Bush

[andyfox]

From the President's speech today:

"September the 11th also changed the way I viewed threats like Saddam Hussein."

"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."

The president is a liar.

The evidence is crystal clear that the administration saw 9/11 as an excuse to invade Iraq, not as a reason. 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.

The president's most prominent critics in congress have not said we have acted because of oil or because of Israel. The president is deliberately and misleadingly linking the far left critics of his policies with his critics in Congress.

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. 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.

What evidence is there for that criticism of the administration’s handling of Iraq harms the morale of the troops? The Democrats who voted to use force against Hussein did not vote for an occupation of Iraq. What they voted for was to user 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.

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