THE GREAT DEBATE THAT NEVER WAS.

Remember Dan Rather's interview of Saddam in Iraq months before Shock and Awe? Saddam suggested an American style debate with President Bush to be broadcast for all the world to see. The two leaders would have addressed the pressing issues of WMD, terrorist connections and the threat Iraq posed to its neighbors.

President Bush would not even consider the idea of such an encounter. Why? Wasn't truth on his side? Why not debate? Didn't Bush hold the high cards of morality, freedom and goodwill while Saddam was a leader in the Axis of Evil? Wouldn't that make a good witness to the world? Might peaceful solutions be the result?

Our president did not so much as recognize the debate challenge. He dismissed any idea of meeting or talking with a man who could debate Bush out of the building. But the interpreter would have had a bit of trouble with Bush's doublespeak.

What a debate that would have been! Perhaps, had there been a debate, Bush would have been deprived of the war. How bad is that? You recall that he said, "I want to beat Saddam because he tried to kill my daddy." President Bush was focused on what he wanted, not what we needed.

Churchill said, "Jaw, jaw, jaw is better than war, war, war."


IT'S ALL SO SIMPLE.