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Not too late for Bush to atone

By PHILIP GAILEY
Published July 1, 2007

There was no fuss, no inaugural parade, no grand balls paid for by fat cats and special interests. In a seamless transfer of power, Tony Blair unceremoniously left No. 10 Downing St. last week and Gordon Brown moved in. The British have a new prime minister, but Americans will have to wait until Jan. 20, 2009, for a new president to take office. Maybe there is something to be said for a parliamentary form of government.

Meanwhile, you have to wonder how President Bush plans to spend the time he has left in the White House. He still has a disastrous war to manage, but on the domestic front his presidency is a spent force. He has squandered the moral authority he needs to lead and the political capital he needs to bargain. I would never say that a president of the United States is irrelevant given the powers of the office, but with the Senate's rejection of his immigration reform bill last week, Bush might as well spend more time at his Texas ranch clearing brush while the nation turns its attention to the presidential campaign that will decide his successor.

Bush already knows what his legacy will be - the Iraq war, the worst foreign policy calamity since the Vietnam tragedy. Nothing can change that, but there is still time for this lame-duck president to do some things that could mitigate history's judgment of his presidency.

He should start by recognizing that the war in Iraq is lost and heed the advice of moderate Republicans such as Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana to begin planning a strategic and orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces. In a speech last week, Lugar, a widely respected member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the "surge" of 30, 000 additional troops is not working and that the president's course in Iraq "has lost contact with our national security interests in the Middle East and beyond."

Lugar said the political fragmentation in Iraq, the sectarian violence and the growing stress on the U.S. military "make it almost impossible for the United States to engineer a stable, multisectarian government in Iraq in a reasonable time." He urged the president to begin drawing down U.S. forces in Iraq and redeploying them to "more sustainable positions" in the region.

Unless he is delusional, the president must know Lugar is right and that moderate Republicans appear ready to force a change of course this fall, when Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, reports back to Congress with his assessment of the surge. Lugar and other Republicans already know it's not working, and they are giving the president an opportunity to get ahead of Congress and save some face.

Meanwhile, Bush should close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terrorism suspects. It is a stain on his presidency and the symbol of a superpower that has lost its way in an increasingly dangerous world. By all accounts, both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates have urged the president to empty Guantanamo and transfer its detainees to prisons in the United States.

It's not as simple as it sounds. It would have to be carefully planned, with a recognition that some of the detainees at Guantanamo pose a real threat to American security at home and abroad. The White House should work with Congress to create a legal basis for detaining, interrogating and prosecuting terrorist suspects. It would mean giving detainees due process, including the right to have a lawyer and to call witnesses. It also would further burden our federal courts, but it is the right thing to do. Most suspects could be tried in our criminal justice system; the more dangerous ones, such as top al-Qaida leaders, could be handled under different rules. The administration also should respect the Geneva Conventions wherever it is holding terrorist suspects.

Bush reportedly already has decided to close Guantanamo as soon as a plan can be worked out. Does that mean Dick Cheney, who is used to having the last word with the president on any issue, including torture and illegal wiretapping, will go to his bunker and pout? The vice president opposes shutting down Guantanamo, just as he opposes changing course in Iraq.

Which brings me to another thing Bush could do to make amends for the damage his policies have done at home and abroad - arrange for Cheney to resign for health reasons, not so much for his own health as for the country's. Most Americans are sick of him.

[Last modified July 1, 2007, 02:08:18]