by Nicole Colson

About the author: Nicole Colson is a reporter for the weekly Socialist Worker newspaper.

During his "top gun" photo-op aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln in May [2003], [President George W.] Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq, saying, "In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. . . . In the images of celebrating Iraqis, we have also seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement."

Bush was right: Lies and intimidation can't make the Iraqi people love their oppressors. But the past four months [May-August 2003] have shown that the liar, intimidator and oppressor of Iraq's people is none other than Washington itself.

For Bush, the...