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Show Wednesday, July 30, 2003 TheSalt Lake Tribune OPINION Bush administration only sees whatit wants to believe WASHINGTON — “Seeing is believHere in the United States, much of in a speech to the ing?” Don't believe it. There is a deeper the discussion centered on whether the American Enterprise human tendency revealed in reactions here and abroad to news photos of the bulletriddied bodies of Saddam Hussein’s infamous sons, Udai and Qusai We see what we want to believe. photos should have beenreleased atall. ‘That's a revealing reaction, since the photos were hardly any more repulsive than the news footage of bullet-andbomb-riddled civilian bodies that AlJazeera and other overseas news media tion found itself on the deshowed during the Iraq fensive about releasing the war. That’s the distorted photos, since it protested view of America that too so vigorously in March often prevails in much of when AlJazeera showed the world. Perhaps, if photos of dead American CLARENCE PAGE Americans see what our POWs. This time is the sitTHE CHICAGO TRIBUNE firepower does to human uationis different, Defense bodies from timetotime,it Secretary Donald Rumsfeld observed, might make us a bit more thoughtful “because these twoare particularly bad abouthow weuse it. characters.” Atleast, from the administration’s Granted. The world is a better place pointof view, the death-mask photos of without Udai and Qusai around order- the Hussein brothers helped to shift ing more rapes, maimings, tortures and murders wheneverit strikes their sick fancies. The photos will bolster the confidence ofIraqis who wantto believe the brothers are dead. Those who don’t were reported to be spreading rumors that the bodies were doubles, or that Saddam was somewhere negotiating a secret deal for his return. public attention away from persistent questions about the administration’s use of intelligence to justify the war against Saddam — even as new ques- Institute, a leading conservative Ultimately, it is the president who must be Washington think tank. He lambasted critics of the war,then revealed how selective he could be in his own analysis of the threat that Saddam posed to security. Amierica’s “How,” Cheney held responsiblefor what he says, especially in a major address to the nation leading up to war. asked, “could any re sponsible leader have ignored the Iraqi threat?” Ofcourse, our choices were not over whether to “ignore” the threat ornot, but whether there was a threat and,if so, how mightit best be confronted. For evidence, Cheney repeatedly cited an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate that warned that Hussein was seeking to develop nuclear weapons, photos ofUdai and Quasi were released, for example, Vice President Cheney But, experts quickly noticed that Cheney repeatedly omitted any references to dissenting sections of that same report. The State Department's dissent, for example, said it was “highly dubi- brokehis silence aboutthe controversy ous”that Irag had sought uranium from tions were raised. On Thursday, the samedaythefirst Africa to produce nu- was exposed, blame was passed first to clear weapons. And the aluminum tubes that Cheney and the administration touted as evidence that CIA Director George Tenet, then back to Traq was building centrifuges to enrich ura- the White House, then to Stephen Hadley, the president’s deputy national security adviser. Ultimately, it is the president who must be held responsible for what he says, especially in a major address to the nium for a bomb? The nation leading up to war.It is unseemly State Department’s BureauofIntelligence and to see others falling over themselves to Research concluded it was “far more likely” that the tubes were purchased for artillery rockets, not nukes. Was the vice president reading so assess blameortakeit. In anycase, the administration has slipped into Change-the-Subject mode, trying to deflect attention away from its reasons for entering the war by emphasizing all of the good things that have resulted from it. fast that he simply did not see those Yes, there is no doubt that Iraq is parts of the report? Or was heonly seeing what he wanted to believe? One wonders. See-nothing-but-evil has emerged as a persistent pattern of this administrationin the run-upto the war. So has pass-the-buck. better off without Saddam Hussein and Tt was scandalous enough for the administration that a British intelligence report already debunked by our CIA madeits way into the president’s State his sons in power. Humanitarian reasons are not bad reasons to go to war. Butfirst, our leaders should respect our democracy enough to be candid with us, not offer a simplistic, one-sided set of reasons that amountto distortion. As a SundaySchoolteacher advised me many years ago,a half-truth turns ofthe Union address as he madehis case thathalf into lie. I have seen it happen. I believeit. for a pre-emptive war with Iraq. It was worse when,once the Big Fib Tribune Media Services ‘Research’ studies conservatism as if it were a social disease Liberal denial aboutall things conservative has passed the bizarre andarrived at the absurd. The American Psychological Association’s Psychological Bul study,“is the resistance to change and a tolerance for inequality.” Well, yes, conservatives are resistant to change for the sake of change, believing that certain ideas aboutlife, re- to us whoare inside. They wouldliketo keep them fromgetting here in thefirst place and arrest or expel those who makeit through with plans to kill us. Most conservatives welcome an idealized past and condoned inequality in some form.” The authors com- mented in a published reply to the article that“talk show host Rush Limbaugh can be described the sameway.” letin has published a study lationships morality “outsiders” so long as they are seeking The researchers must have missed of why conservatives are are trueforall time regard- to becomeinsiders — thatis, Americans the way they are. The study less ofthe times. —and not to undermine our wayoflife. A second “key dimensionof conservatism,” says the UCB press release aboutthe study,is “an endorsementof inequality, a view reflected in the In- the nameofHitler’s political party, the National Socialists (emphasis mine). There is nothing “conservative” about his beliefs. Eliminating the unwanted is dian caste system, South African apart- world’s greatest modern tyrants are heid and the conservative, segregationist politics of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond(R-S.C.).” Get it? Conservatism equals racism, xenophobia andall sorts of other unappealing traits. In case the pointis not clear, the press release says the researchers put some familiar faces on those they consider to be conservative icons: “Hitler, Mussolini and former President Ronald Reagan were individuals, but all were right-wing conservatives because they preached a return to linked to Reagan and Limbaugh tells us and was conducted by four re- Some of the common searchers, who, according to a press release from the psychological factors linked to political conservatism, University of California at Berkeley’s (UCB) media relations office, “culled according to the study, include fear and aggression; dogmatism and intolerance through 50 years of re- of ambiguity; uncertainty searchliterature aboutthe psychology of conservatism.” (Two of the re Cat THomas SYNDICATEDCOLUMNIST avoidance; need for cognitive closure; and terror management. searchers are professors at UCB, which apparently remains im- On this last point, the researchers wrote thatpost-Sept. 11 many prisoned in ’60s dysfunctionality.) The researchers conclude that conservatives suffer from a disease or malady that makes them think the waythey do. threaten the status of cherished world views.” Conservatives would like to do “At the core of political conservatism,” says the press release about the conservatives “appear to shun and even punish outsiders and those who more than punish “outsiders” if they cometo our nation in order to do harm a liberal position, as in abortion, infan- ticide and euthanasia. That someof the muchaboutthepolitical leanings of the authors. Whatamazes about this “research” is the incredible bias against anything regarded as conservative. There is the presumption that no conservative idea is even worth consideringandthatto be conservative is to be psychologically disturbed. These guys seem to think conservatism is a dormant affliction, This is a view held by mostliberals, although they express it in different ways. Anyone whodoes notsubscribe to the liberal catechism is, by definition, flawed and sick and something to be “studied,” like Joseph Mengele “studied” Jews, Gypsies and twins for his own twisted and demented purposes. I suppose conservatives can take some solace in the study’s conclusion that while conservatives are less “integratively complex” than others, said one researcher, “it doesn’t mean that they’re simple-minded.” No, but anyone who would study conservatism as if it were a social disease is simple- minded. Who's research? funding ready to break outinto a plague at any moment. Tribune Media Services The Next Stage® \elping schoals get to there next stage. Sign upfor Wells Fargo Checking and adddirect deposit and we'll donate to local school districts. Openany Wells Fargo Consumer Checking account and add direct deposit and we'll donate $10 to local schooldistricts." Sign up for Online Bill Pay and after you makethefirst payment, we'll donate another $10. Add other products and services and we'll donate upto a total of $30 to help local schools reach their Next Stage. We'll help you get to your Next Stage, too. Afterall, banking at wellsfargo.com can really help you organize your finances. You can check balances, transfer funds or even applyfor | loan.Talk to one of our bankers and see how,together, we can help locai schools. commited wth ary nae ne Ofer expen (1/700, re rybe ‘lbp the plc ch itete We Fargo oor mw | chartable dehes tm purpose barter br eth (© 20 Wels FaoMarks. AD gts served MeetOR all this The only advantage I see from this studyis that it might result in the finding that conservatism is a disability. If that happens, maybe I'll be able to park in the handicapped spaces at the mall. 0 ac or ti rt dy Yecal Wet Fargo Bard, andcurren |
