Afghanistan What? Bin Laden Who?

If Secretary of Genius Karl Rove and Karen Hughes are the President's "most influential confidants," that makes Hughes the defacto Under Secretary of Genius, right? Isn't that precisely why the White House called her in from Texas this week to hammer out the President's prime-time speech?

I mean, this is Karen Hughes. She wouldn't do something like allow the President to open last night's speech by discussing the war on terror and not mention Osama bin Laden or Afghanistan, would she?

From the speech:

We've also seen images of a young American facing decapitation. This vile display shows a contempt for all the rules of warfare, and all the bounds of civilized behavior. It reveals a fanaticism that was not caused by any action of ours, and would not be appeased by any concession. We suspect that the man with the knife was an al Qaeda associate named Zarqawi. He and other terrorists know that Iraq is now the central front in the war on terror. And we must understand that, as well. The return of tyranny to Iraq would be an unprecedented terrorist victory, and a cause for killers to rejoice. It would also embolden the terrorists, leading to more bombings, more beheadings, and more murders of the innocent around the world.

SHORTER BUSH: Forget everything you've heard about Afghanistan and bin Laden. That's sooooo 2001. All of us cool kids in the war on terrorism are talking about Iraq and Zarqawi now.

Interestingly enough, the site of last night's speech, the Army War College, was the source of a paper published in January declaring the war in Iraq an "unnecessary" detour in America's fight against terrorism.
Also from last night's speech, this:

Iraqi oil production has reached more than two million barrels per day, bringing revenues of nearly $6 billion so far this year, which is being used to help the people of Iraq.

The typical American, now paying about $2.00 per gallon on average for gas, must be thrilled to hear about how well Iraqi oil production is going. Any chance some of those barrels are heading this way?