Bush's Disconnect From Reality

Apparently, Secretary of State Colin Powell was asked by President Bush for his assessment of situation in Iraq and Powell told him: "We're losing." Bush asked him to leave. Now that he is being replaced with Condoleezza Rice, will Bush ever hear any dissenting views? Will he hear anything critical or skeptical?

According to the Financial Times:

Mr Powell's bleak assessment, less than three weeks before Iraqis are due to elect a parliament, reflects what advisers close to the administration and former officials describe as an understanding in the State Department and Pentagon of the depth of the crisis. But, they say, this is not a view accepted by President George W. Bush.

One counterinsurgency expert said Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, had a "brutally accurate" picture of the situation and the potential dangers. But a member of an influential neoconservative policy group said that such warnings "stop well short of the president". He said Mr Rumsfeld, criticised for the conduct of the war, had an interest in hiding the true picture from the president.

There have been reports that Bush doesn't read newspapers or any other media sources that might give him negative news about what is going on. Bush doesn't have people on his staff that give him bad news about what is going on — if they try, they are pushed aside. Is there any wonder that he thinks he has a "mandate"? Is there any wonder that he thinks things are going well in Iraq?

Is there any reason to trust a "leader" who so manifestly rejects membership in the reality-based community?

Read More:

• Religion in Iraq
• War and Morality