We now understand that the war in Iraq is not finished and while the monthly cost of its occupation by the American forces has been rewritten to be US$3.9 billion per month, twice as previously predicted, American soldiers continue to die.

Was President Bush wrong to attack Iraq?

I believe that President Bush was wrong in attacking Iraq since there was no evidence that Iraq posed an immediate threat to the United States. Also,

I feel that President Bush is again wrong when he re-writes history and says that the attack was worthwhile because Saddam Hussein was a tyrant. In fact, we have tyrants in the Middle East, we have tyrants in Congo, and we have tyrants all over the place and some of these tyrants are even worse than Saddam Hussein. The difference was that at least Saddam Hussein was in check as United Nations weapons inspectors were scouring the country for any weapons of mass destruction and as American and British forces were monitoring the Iraq no fly zone.

We understand that prior to Gulf War I Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons and that it was developing nuclear capabilities, but we also understand that secretary of state Donald Rumsfeld shook hands with Saddam Hussein in 1983 as the American and Iranian relationships broke off with the overthrow of the Shah's regime in Iran . We can understand how our world is complex and contradictory as our old allies become our own foes. Therefore, we cannot let the simplicity of American opinion polls decide who is right and who is wrong, and we cannot solve political problems by the simplicity of shifting the blame to a weaker party.

Last January the State of the Union address included Bush's misstatement that Iraq was attempting to purchase a significant amount of uranium from the African country of Niger. Friday, July 11, President Bush told reporters "I gave a speech to the nation that was cleared by the intelligence services."

And so President Bush shifts the blame of his misstatement to the intelligence services. A few hours later we have CIA director George Tenet admitting that his agency was wrong in allowing President Bush to tell the American people that Iraq was seeking nuclear material from Niger. George Tenet has stated

"Let me be clear about several things right up front. First, CIA approved the president's State of the Union address before it was delivered. Second, I am responsible for the approval process in my agency. And third, the president had every reason to believe that the text presented to him was sound."

Before Friday, July 11, 2003, we were given the understanding in accordance with CBS news that "CIA officials warned members of the President's National Security Council staff the intelligence was not good enough to make the flat statement Iraq tried to buy uranium from Africa."

I am confused; whom do we have to believe? Do we have to believe President Bush? Do we have to believe George Tenet? Do we have to believe CIA officials?

I don't believe anybody of the above because Bush's world is managed under the dictum that might is right. Instead, I believe the patterns of lies of the Bush administration, and as a consequence I put the blame of this single misstatement to the patterns of lies and I blame President Bush, CIA director George Tenet and the whole Bush administration.

References

Pertinent articles published in Ensign

Borger, Julian White House 'lied about Saddam threat' (PDF)July 10, 2003 The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,995187,00.html

National Security Archive Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein: The U.S. Tilts toward Iraq, 1980-1984 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/

Raum, Tom Bush: CIA Approved State of Union Speech (PDF) July 11, 2003 Associated Press, http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030711/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_76

Solomon, John Tenet Takes Blame on Iraqi Uranium Claim (PDF) July 11, 2003 Associated Press, http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&e=1&u=/ap/20030712/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq_tenet

CBS News Bush Knew Iraq Info Was False July 10, 2003 http://truthout.org/docs_03/071203A.shtml

Pitt, William R. Mr. Bush, You Are A Liar July 11, 2003 t r u t h o u t, http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/071103A.shtml

Information Clearing House Pinocchio rules:- lies that are never questioned http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3785.htm