Don't need to stoop to personal attacks. That's just wrong. I believe Bush did what he did because he believed those around him. I sure as hell wouldn't want his job.
But I will say this much. The Bush administration has NEVER been able to put forward, for public consumption and scrutiny, a plain and simple, straightforward, believable and uncontestable explanation for why the war was a vital necessity
On that I fully agree. From Powell's pained face at the UN to the talking heads that have followed since the police action began, it seemed like the goalposts have repeatedly changed as well as the reasoning.
Various mid-east strategists and old hands also convinced him that something good could come out of the new power structure that a fallen Saddam would bring to mid-east politics. And of course, he wasn't able to challenge them with cogent arguments and penetrating questions, since he's not a policy wonk
Can't really blame him for not being policy wonk. I honestly do not believe there is a man alive on the face of this earth that could grasp all the crap the President is supposed to know. With the expansion of the national government over the years, no one could keep up with it. No one. So it's as you say. Various advisors with plans of their own convinced him of the wisdom of the Iraq campaign. But I don't or won't say it's because of his lack of knowledge. Truth be known talk to the average citizen in any one of the respective states. Their grasp on general history is embarrasing. Most live for the moment and are more apt to be able to tell you who won American Idol than give you a basic dissertation of the change of US foreign policy since the 1890s.
Yes, I agree, and that's the heart of the problem: president Bush is a terrible judge of people. As a result, he appoints as advisors and ends up trusting people he shouldn't. See Harriet Miers for the most striking example.