Editorial, "Bush did not lie about WMDs"

Here is a letter to the editor I sent to the North County Times. I do this fairly often, and I will post them here whenever they are printed in the paper. I usually write in response to another writer, and when that's the case, I will include his/her editorial along with mine, so you can see both sides of the issue. This editorial was not responding to one particular letter, but to the constant liberal cry, "Bush lied people died" "Bush lied about WMDs" rhetoric that I know all who read this will be familiar with.

Feel free to tell me what you think, and how I could have improved.



Bush did not lie about WMDs

The common expression, "Bush lied about WMDs" is false. President Bush only repeated the reports gathered from the world's most prestigious intelligence organizations. Everyone - the French, Germans, Russians, and Democrats included -- agreed Saddam had WMDs at the time; it was not in question. As one senator said, "I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destrucion in his (Saddam) hands is a grave threat to our security and that of our allies in the Persian Gulf region." Who said this? None other than John Kerry.

The debate was if a terrorist tyrant with WMDs was worth pre-emptive strike. We decided it was. Although we found that Saddam didn't have WMDs at the time, it was an intelligence failure, not a presidential conspiracy. To lie is to knowingly say something untrue. President Bush didn't lie. He didn't fabricate information. He relied, as any President would, on our nation's intelligence.

There are many other reasons we went to war in Iraq; Saddam was our dangerous enemy whether or not he had WMDs on hand. He had the infrastructure and programs in place to build WMDs. All he needed were the raw materials, and we could not allow this.

- Paul B. Bishop, home-schooled student [city]*





* I am not ready to disclose my city to cyberspace at this time. Sorry for being overly paranoid.