archy

They lied and they admit it
According to John Cochran of ABC News, unnamed officials and advisors of the administration admit the fabled "weapons of mass destruction" were not the real reason we went to war with Iraq. The WMDs were a red herring "to gain the legal justification for war from the United Nations and to stress the danger at home to Americans. 'We were not lying,' said one official. 'But it was just a matter of emphasis.'"

So what was the real reason? Cochran explains:

[T]he Bush administration decided it must flex muscle...

The Bush administration wanted to make a statement about its determination to fight terrorism. And officials acknowledge that Saddam had all the requirements to make him, from their standpoint, the perfect target.

Other countries have such weapons, yet the United States did not go to war with them. And though Saddam oppressed and tortured his own people, other tyrants have done the same without incurring U.S. military action. Finally, Saddam had ties to terrorists — but so have several countries that the United States did not fight.

But Saddam was guilty of all these things and he met another requirement as well — a prime location, in the heart of the Middle East, between Syria and Iran, two countries the United States wanted to send a message to.

They really are as bad as we thought. The administration really is cynical, filled with hubris, and unwilling to recognize that it is bound by any rules or laws. They have waged a war—at a cost of 135 American lives and uncounted Iraqis—just show that they were willing to do it.

At the same time this admission is going out over the airwaves, the same administration is claiming that there are WMDs to find and that they will, of course find them. They will not allow UN investigators in to look for the weapons. Even without this admission, most of the world barely trusted them not to stage a “discovery.” Now, who will trust us on anything? They don’t want to call it lying. Fine let’s call it deceit, double-dealing, duplicity, deception, or dishonesty. That’s just the Ds; the other letters have plenty of even better names for it. It all amounts to manipulating and misleading the American public and the world at large.

This is news that should be on the front page of every paper in the country. This is an admission that should have people howling for the blood the entire administration. Will they? Yeah. Sure. I suppose so.