I watched and listened to the press conference by Bush. Again, I am always most struck that there is no evidence of any learning by him in the course of the years. Six years into his job, and he still sounds as clueless as when he started. When he speaks on foreign policy, he sounds as sure of himself and as well-informed as somebody picked from the street at random and quizzed about organic chemistry. The best line of the press conference was when he admitted that the enemy is "making progress". But he added that just because the enemy is making progress, should not mean that Americans should worry about the war effort. In the past, he used to claim that the US is making progress, but now--he says--the enemy is making progress. (Well, let us hear it in Bush's own words: "I also said in my remarks, just because the enemy has been able to make some progress doesn't mean we should leave." This is like saying, just because the earth is flat, it does not mean that it is round). The enemy is clearly identified as: Saddam's followers and Al-Qa`idah. Does supporters of the war not accept that there are some Iraqis, most Iraqis really, who are opposed to Saddam, Bin Laden, and to Bush's occupation? Of course, he also used his cliches about "they hate freedom", etc. How boring. Basically, Bush said this today: that he will do more of what he has been doing all along in Iraq. That can only mean that the mess will only get bigger.