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From the President's speech today:

"September the 11th also changed the way I viewed threats like Saddam Hussein."
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The president is a liar.

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Wasn't it A. Fox who said that all politicians are not to be trusted? If indeed Bush lied (and I'm far from convinced of that), it really shouldn't surprise you, no? But I don't think the quote above is a lie, or even out of place, and here's why: an encounter with a grave damaging attack ought to make you, me, Bush or anyone else more sensitive to perceived potential future threats. Just as if your home once got burgled and seriously vandalized, you might then install a more advanced alarm system and an away light-timing device (and/or perhaps a Doberman or two;-)). The event would have the potential to change the way you view potential threats of burglary and vandalism. Similarly, the 9/11 attacks opened our eyes (and Bush's eyes) in a very real way to our potential vulnerabilities. If Saddam's WMD programs had been more active (as they were thought to be) instead of mothballed or in hibernation, there would naturally have been greater cause for concern regarding Iraq after 9/11.

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"One of the blessings of our free society is that we can debate these issues openly, even in a time of war. Most of the debate has been a credit to our democracy, but some have launched irresponsible charges. They say that we act because of oil, that we act in Iraq because of Israel, or because we misled the American people. Some of the most irresponsible comments about manipulating intelligence have come from politicians who saw the same intelligence we saw, and then voted to authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein. These charges are pure politics. They hurt the morale of our troops. Whatever our differences in Washington, our men and women in uniform deserve to know that once our politicians vote to send them into harm's way, our support will be with them in good days and bad, and we will settle for nothing less than complete victory."
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The evidence is crystal clear that the administration saw 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq, not as a reason.

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He wasn't saying above that it was a "reason." Perhaps it was in part an "excuse", but even if so, there were plenty of other good reasons to invade Iraq and depose its megalomaniacal murderous dictator and his unspeakably evil regime.

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The administration did all it could to link 9/11 with Iraq in the public's mind. That's how it came to pass that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 only 3% thought Saddam Hussein was directly involved and on the eve of the invasion 60% did. He is still linking Hussein with 9/11 today, witness the first quotation above.

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I don;t recall all the verbiage right after 9/11 or in what manner it was linked. However, the first quotation above is not linking Iraq to the planning or execution of the 9/11 attacks.

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The president's most prominent critics in congress have not said we have acted because of oil or because of Israel.

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I won't look up all of Dean's quotes, or Kennedy's, or a few others; but I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you--it sounds just about in character for the Deaniac or perhaps for Kennedy.

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The president is deliberately and misleadingly linking the far left critics of his policies with his critics in Congress.

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Well as above I don't have a compendium of relevant quotes handy, but I think some of the Far Left's criticisms of Bush has been more or less echoed by Dean and perhaps by Boxer, Pelosi or Kennedy.

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The politicians who have said he manipulated intelligence did not see the same intelligence the president saw. They do not and did not see his daily intelligence briefings.

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Congress had access to the same raw intelligence the CIA had. They could have requested any intelligence which they hadn't read. Isn't that part of their job, when it comes to making decisions--their job is to be informed--they could have requested any intelligence reports they wished. And did they even bother to thoroughly read that which they got?

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They did not pressure bureaucrats to find a link between 9/11 and Iraq, as the president himself did. They did not send Colin Powell to the UN with intelligence that should have had question marks, but instead had exclamation points. Intelligence was clearly manipulated to try to shape American and world public opinion.

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All intelligence reports are eventually summed up into "findings." These findings are supposed to be the best estimates--or guesstimates--based on the available information. I will grant you that the emphasis in that particular example might have been deliberately skewed. However, Iraq HAD tried previously to purchase yellowcake in years past from an African country, so even if the more recent incident was wrong (or mis-emphasized), in essence it was not all that far off anyway. Just a matter of some years' difference, and who would have believed that Saddam actually had mothballed his WMD programs, or probably more actually, put them into hibernation. However, I will grant that this particular example may indeed be a salesman-like case of "spin." Not that bad if it was, in my opinion, though I'm sure you'll disagree.

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What evidence is there for that criticism of the administration’s handling of Iraq harms the morale of the troops?

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Evidence? Just likelihood is all. The negative vibes come from the media incessantly and we almost never hear of the progresses being made. I can't see how that would HELP troop morale and I think it is a reasonable assumption that tons of criticism probably hurts morale (at least to some degree).

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The Democrats who voted to use force against Hussein did not vote for an occupation of Iraq. What they voted for was to use force to (1) defend the national security of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq.

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Which, if things in Iraq had actually been in line with intelligence guesstimates, would have meant invading Iraq and deposing Saddam and his regime.

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The most irresponsible charges been made by the administration, in particular, by the President and the Vice President.


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I disagree. I think Dean (especially), and probably Kennedy, Kerry and others have made charges more irresponsible.