To whom is he speaking?

In W's 10 April address to the nation, he rather abruptly informed us that we had to stay in Iraq to fight Iran.

"Iraq is the convergence point for two of the greatest threats to America in this new century -- al Qaeda and Iran."

To whom is W addressing these remarks?

He delivered the speech not during prime-time, but at 11:24 a.m.! Who was watching? The media, certainly. The American public? We all work for a living!

... and anyway, my sense is that the American public has long since tuned out W on Iraq.

So, to whom was he speaking?

Well, I'm not sure he actually thought about this - 'thought' does not seem to be one of his strong points - but I'd bet a few $$$ that his listening audience included bin Laden & Iran's Ahmadinejad.

And how might they interpret W's words?:

"Iraq is the convergence point for two of the greatest threats to America in this new century -- al Qaeda and Iran."

"Hey, we're the biggest, meanest, coolest dudes on the block!"

A debating tip for W:

If you want to win the war of words, don't deliberately enhance your opponent's reputation among his would-be followers.

Whenever W cites the existential threat to America posed by al Qaeda & Iran, he does nothing but bolster these guys' reputation among their followers!

Stop the madness!