Richard Perle, a top Iraq advisor in 2002 and 2003 – when he headed the Defense Advisory Board (Secretary Rumsfeld’s top advisory committee) – made this prediction one year ago today:

The problems in Iraq are ahead of us, but we’re doing better than people think. And a year from now, I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President Bush. There is no doubt that, with the exception of a very small number of people close to a vicious regime, the people of Iraq have been liberated and they understand that they’ve been liberated. And it is getting easier every day for Iraqis to express that sense of liberation. Thanks.

[Applause.]

AEI – Events

Rooftop Revolt – By the People

The Daily Howler

What’s the history here? Barnes’ first public statement about Bush-and-the-Guard occurred in 1999 — back in a time when the national press was avoiding this topic for all it was worth. Barnes was forced to testify in a court case about his role in this matter. George Lardner reported the story for the Washington Post:

LARDNER (9/28/99): Former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Ben Barnes said under oath today that he recommended George W. Bush for a pilot’s slot in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War at the behest of a Houston businessman close to the Bush family.

Testifying in a deposition for a lawsuit that has stirred up allegations of preferential treatment for Bush, now the governor of Texas seeking the Republican presidential nomination, Barnes said he relayed that information to a top Bush campaign official, Don Evans, more than a year ago.
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To the Editor of the New York Times:

Re “Portrait of George Bush in ’72: Unanchored in Turbulent Time” (front page, Sept. 20):

Surely the simplest way to determine whether President Bush fulfilled his duties as a pilot in the Texas Air National Guard is to ask him to produce his personal pilot’s log book.

As a former Navy fighter pilot, I am aware that all military pilots are required to keep a log book that is a detailed record of the pilot’s activities, both in the air and on the ground, while in uniform. Not only is each flight recorded by date, aircraft, mission and flight time, but also all ground drills, flight physicals, qualifications and training are entered as well.

Production of Mr. Bush’s log book would reveal how much flight time he had in the F-102 and whether he fulfilled his duties. In the interest of the American public, he should now provide full details of his Guard service.

Richard Moody
Princeton Junction, N.J.
Sept. 20, 2004

USATODAY.com – Plan isn’t a takeover, despite Bush claimsBy William M. Welch, USA TODAY

President Bush’s charge: Taking aim at one of the Democrats’ favorite issues, Bush charges that John Kerry’s plan to improve health care coverage amounts to a federal takeover of the nation’s health care system.

“A massive, complicated blueprint to have our government take over the decision-making in health care” was the way Bush described Kerry’s plan this week. It would, Bush said, “have bureaucrats become the decision-makers.”

Democrats’ response: Kerry structured his plan to extend health-insurance coverage to more Americans in a way intended to avoid just the charge Bush levels. He would make it easier for middle-income Americans to purchase private- insurance coverage and expand existing government programs providing coverage for children and the poor. …

Another view: Bush’s characterization of Kerry’s plan is a misrepresentation, said Jeffrey Lemieux, executive director of Centrists.org, a small bipartisan think tank that seeks moderate solutions to policy issues.

Kerry’s plan, he said, seeks to avoid the pitfalls of President Clinton’s failed 1994 health care plan, which was based on requirements that employers offer health insurance. Instead, Kerry would provide tax incentives for employers to offer health coverage to workers.

“They seem to have learned the lessons of the Clinton plan and not over-regulate,” Lemieux said. “It’s all voluntary.

“I really don’t see a government takeover here,” he said. “It’s still not a national health plan.”