Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca, Catherine Whitney Page A

it. Even if the war itself was started under false pretenses, we could have achieved tremendous good will and positive results if we’d been prepared for the aftermath of the invasion. Instead, we sent a bunch of Republican Party hacks over to build a nation. In many cases, their only credentials were loyalty to the President. They didn’t have to speak the language, know anything about the Middle East, or have any experience with the nuts and bolts of nation building. You can talk all you want about the promise of democracy in Iraq, but you can’t really have a democracy if you’re afraid to leave your house. And democracy can’t be planted in a field of civil war.
     
    OSAMA BIN FORGOTTEN
     
    After 9/11, Bush was determined to catch Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. “There’s an old poster out west,” our cowboy leader said, “‘Wanted: Dead or Alive.’” Now, that ’s a mission the American people could really get behind. But Bush pulled nearly all of our troops out of Afghanistan and sent them to Iraq, without capturing bin Laden. The 9/11 mastermind is still on the loose. Well, I’ll tell you one place Osama is NOT hiding: in Iraq.
    In July 2006 the secret unit assigned to track down bin Laden was disbanded. In September Bush told a reporter that capturing bin Laden was not a priority. That boggles my mind. The guy who is responsible for 9/11 is NOT a priority. The guy who “tried to kill my daddy” IS a priority. It makes you wonder if Bush ever intended to capture Osama bin Laden after all. It adds to the evidence that we’re not really fighting the War on Terror in Iraq. We’re fighting to survive a civil war that we enabled. Call me paranoid, but I’m starting to think that whenever a Saudi is involved—even if it’s bin Laden himself—we just aren’t that motivated.
    Jay Leno joked about it, but it’s really not so funny. When there were rumors (later discredited) that bin Laden was dead, Leno quipped that officials in Saudi Arabia believed them. “The reason they think he’s dead,” Leno said, “is that the checks they send him keep coming back.”
     
    LET’S DO OUR FRIENDS A FAVOR
     
    Which brings me to my proposal. If our goal is to spread democracy throughout the Middle East, why don’t we do our friends a favor and call for a regime change in Saudi Arabia? Why don’t we bring them democracy? If it’s good enough for Iraq, it’s good enough for Saudi Arabia.
    It makes sense. In all the years that the Saudis have been tight with the Bushes, wouldn’t you think some of that love of freedom would have rubbed off on them? Why do you suppose we’ve left their brutal little theocracy alone? If democracy in the Middle East was such a big deal, why did we start with a bitter enemy, before we offered it to our very best friend?
    The Bush family’s ties to Saudi Arabia are well documented. I saw it for myself on a visit to former Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar’s mansion in Aspen, Colorado. The prince had quite a luxurious spread near America’s favorite ski slope. He took me on a tour of the property, and pointed out two bungalows. One was named for Bush senior and one was named for Bush junior.
    This may explain the fact that even though Saudi Arabia had its fingerprints all over 9/11, the Bush administration refused to demand accountability. Saudi Arabia got a pass when Bush was looking for countries that harbored terrorists. Saudi Arabia got a pass when it was discovered that millions of dollars had flowed from the Saudis to Al Qaeda. Saudi Arabia even got a pass on the fifteen Saudi hijackers. Imagine how the Bush administration would have spun it if even one of the 9/11 hijackers had been from Iraq. It takes a lot of balls to ignore the fifteen hijackers that were from Saudi Arabia.
    Thanks to the reliable Bush family consigliere James Baker, whose firm successfully represented the Saudi government in a $1 trillion lawsuit brought by the 9/11 families, Saudi Arabia