Thursday, June 12, 2003

President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat
Above is a link to President Bush's speech from right here in Cincinnati. The link is from the White House, so I doubt anyone will doubt the source. This quote is one that gets my goat:
Some ask how urgent this danger is to America and the world. The danger is already significant, and it only grows worse with time. If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today -- and we do -- does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him as he grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons?
The bold emphasis was added. First, I will not play semantics and say "dangerous weapons" does not necessarily mean WMD. The paragraph in the speech directly before this ends on a quote with the words "weapons of mass destruction." To me, that is what he meant. In the speech over all it is clear he was trying to communicate that Iraq possessed WMD, not that they just had a WMD program. If that is the case, then the questions are rather obvious:


  1. If the Bush Administration knew Saddam Hussein had WMD, then how did they know it, yet not know where to find them after the war?

  2. If the reader has answered #1 above with something to the effect of "they were destroyed by Saddam" or "they are still hidden" or "they were moved to Syria," then I agree those are possible, but so is the fact that they could had been destroyed before the war.

  3. If Bush knew these weapons existed, ready to be used, then why is that not a bigger priority for the administration?

  4. If those weapons existed then they could be in the hands of people trying to sell them. Was that not something the war was trying to prevent?

  5. If you assume the intelligence on WMD was either weak or faulty or selectively filtered, then why would Bush make such a speech? My answer here is where the lie/exaggeration comes into to play as a means to manipulate public and even Congressional opinion.


The jury is still out on the WMD issue, but my concern is that people are being led into believing that the ends justify the means. Winning without honor is just losing by another name. If anyone can read the whole speech and not believe Bush did not state Iraq possessed WMD, then I will eat my hat. In lieu of not wearing a hat, I will eat my least favorite dinner for a week. Will this issue continue to gain attention? I shall continue to watch, but I do not expect truth to see much light in Bush's America.

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