More Politics for Petraeus.

Given that the the Iraq War seems to have replaced fighting terrorism as our national obsession this 9-11, I figured I'd share another snippet of political "discussion" with you. Here's another quote that I felt compelled to respond to:

"For everyone who calls George W Bush a liar because no WMDs were found in Iraq - you must also call every senator and representative who voted to authorize the war a liar as well. That includes Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, both of whom said that Saddam had WMDs.

Now, to say that the invasion was a MISTAKE - due to incorrect intelligence - I can understand. But a LIE is a DELIBERATE statement you KNOW IS WRONG. Bush did not LIE. If you believe he did, then you should believe that our allies who joined the US in Iraq lied as well. Plus our esteemed leaders from both parties in the house and senate.

My 2 cents worth."

And here's my answer:

I realize that this is what you are being told to believe right now. That's the big dissimulation campaign that the GOP and pundits rolled out this week in anticipation of the criticism they knew would come in the wake of the Petraeus report. The "think tanks" like the American Enterprise Institute write this stuff, and the Bush administration disseminates it through their propaganda arm. Of course much of the supposedly "liberal" media is complicit, and parrot it unchallenged. I heard it on my local AM radio station on my way home from work. The echo chamber is eerie. I see from the post above [see this link] that they've actually resorted to using internet chain letters. That's pretty funny.

The thing is that it is at least significantly misleading, if not an outright lie. It tries to make Democrats share the responsibility for governmental actions that occurred while the Dems had NO political power.

Many of the quotes are actually from the 90's when the situation was radically different. Notice that there was suspicion back then of WMDs, but no outright statements that Hussein had them. There was a bunch of tough talk during Clinton's administration because Hussein had thrown the UN monitors out of the country, and it was thought that the expression of suspicion would compel the world (and thus Iraq) to allow the monitors back in. In fact the tactic worked, and there was no need for a military force. We found out in 2002-03 that the UN inspections were indeed working.

The quotes from post 9-11 Dems merely prove that the information Bush was passing on to Congress was effective enough to scare them out of opposing the war. They saw reports that were vetted by the White House first. That is the Commander-in-chief's privilege as head of the military and executive branch. It has been well documented that Cheney was actively pressuring the defense department and CIA to only present information consistent with a course of invasion. Michael Ledeen (neo-con and former Bush lackey) has been implicated in the Yellow Cake forgery. You can believe whatever you want, but the truth is out there.

Regardless, this is Bush's war as POTUS. He must shoulder the sole responsibility of leading us into this debacle. Even if the Democrats were too trusting of the Bush administration's doctored intelligence, I never thought there were WMDs... and there were plenty of others that doubted it too.


As you can tell, I get seriously worked up when the GOP actively attempts to shift the blame away. I find it completely remarkable that in the wake of the chaos and ruin- the Republican Noise Machine can still compel ordinary citizens (who presumably have not been paid off) to bleat out their talking points. Cue the Twilight Zone music here.