Sunday, February 24, 2008

Everyone thought there were WMDs

President George W. Bush has repeatedly maintained that everyone thought there were WMDs in Iraq before he invaded her. But even back in 2005, I wasn't the only one connecting the dots to discover there was widespread disagreement before the invasion regarding the existence of the supposed WMDs. The arms inspectors were already coming up empty-handed in their inspections for WMDs in Iraq around the 2003 New Year.

A recent study found that Bush made 232 false statements about Iraq and former leader Saddam Hussein's possessing weapons of mass destruction, and 28 false statements about Iraq's links to al Qaeda. Conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism, the study states unequivocally that, following 9/11, President Bush and seven top officials of his administration waged a carefully orchestrated campaign of misinformation about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq.



The study was based on a searchable database compiled of primary sources, such as official government transcripts and speeches, and secondary sources -- mainly quotes from major media organizations. It found that president Bush and his top seven aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001. The study concluded, "In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003."

It was not important to Bush what the intelligence community thought or even what he thought, it was important to Bush that the American people believed Iraq had WMDs. To make them believe this without any evidence by conducting a campaign of deceit should be grounds for impeachment.

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