Week after week, Bush and his people have been getting pounded by newly emboldened Democrats and liberal pundits for having exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his still-elusive weapons of mass destruction. One day, CIA Director George Tenet is hung out to dry; the next, it's the turn of Paul Wolfowitz's team of mad Straussians. On the other side of the Atlantic, the same sort of thing has been happening to Tony Blair.

            They deserve the pounding, but if we're to be fair, there's an even more deserving target, a man of impeccable liberal credentials, well-respected in the sort of confabs attended by New Labor and espousers of the Third Way. I give you Rolf Ekeus, former Swedish ambassador to the United States and, before that, the executive chairman of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq from 1991 to 1997. These days, he's chairman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a noted dovecote of the olive branch set.

            In the wake of the first Iraq war, it was UNSCOM Chief Ekeus, exuding disinterested integrity as only a Swede can, who insisted that

After all these years, it still amazes how Americans can remain so disconnected from the world events in which we play so central a role. I use the term "world events" loosely, since the US today seems to have lost even its historically tenuous connections with the reality of the rest of the world. We continue to call our baseball championships the World Series, oblivious to how quaint and naive, at best--or arrogant and self-absorbed, at worst--it has always seemed to the rest of the world. This has been the hallmark of Americans' role in the world--a curious blend of ubiquitous involvement paired with near-total ignorance.

In statements from his Congressional office and on the campaign trail, Kucinich continued today to urge a change of direction in Iraq. His advocacy of a U.S. to U.N. transition is in stark contrast to other Democratic candidates; Howard Dean, for example, supports sending additional U.S. troops to Iraq (Meet the Press, 6/22).

Kucinich said today: "This weekend, with the deaths of 5 US troops, we were once again reminded of the dangers facing US troops in what has become a quagmire. To date 243 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. It is time that the United States begins the process of withdrawing our troops, and allow a UN peacekeeping force to take over the reconstruction of Iraq.

"In their rush to war, the Administration failed to adequately prepare for the post-invasion period. Negotiations for an exit must begin now. An exit agreement with the United Nations must involve the US letting go of the contracting process.

"The UN must also take over management, accounting and distribution to the Iraqi people of Iraq's oil profits. Additionally, a transition from UN control to self- determined governing structure by and for the Iraqi

It's well past time to say it. Despite the weaseling and finger-pointing--in fact, because of it--the Forged Niger letter is indeed the smoking gun, and the chips have yet to stop falling. Who wrote the damn thing, and on whose orders? Who cares whether Tenet, his job on the line, acquiesced to including a literal truth that actually amounts to one of the great frauds of the century? The sheer audacity and cynicism of this coterie of hacks and hustlers is simply astounding. As a teacher, I won't let six-year-olds get away with such transparent sophistry. The bottom line is that Bush knew the information was bogus, and used it anyway to convince millions to go along with his phony war.

Mr. Wasserman,

Your article is a sobering account of this vile administration.  Why do they war on the poor who have no lobby in Washington.  To trash the head start program is indeed a miscarriage of justice for our very young who deserve a better environment to grow , which should be a matter of right and not subject to any alleged budgetary constraints.  To grant tax cuts to the rich and token benefits to the poor is grossly obscene and grossly negligent.

So my plea to you is to continue to report the facts about the Bush administration. I would suggest your columns keep the heat on the actions of the office of president.  I would also suggest that you publicize the workings of the Carlyle Investment Group as most of its executives are attached to the Bush family interests and most of this "private investment company." Senior Bush has profited enormously because of the large governmental projects in Iraq with companies that Carlyle companies have received fromthe US government.