Web Site Faulted for Nuke Iraq Plan

WASHINGTON -- A national security Web site created to inform soccer moms about the global terror threat is coming under fire for publishing an essay earlier this month that counseled President Bush to drop nuclear weapons on Iraq and declare himself "president for life."

Though the essay by an Australian self-published author, Philip Atkinson, was taken down less than 24 hours after it was posted on Family Security Matters, a cached version has circulated among left-leaning Web sites such as Wonkette, Hullabaloo, and Crooked Timber.

Yesterday, the president of Family Security Matters, Carol Taber, told The New York Sun that she had initially sent the submission from Mr. Atkinson to the Webmaster without reading the essay. "The next day, someone alerted me to it. I went and looked at it and I had a heart attack. I said, 'My gosh. Thank you.' Our Web person then took it down." That was on August 4.

It's easy to understand why Ms. Taber was concerned. The essay, titled "Conquering the drawbacks of Democracy," urges President Bush to emulate Julius Caesar.

"If President Bush copied Julius Caesar by ordering his army to empty Iraq of Arabs and repopulate the country with Americans, he would achieve immediate results: popularity with his military; enrichment of America by converting an Arabian Iraq into an American Iraq (therefore turning it from a liability to an asset); and boost American prestige while terrifying American enemies," Mr. Atkinson wrote.

The author then added, Mr. Bush "could then follow Caesar's example and use his newfound popularity with the military to wield military power to become the first permanent president of America, and end the civil chaos caused by the continually squabbling Congress and the out-of-control Supreme Court."

Ms. Taber yesterday described Mr. Atkinson's plan as "completely insane." "We don't advocate anything like that," she said. "You can read the hundreds of thousands pieces we do post. It was an unfortunate error. The instant I found out exactly what it said, I went and looked at it and said, 'Oh My God.'"

Ms. Taber blamed the mistake in part to the fact that the Web site had not yet hired a new editorial director and that her organization was retooling the Web site with new Web servers. She said Family Security Matters would post an apology today to its readers.

The board of Family Security Matters, founded in 2004, includes radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, former Reagan administration pentagon official, Frank Gaffney and former director of central intelligence, James Woolsey.