'Seattle P-I': Stop Bush, Cheney From Profiting Off Iraq War

By: E&P Staff President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney should pledge not to accept any profits from the war in Iraq when they leave office, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said in an editorial Sunday.

"In doing so, they would set a new, higher standard of White House ethics that might foster more rational public discourse on issues of war and peace," the editorial said.

The P-I piece took its inspiration from Michael Masley, the perpetually e-mailing anti-war activist who calls himself the "U.S. Artist General." Masley has campaigned to force Bush to promise not to profit from military actions he authorized.

"But this left-wing, left-coast idea actually reaches into the heartland and history of the country," the P-I wrote. "Americans have always had a healthy skepticism about unholy influence by money and power on military and foreign policy decisions. Indeed, great presidents have voiced the same concerns when they have warned about foreign entanglements (Washington), war profiteers (FDR) or the sway of the military-industrial complex (Eisenhower)."

From the start, the P-I opposed what it called "the misguided Iraq war," but at the same time it said "we never much liked the 'blood-for-oil' rhetoric" of many of the war's critics.

"The administration could turn down some of the heat with a lifetime, no-war-profit promise," the newspaper said. "Bush's most ardent detractors (who actually might think the administration was deluded not just by neocon fantasies about promoting democracy but also by a desire to pump up profits of companies with which they have been connected) might find the chances laughably unrealistic. Perhaps, perhaps not."

Presidential candidates, too, should take the pledge, the paper said.

"Forswearing profits from war is very little to ask of someone who would be president," it wrote. "More important, anything that can ease the painful levels of distrust among people for this or future administrations is worth consideration."