Responsibility: A Capital Minuet

For President Bush and the press corps that covers him, the monthof July has been one long cat-and-mouse game. Five times, questionershave invited the president to take responsibility for the Iraq-uranium allegation that found its way into his State of the Unionaddress. Five times, Bush has deflected the question.

Our tale begins on July 9, when Randy Mikkelsen of Reuters askedBush if he regretted that the 16-word accusation was fueling chargesthat he misled the public. Bush responded by discussing the generalmerits of the war. "Look, there is no doubt in my mind that SaddamHussein was a threat to the world peace," he said. Asked whether hestill thought Iraqis "were trying to buy nuclear materials inAfrica," Bush answered, "One thing is for certain: He's not tryingto buy anything right now."

Two days later, NBC's David Gregory tried again. As Bush wrappedup an appearance with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, Gregoryhectored the president into taking a question by calling out abovethe Bush aides who tried to end the session: "Are you upset about it,and should somebody be held accountable, sir?"

"I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by theintelligence services," the president replied. Gregory persisted:"But, sir, how did it get into your speech if it was erroneous?"

Museveni put an end to the session.

The dogged questioning might seem a bit excessive to some. Afterall, Bush is ultimately responsible to the voters for what hisadministration does, whether he accepts responsibility or not. But ina way Bush had set himself up for such questioning.

"My job will be to usher in the responsibility era, a culture thatwill stand in stark contrast to the last few decades, which hasclearly said to America: 'If it feels good, do it, and if you've gota problem blame somebody else,' " Bush often said on the campaigntrail in 2000.

But once in office, "like most presidents, Bush blames everybodybut himself for bad news," Congressional Quarterly's Craig Crawfordwrote last week.

The day after putting responsibility on the CIA, Bush said that hehad confidence in the agency and that he considered the matter over.But reporters did not consider it over. On July 14, Bush got two morequestions on the subject.

The inevitable question came again in Bush's July 17 pressconference with Britain's Tony Blair. This time, Bush tookresponsibility four times -- though not for the words.

"I take responsibility for putting our troops into action," hebegan. "I take responsibility for making the decision, the toughdecision, to put together a coalition to remove Saddam Hussein. . . .I take responsibility for dealing with that threat. . . . And, yeah,I take responsibility for making the decisions I made."

But what about the 16 words? Five days later, in a briefing on thecontroversy, White House communications director Dan Bartlett wasasked if Bush accepted responsibility for citing the discreditedintelligence. "He is responsible for the decision of going to war,"Bartlett said. CBS's John Roberts was not satisfied. "So does he notultimately bear responsibility for these 16 words going in thespeech?"

"Well, John, as I said, the president bears responsibility for thedecisions he makes," Bartlett replied. That still didn't do it forRoberts, who said, "But on this particular issue, I mean, does he notsay, 'I'm in charge of the White House, it's ultimately myresponsibility?' "

Bartlett didn't budge. "Well, and in this case, he is acceptingthe explanation of his staff."

Roberts persevered. "Okay, so he's not going to takeresponsibility for the White House that he oversees?"

"John, he takes full responsibility for the decisions that he hasmade."

At a dead end, reporters tried deductive reasoning. If thepresident takes responsibility for the case for going to war, and thefaulty allegation was part of this case, then the president does, infact, take responsibility for the infamous 16 words? "He isresponsible for the decisions he makes," Bartlett repeated.

The White House reacted with indignation when ABC News broadcast areport from Iraq with soldiers complaining about their mission.Conservative Internet gossip Matt Drudge said that a White Houseoperative told him the ABC report's author was a gay Canadian, anapparent effort, denied by the White House, to discredit the report.Drudge said the ABC report had become "talk radio fodder" for liberalmedia bias.

But the very same day of the ABC broadcast, a similar report wentlargely unnoticed. The source: The July 15 European edition of Starsand Stripes, the military newspaper. The paper quoted Sgt. RobertPage in Germany saying it was "too late" for Bush to promise not tooverextend the military. "Right now we're only 50 percent staffedwhere I work because of all the deployments." Air Force Staff Sgt.Tom Yingling borrowed a phrase from Vice President Cheney, saying,"We are already overstretched -- big time."

"I think all foreigners should stop interfering in the internalaffairs of Iraq." -- Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz,July 21.