01-02-2007, 02:34 PM
This hindsight argument is quite tedius.
Yes, our intelligence, British intelligence, Russian intelligence and most of the rest of the international community believed that Iraq either had already developd, or were in the process of developing WMD.
To say that Bush "lied" or "mislead" us into war is completely without any basis of argument, and it's so tiresome. The only thing close is the whole "iraq tried to buy WMD from Africa" state of the union. But that was after IRW was already passed.
Sure, the basis for the war was, in retrospect, false, but it's really tough to fault them at the time for relying on their intelligence community - what else should the President rely on if it's not the CIA, FBI, and most trusted allies?
Systematic incompetance is not an acceptable excuse, and his administration is by no means absolved of this, but let's at least get the faults correct.
Yes, our intelligence, British intelligence, Russian intelligence and most of the rest of the international community believed that Iraq either had already developd, or were in the process of developing WMD.
To say that Bush "lied" or "mislead" us into war is completely without any basis of argument, and it's so tiresome. The only thing close is the whole "iraq tried to buy WMD from Africa" state of the union. But that was after IRW was already passed.
Sure, the basis for the war was, in retrospect, false, but it's really tough to fault them at the time for relying on their intelligence community - what else should the President rely on if it's not the CIA, FBI, and most trusted allies?
Systematic incompetance is not an acceptable excuse, and his administration is by no means absolved of this, but let's at least get the faults correct.