President Bush took credit yesterday for "keeping America safe" from terrorists since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, arguing that his administration had prevented more bloodshed at home through aggressive policies

Thats inarguable. Why is "keeping America safe" in scare quotes?

and that such a result should outweigh any second-guessing of his methods.

That, on the other hand... well, did we really say that?

There's room for an honest and healthy debate about the decisions I made.

Sounds like the opposite of how the WaPo framed him. He isn't saying his approach shouldn't be questioned. He is just saying that it worked. It did work. It might have caused a number of extremely problematic malincentives that trouble us for years to come, and it may have swept up a bunch of innocent people, but I ain't saying that it didn't work.

President Bush took credit yesterday for "keeping America safe" from terrorists since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, arguing that his administration had prevented more bloodshed at home through aggressive policies and that such a result should outweigh any second-guessing of his methods.

The speech was the latest in a series of appearances aimed at highlighting accomplishments during Bush's tumultuous presidency.

Bush listed a series of terrorist plots allegedly foiled by U.S. officials since 2001, including some, such as a fanciful plan to topple the Sears Tower in Chicago, that counterterrorism officials have called aspirational at best.

The president focused on the defeat of the Taliban and the holding of elections in Afghanistan, making no mention of the rapidly deteriorating security situation there.

From the archive:

He said he wanted to be remembered "as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process."

Officials seem to think urgency to act absolves them from considering the longer-term implications.

He always tries, he said, to get his students to sort out not just what is legal but what is right. However, it had become increasingly hard to convince some cadets that America had to respect the rule of law and human rights, even when terrorists did not.

Overestimating the threat, when you're lining people up against the wall without due process, does have a cost, and frankly it's your soul.

Those who flourish in this environment are those who can sit through long meetings without falling asleep. The people who can peer through the darkness and see the truth are either sucked into the surreal world of modern management or shunted aside.