`Trust me' is still the message from Bush

By Joan Vennochi, 9/9/2003

IF ONLY MORE Americans could chew gum and think like Britney Spears. In a recent CNN interview, the gum-snapping pop star said that we should "trust our president in every decision he makes" and "be faithful in what happens." Then again the country is already fairly trusting. According to a recent Washington Post poll, seven in 10 Americans believe that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had a role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, even though there is no proof of that connection.

Not surprisingly, President Bush is doing nothing to dissuade his fellow Americans of that so-far unproven notion. For over a year, Bush built up support for war with Iraq by repeatedly hinting of such a link. And the president's Sunday night speech to the American people continued the classic Bush pattern of juxtaposing Iraq and Al Qaeda in ways that establishes the perception of a pre-9/11 link.

"Nearly two years ago, following deadly attacks on our country, we began a systemic campaign against terrorism," Bush declared on prime-time television. The "systemic campaign" outlined in the speech, he said, began in Afghanistan and moved onto "raids and actions around the world."

The most sweeping and controversial US action, of course, took place in Iraq, "where the former regime sponsored terror, possessed and used weapons of mass destruction, and for 12 years defied the clear demands of the United Nations Security Council," said the president.

Clearly, the old Iraqi regime used terror and chemical weapons against its own citizenry. But, again, a direct link between Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on American soil was never established. And the United States has yet to uncover evidence of weapons of mass destruction in postwar Iraq.

This continuing lack of presidential clarity on the subject of war, terror, and Iraq is surely by design, not happenstance. It is to Bush's advantage that 69 percent of Americans think it is at least likely that Hussein was involved in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, according to the Washington Post poll.

The perception helps Bush justify the war, the continuing US presence in Iraq, and the amazing $87 billion he now seeks for military operations and reconstruction in that country.

"We have carried the fight to the enemy," he said Sunday night. "We are rolling back the terrorist threat to civilization, not on the fringes of its influence, but at the heart of its power." (Colin Powell, Bush's secretary of state, was less definitive on that issue during a weekend appearance on "Meet the Press." Asked about Iraq becoming a "breeding ground" for terrorists, Powell said, "There are terrorists who are being drawn to Baghdad. I'm not sure how large these numbers are, how significant the threat is.")

"Trust me" was the underlying message of virtually every line in the Bush speech. Follow me with the blind loyalty of a 22-year old Britney Spears. Don't ask me to account for the prewar disinformation about Iraq, terror, and weapons of mass destruction. Don't hold me responsible for the lack of a postwar plan to stabilize the country. Don't expect me to explain why the United States has yet to locate Hussein or Osama bin Laden or when it expects to do so.

British Prime Minister and Bush ally Tony Blair must respond regularly to questions about the war and its aftermath from the press and Parliament. Bush's onetime "explanation" comes packaged for primetime viewing, cynically and deliberately linked to a week flush with memories and emotions linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. It also exploits the average citizen's unwillingness to undercut American troops now stationed in Iraq.

The country is heading into a presidential election year. Eventually, Bush will have to engage in real debate over his economic and foreign policy decisions. But it's easy to understand why he would try to buy time now, with a trust-me speech.

So far, Americans are not demanding proof of an absolute link between Iraq and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Like Britney Spears, they are inclined to say: Trust, don't verify -- at least for now.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.