facing the truth about Iraq

I have long stood by my definition that evil is just error compounded with arrogance, an unwillingness to admit to our failures and mistakes.

Now, I have to use the word in earnest match to the news of the day.

After vowing to allow the truth to guide his hand in determining the risk at which he places our sons and daughter, brothers, sisters and fathers in the name of...well, whatever the excuse is this week to trade American blood for cajone points, President Bush has said he will not allow "fear or failure" to guide his decision to take our friends and families out of harm's way.

This makes him, in truth, a liar and a coward. And makes of him evil, in my definition.

Whether people rushed to invade a sovreign nation out of good intelligence or bad, arrogance or ignorance, the truth is that now we have a mess and thousands of our sons and daughters have paid with their blood. To not honor a principle higher than "plausible deniability", to not honor the last dwindling shreds of moral integrity, President Bush needs to keep his faith with the American people.

I admit my mistakes, that doesn't make me infallible, it just keeps me from evil.