Competing in prime time with a docudrama celebrating his heroics after the attacks of September 11, 2001, George W. Bush delivered a Sunday-night speech to his fellow Americans on the situation in Iraq. In the Showtime docudrama, DC 9/11, conservative scriptwriter Lionel Chetwynd has the President saying things like, "If some tinhorn terrorist wants me, tell him to come and get me. I'll be at home." In the September 7 address, White House speechwriters have Bush saying things like, "We are rolling back the terrorist threat to civilization, not on the fringes of its influence but at the heart of its power."

As in the docudrama, Bush's speech confused propaganda with truth, fiction with history. He omitted the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. He did say that Iraq "possessed and used" these weapons, which was true in the 1980s but not in 2003. He claimed that the United States had "enforced" the "clear demands" of the United Nations Security Council "in one of the swiftest and most humane military campaigns in history." He did not mention that the Security Council had opposed the war or that civilian deaths are estimated at between 6,000 and 10,000.

Bush presented only the latest bill for the war--$87 billion. He did not say that in constant dollars, according to USA Today, the military effort is costing as much per month ($5 billion) as the Vietnam War. Or that the government will spend more in Iraq next year than on education--just one example of the price Americans will pay for Bush's folly.

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