Posted on 06/06/2003 9:19:23 AM PDT by F_Cohen
If Bush Was Going To Lie, Why Would He Lie About WMD?
By Lowell Phillips
Weekender June 08
Toogood Reports
Call it a failing of mine, but I have this problem with things that just don't make sense. And, sorry, the bubbling hysteria over pre-Iraq War intelligence is replete with things that just don't make sense. None of the inconsistencies, however, have any impact on those who are positively breathless to believe the worst about President Bush and the rest of the administration.
Pick up a newspaper, turn on a news broadcast, or listen to the callers on talk radio and there it is. But the screaming illogic of charging the White House with intentionally falsifying intelligence to justify an invasion is being drowned out by the hypnotic chant, "No Weapons. Bush Lied", "No Weapons. Bush Lied."
Sure it's maddening, but also fascinating that so many want something so desperately to be true. The political left is giddy at the prospect. Indeed, they have not been this hopeful since body bags were returning from Vietnam en masse.
Though the speed of the victory spoiled their groovy retro-60s protests, there is yet a chance at happiness. And if the cost is merely the paralysis of our intelligence agencies, the premature end to the war on terror, perpetual vulnerability for the American people, and the destruction of the most effective foreign policy president in a generation, so be it. Then again, national security and the international stature of the United States have never been priorities for the left.
Certainly it is possible that this inarticulate Texas dunce orchestrated a wicked scheme to trick the country and the world into war, but how might this be reconciled with the woefully limited intellectual capabilities that his opponents insist he has? Maybe that's just what he "wants us to think". And what would a good conspiracy theory be without an assumption like that?
There is also the possibility that poor President Bush was an unwitting pawn for those nefarious "neo-cons" that we have heard so much about? But if this were the case, he would not be a liar, now would he?
Whatever part Bush played, evil genius or dupe, some farfetched assumptions are necessary, which clear thinkers have pointed out. And even then there are a few significant, though unanswered questions.
To believe that the Bush administration intentionally deceived the country to facilitate war, we must believe that it was working in concert with the Clinton administration, which used much of the same intelligence to justify air strikes back in 1998. We have to believe that Clinton himself was deeply involved in the stratagem, due to his persistent warnings about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. The same can be said for leading Democrats in congress that helped make "regime change" in Iraq the official policy of the U.S. government during that time.
We must believe that countries like Germany, France and Russia, whose intelligence services supported American conclusions, were likewise in on it. Not to mention the United Nations, whose point man, Hans Blix, agreed up to the eve of war that Hussein's regime was not cooperating with inspections.
We have to accept that after going to so much trouble to obstruct and drive out weapons inspectors in 1998, that Saddam then unilaterally destroyed the weapons he admitted to having, and decided to keep it a secret, depriving his government of billions in oil revenue. And we must believe that this wily "survivor" decided to convince the world of his innocence and dissuade the coalition massed on his southern border by threatening to use weapons that he supposedly destroyed.
Maybe I'm nitpicking here, but if one is trying to prove that they haven't got a gun, I don't think they would yell, "Take one more step and I'll shoot!"
It is one hell of a leap to assume so much. But then there's that chant, "No Weapons. Bush Lied", "No Weapons. Bush Lied." It makes anything easy to swallow.
Ok, let's say that it was all Bush's doing, that it really was a "war for oil", or a Bush family vendetta. Why falsify intelligence about weapons of mass destruction?
It was inevitable that people would want to see the weapons. Are we to believe that the White House set up a situation where they were certain to be exposed? After going to all the trouble to manufacture intelligence, why not supply the weapons in a location convenient for the media's cameras?
No matter how concrete the WMD evidence appeared prior to the invasion, opponents complained that going after Saddam had nothing whatsoever to do with the war on terror. They argued that this was a "distraction". Democrat competitors for Bush's job have also charged him with diverting military assets away from the war to needlessly target Saddam.
Moreover, the WMD angle obligated the administration to seek the approval of the U.N., at least initially, and provided detractors the opportunity to cultivate a "give the inspectors more time" sentiment in the American public.
If Bush wanted war, and was prepared to "lie" to get it, why not cut out the U.N. middleman, and go with the sure thing with American voters?
However pleasing it was to have the support of the British and others for the Iraq invasion, we didn't need them.
For all but the most willful doubters, the support for terrorism by the Hussein regime was clear, but the evidence provided didn't make it appear massive.
Bush could have garnered overwhelming support from the public, left no room for Democrats and the rest of the anti-war movement to cry "distraction", and alleviate the need for U.N. approval from the outset by "exaggerating," "distorting", or simply lying about the terrorist presence in Iraq.
Or perhaps the administration decided on a conspiracy, with all the dangers involved, but still was considerate enough to be sporting and give the opposition a fighting chance to stop the war they so desperately wanted. Is that it?
I have no doubt that these questions will be shrugged off by the legions of Bush-haters as easily as all the others. But should they, if even for a moment, begin to see the absurdity of their accusations, they can resort to that comforting chant and convince themselves of the presidents's fiendishness, that appeasement works, and that liberal paradise awaits.
(ahem) "Ha, Ha, YES That's right, Bahgdad Bob! Iraq has no Weapons of Mass Destruction!!"
Oh very good Mr. Blix!! Thats Right Mr Blix!! There you see?... We have NO Weapons of Mass Destruction!
"Ha, Ha, Thank you Bahgdad Bob!!".... No, Thank YOU Mr. Blix!
Ask this man. He knows the real story.
Just like the war plan was kept secret and the critics shot themselves in the foot until it completely unfolded, this search plan will be the same.
They did. The UN inspections, forced to a halt by Bush (and in 1998 by Clinton) were allowed to go about unfettered. They encountered a lockeddoor once, and the problem was immediately corrected when the superintendent of the building came over to unlock it.
is undoubtedly a troll. That said, I would have liked for him to have been allowed to stick around to defend that statement.
I give the moderators the benefit of the doubt, they've got a tough job. As I said earlier, he had the smell of a previously banned poster.
Unless you were paranoid and thought the cops might happily plant something and then "oh look what we just found right here under the sofa cushion! Book 'em, Danno!".
Saddam was clearly very paranoid. But in this case perhaps reasonably so. He knew we needed to get our troops out of Saudi Arabia, and having an excuse to park them in the western desert of Iraq for oh say the next 50 years or so fits into our political and economic needs. So he may have figured that if he did let in a whole mess of "inspectors" without any restrictions they just might find something that wasn't there to start with. I am not saying that this would have occurred, but I am saying he could logically have concluded that it would occur.
Good question. the same reason Bush and Co didn't explain there battle plan. They care more about the end result than the politics.
Releasing information prematurely complicates any investigation. the investigation of this scale is going to require chasing down good leads as well as false leads. It is going to require determining if someone is cooperating. Like any investigation the people doing it are better off if they don't have to beat the press to every potential site, if they can use the private information they currently have to verfiy statements made by others, if they can use the threat of imprisonment to get folks talking.
There are countless reasons why the investigation itself would be less effective if the press were given a full detailed report of its progress each day.
When everyone was yelling what was taking Bush so long to go to war with Iraq, Bush stayed silent about his intentions even though he had a plan. Some have forgotten but Tony Blair on the other hand virtually announced the exact date. The same thing occured here. While everyone is attacking Bush and Blair on what is going on, Tony Blair explained that it would all come out at once.
The inspectors didn't go anywhere without "minders". If Saddam was paranoid, but knew he had nothing to hide and wanted the sanctions lifted, he could have assigned 3 minders to every inspector, each with a video camera.
If he were any more paraniod than that, he would have NEVER even allowed the inspectors in the country.
What "political and diplomatic costs" are you talking about? You present that as if it were a truism, yet I don't see the WMD issue hurting Bush at all.
And as I pointed out previously, phaser didn't run afoul of the "thought police", he was obviously a previously banned poster.
I tried to find the articles here, but couldn't. Shortly before the war started, Saddam threatened to use chem or bio weapons against us.
President Bush laughed about Saddam threatening us with weapons that he "doesn't have."
I think we hail more from the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt than Wilson, thank you very much.
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