically divided in the past four years.

We have a president who spent months terrorizing the nation with dire warnings about mushroom clouds emanating from Saddam Hussein's arsenal and then could say, as he did in a campaign speech in August of 2004, that it didn't matter. "We may still find weapons," Bush said. "We haven't found them yet....Let me just say this to you: knowing what I know today, we still would have gone into Iraq." We have a President who can stand aside as the dogs of war are turned loose on prisoners and then declare, as he did in June 2004, that "America stands against and will not tolerate torture. We will investigate and prosecute all acts of torture and undertake to prevent other cruel and unusual punishment in all territory under our jurisdiction" and that "freedom from torture is an inalienable human right." There are many who believe George Bush is a liar, a President who knowingly and deliberately twists facts for political gain. But lying would indicate an undestanding of what is desired, what is possible, and how best to get there. A more plausible explanation is that words have no meaning for this President beyond the immediate moment, and so he believes that his mere utterance of the phrases makes them real. It is a terrifying possibility.