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"Top Ten Myths of the Iraq War," from StrategyPage, is being widely linked, and as far as I'm concerned, it should be linked by everybody. I'll comment on Myth #1:
1-No Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Several hundred chemical weapons were found, and Saddam had all his WMD scientists and technicians ready. Just end the sanctions and add money, and the weapons would be back in production within a year. At the time of the invasion, all intelligence agencies, world-wide, believed Saddam still had a functioning WMD program. Saddam had shut them down because of the cost, but created the illusion that the program was still operating in order to fool the Iranians. The Iranians wanted revenge on Saddam because of the Iraq invasion of Iran in 1980, and the eight year war that followed.
Bush did not lie when he said there were WMD's in Iraq. This is so self-evident that Republicans feel it's too absurd to even have to say so. Even if GWB had been wrong, being wrong is not the same as lying. We feel that even the people saying that Bush lied, must know they are exaggerating. Yet just last week, Carl Bernstein repeated this nonsense:
In the case George W. Bush, the American system has obviously failed -- tragically -- about which we can talk more in a minute. But imagine the difference in our worldview today, had the institutions -- particularly of government -- done their job to ensure that a mendacious and dangerous president (as has since been proven many times over, beyond mere assertion) be restrained in a war that has killed thousands of American soldiers, brought turmoil to the lives of millions, and constrained the goodwill towards the United States in much of the world.
"Mendacious," says Bernstein. Bernstein is clearly wrong ( i.e. by his own standards, apparently, "lying" ) to say so. Bernstein can only argue that GWB was wrong when he said there were WMDs in Iraq, and being wrong is very different from lying.
And as StrategyPage states, GWB wasn't even wrong.
Next time you hear someone say GWB was lying when he said there were WMDs in Iraq, consider pointing out to them that being wrong is not the same as lying.
