Presidents rarely address the nation except for the State of Union address, or in response to major changes in the course of the country. Since Sept. 11, President Bush’s addresses have had major themes, with galvanizing buzzwords and phrases like “axis of evil.”

On Monday, President Bush addressed the nation to educate the public about the threats Iraq presents and the status of potential U.S. involvement in the Mideast. However, rather than divulging new information, announcing new policy or even calling on the American people for support, Bush reiterated the tired arguments for “regime change” in Iraq: the stockpile of biological and chemical weapons, the likelihood Saddam is developing nuclear weapons and the threat the regime poses to the world.

Reading between the lines of the Bush speech, several things became apparent. First, the calculus for saving the Iraqi people from their leader. To rally the troops, Bush pointed to the attacks on the United States last fall and the roughly 3,000 American dead. To build his case against Iraq, he cited 20,000 people gassed to death with Saddam’s chemical weapons. For 20,000 Iraqi deaths to be used as evidence to avenge 3,000 American dead creates a dangerous equation with American lives at a premium in a situation with regional threats.

That Bush tried to build his logic on friendship with the Iraqi people was unsubstantiated. While he blamed Saddam for not feeding his own people, he spoke of how much improved Iraqi society would be outside the shackles of the current regime. A vested interest in the health and well-being of the Iraqi people has not been a priority in the Bush administration, and the President’s calls for friendship and breaking rank with their leader must ring hollow in a land of starving people.

Throughout the speech, Bush attempted to isolate Iraq in the world order, describing Iraq’s uniquely dangerous capabilities. Bush conveniently forgot to mention the other two members of the “axis of evil,” didn’t bring up Russia’s capabilities and its bloody incursions in Chechnya, the secrecy of the nuclear-capable North Koreans and failed to broach the Pakistani loose cannon of a leader, Pervez Musharraff. He did not address the precedent the U.S. would set by striking pre-emptively, saying instead that failing to take action would create a precedent of global blackmail.

Rather than a cohesive plan forward for addressing a global threat, the President used the public forum for appealing to Congress for support on a resolution granting him more power. Invoking Kennedy in the dark days of the Cuban missile crisis and hearkening to Clintonian calls for regime change, Bush coated old hat with a veneer of bipartisanship. If he is looking for the public to buy into the exigency of the Iraq question and the ensuing American sacrifice, more than recycled news and stabs at cooperation is necessary.

Editorial Board:Cavan Reagan, Amber Billings, Rachel Faber Machacha, Charlie Weaver, Zach Calef, Ayrel Clark.