The President's Inferno

It was the evening of May 1, 2003 and the president had just given his most memorable speech. Under the backdrop of a "Mission Accomplished" banner, the president declared to the American people that major combat operations in Iraq had ended.

But that evening in the midst of cheers and a 67 percent approval rating he had unwittingly entered his own inferno.

Traveling through the darkness of hubris, the president lost his way. As he sought to return to a safe place three beasts met him: Weapons of Mass Destruction, Pre-war intelligence, and History. Frightened and uncertain of his direction he ventured deeper into the darkness.

Here he encounters what he believed to be the ghost of Liberty. Liberty tells the president that he was sent by neo-cons to reassure him that he has done the right thing.

Liberty leads the president through the gates of Hell, which Liberty says was necessary if the president were to avoid the three beasts that he had encountered earlier. A haunting inscription marked the gates: "ABANDON ALL HOPE, YOU WHO ENTER HERE!"

The president asked Liberty what did the inscription mean? But Liberty again reassured the president that he had nothing to worry about for Liberty knew the way back to safety.

Liberty took the president through the first door that led to a wall. The wall surrounded the city of Baghdad. There the president saw the carnage of men, women, and children along with an exodus of Iraqis of all backgrounds stretching as far as the eye could see.

"Ah, this must be the work of Saddam. The world is indeed safer without him," the president said smugly.

"No, this is the residue of your leadership," Liberty stated. "Al Qaeda wasn't here before your preemptive invasion. And those people leaving represent the best and brightest of Iraq who have the means to leave."

The president asked quizzically: "If Iraq is losing its intellectual capital who will run the country once democracy takes hold?" "Good question," Liberty replied.

They then went through another door that took them to a place that could have been any small town in America -- everyone was dressed in black. It represented those small towns that had sustained an inordinate amount of loss during this war -- nearly three quarters of those killed in Iraq came from towns where per capita income is below the national average.

Then they entered the final door. It was a room that was empty except for a pile of ashes. The president asked: "What is this?" Liberty told him that it was documents that he didn't need so they were burned.

The president didn't think much of it, but as he passed the debris he noticed a sliver of paper that had not been burned -- it read: "We the People." The president asked: "was that the.."

"Yes," Liberty replied in a calm voice, "It was the Constitution. You didn't need it, not with your ignoring habeas corpus and justifying torture. In addition, the Geneva Conventions is also in that pile of ashes."

And then the president looked down and saw a crumpled calendar that had a date of May 1, 2007. To which he said: "How can this be? If this date is correct then I would have been down here for four years?"

"That's right," Liberty said with a sinister grin. The president then asked: "All of this happened in four years?"

"This merely scratches the surface," Liberty said.

Liberty then pointed to a small hole that was barely visible, suggesting to the president that this was the only way out. The president peered through the hole and saw an open space even darker than the room he was in.

"Are you sure this is the only way out?" the president asked. "Assuming that I can squeeze through this hole, all I see is more darkness -- there is nothing that guarantees I will make it back to safety," the president said.

Then an exasperated president cried out: "This is hopeless!"

"You should have paid more attention to the inscription on the gate before we entered," Liberty replied.