Bush Channels Neoconservative Vision

In a major policy address to the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI), President George W. Bush Wednesday declared that a U.S. victory in Iraq "could begin a new stage for Middle Eastern peace." The speech was the latest in an accelerating series of appearances by Bush and other senior members of his administration to drum up public support for war in Iraq with or without the Security Council's authorization.

But the speech was notable as much for its venue as its content.
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U.S. Diplomat's Letter of Resignation

Dear Mr. Secretary:

I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy Athens, effective March 7. I do so with a heavy heart. The baggage of my upbringing included a felt obligation to give something back to my country. Service as a U.S. diplomat was a dream job. I was paid to understand foreign languages and cultures, to seek out diplomats, politicians, scholars and journalists, and to persuade them that U.S. interests and theirs fundamentally coincided. My faith in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic arsenal.

It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I would become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding human nature. But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer.
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Star Witness on Iraq Said Weapons Were Destroyed
Bombshell revelation from a defector cited by White House and press

On February 24, Newsweek broke what may be the biggest story of the Iraq crisis. In a revelation that "raises questions about whether the WMD [weapons of mass destruction] stockpiles attributed to Iraq still exist," the magazine's issue dated March 3 reported that the Iraqi weapons chief who defected from the regime in 1995 told U.N. inspectors that Iraq had destroyed its entire stockpile of chemical and biological weapons and banned missiles, as Iraq claims.
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  thanks to Cursor

Map Of The World Showing Citizens For And Against War In Iraq

More maps from the Agonist.