Just as President Bush gave words of warning against some of Putin's actions:
JIM LEHRER: On Chechnya and Russia, the U.S. and the rest of the western world has been raising Cain with Russia from the beginning, saying 'You are killing innocent civilians.' The Russians have said essentially 'We're fighting terrorism, and, by the way, mind your own business.' What else -- what else, if anything, could be done by the United States?
GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH: Well, we could cut off IMF (International Monetary Fund) aid and export/import loans to Russia until they heard the message loud and clear, and we should do that. It's going to be a very interesting issue to see how Russia merges, Jim. This guy, Putin, who is now the temporary president, has come to power as a result of Chechnya. He kind of rode the great wave of popularity as the Russian military looked like they were gaining strength in kind of handling the Chechnya situation in a way that's not acceptable to peaceful nations.
The Sept 10 Bush and the Sept 11 Bush are, perforce, two very different men. Your deceptively highlighted posts woefully misrepresent that fact.