THE IRAQ FIASCO and the TRUTH-TELLERS

The following is an Editiorial from "The Capital Times"-Wisconsin

An Editorial
The Capital Times
September 21, 2003

Six months after U.S. military forces invaded Iraq, a pair of prominent American political figures cut through the spin and spoke some needed truths about that conflict:

(A) One truth teller was President Bush.

We understand that the president is not a man whose name is often associated with word "truth." But on Wednesday, Bush leveled with the American people.

With a clarity that he never displayed on the eve of a war that has cost hundreds of American lives and thousands of Iraqi lives, devastated the international reputation of the United States and cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, Bush admitted that "we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th."

This comes after almost two years of Bush promoting the notion that an appropriate response to al-Qaida's terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon required an assault on Iraq.

The Bush team created a public relations drumbeat so powerful that a recent Washington Post poll found that seven in 10 Americans still believe deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein played a role in the Sept. 11 attacks.

But now Bush was finally forced to acknowledge the truth.

The admission broke a pattern of playing fast-and-loose with the facts that characterized major public pronouncements by the president, who as recently as May 1 boasted that, with the flight of Saddam from Baghdad, "we have removed an ally of al-Qaida and cut off a source of terrorist funding."

Of course, Bush made that bogus statement in front of a sign that made the equally bogus claim that the Iraqi imbroglio had reached the "Mission Accomplished" stage.

(B) The other truth teller was Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the senior members of the Congress.

Speaking of the period before the war, Kennedy said:

"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud."

That's blunt talk, as was Kennedy's criticism of the administration for failing to articulate a coherent policy in Iraq.

Kennedy says that administration officials relied on "distortion, misrepresentation, a selection of intelligence" to justify their case for war.

The president's defenders were quick to dismiss Kennedy's critique as a partisan attack. But Kennedy's stark assessment of the administration's credibility is reflective of sentiments that are now broadly held.

Where 62 percent of Americans said in January that they trusted Bush as a leader, that figure has now dropped to 47 percent.

For the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, a Time/CNN poll found this summer that a majority of Americans had "doubts and reservations" about Bush's trustworthiness.

Bush's deceptions and distortions have begun to catch up with him.

He is getting caught out again and again by Americans whose sentiments are echoed in a sign seen at the rally where retired Gen. Wesley Clark announced that he would seek the presidency: "Bush Lied, People Died."

But it would be wrong to suggest that the president always lies. For instance, there is no reason to doubt that Bush was telling the truth when he admitted that there was "no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with September the 11th."

Indeed, if he had acknowledged that truth six month ago, when issues of life and death were at stake, more Americans might trust their president now.


Published: 10:10 AM 9/20/03

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