But it does not fit the approved narrative, so the media has not played it up.

After all, to do so would show that the only lie in "Bush lied us into war" is coming from the mouth of those defaming the President. The folks at Washington Hotlist make the case.

[U]nfortunately, many liberals have either ignored the story or have simply refused to put a legitimate portion of thought into what it alleges.

Saddam Hussein let the world think he had weapons of mass destruction to intimidate Iran and prevent the country from attacking Iraq, according to an FBI agent who interviewed the dictator after his 2003 capture.

But wait, I thought George W. Bush made up those pesky rumors about weapons of mass destruction?  After all, he needed to even the score for his daddy, whilst securing rich oil reserves.  Right?

Typically, IÂ’d have my doubts about the political slant coming from CBS, but now that Dan Rather is gone, IÂ’ll take my chances.  According to a CBS report, Saddam Hussein told the FBI that he did not anticipate a U.S.-led invasion over the alleged presence of weapons of mass destruction.

<According to FBI agent George Piro, “For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam.  He thought that (faking having the weapons) would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq.”

But, the most telling portion of the article:

“He told me that he initially miscalculatedÂ…President BushÂ’s intentions.  He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998Â…a four-day aerial attack.  He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack,” Piro said.

So, not only did Hussein spread and then maintain his own lies about weapons possession, but also he was willing to place his people in danger pending a small-scale aerial attack.  All for the sake of power and pride.

And what of that four-day attack in 1998?  In political terms, the ineffectiveness of the preemptive strike Hussein recalled – and its very real and literal power to embolden Hussein (after all, it was the sole reason he believed the U.S. would wimp out) proves that many Democrats (cough, cough – Clinton) have no backbone when it comes to dealing with international criminals and their governments.  Had Clinton actually done his job properly, we wouldnÂ’t even be talking about this right now.  Instead, he chose to start a job he didnÂ’t intend to finish.

But wait, thereÂ’s more:

“Hussein had the ability to restart the weapons program and professed to wanting to do that, Piro said. 

“He wanted to pursue all of WMD…to reconstitute his entire WMD program.”

If you are sensible, you will take the following away from the aforementioned details: Saddam Hussein successfully tricked the American people (and portions of the international community) into believing that he had reignited his weapons program.  He did so for political purposes, although he did actually hope to one day possess weapons he would have no doubt used against his enemies (America, included).  Then, when the U.S. bought into his insanity and just so happened to have a president with enough sense to stop taking HusseinÂ’s threats for granted, America reacted.

Unfortunately for the left, this debunks many mistaken notions.  Bush did not lie or manipulate information.  He simply worked with the same evidence that John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and other leading Democrats consulted.  They, too, voted for the war (not Bill, of course) based on the same intelligence information.  And not for anything, but if they are going to allege being manipulated by a man whose intelligence they regularly degrade and belittle, then they are even more absurd than I previously thought – and consequently even more foolish then they claim Bush is.

Now lets look at that.

Saddam wanted the world to believe he had (or was working to acquire) WMDs. Saddam was willing to risk a Clinton-style bombing attack on his nation because he had become convinced that the United States lacked the will to do more, based upon the repeated weak-kneed response of Bill Clinton to his provocations during the 1990s. What's more, it was his goal and his intent to restart the WMD programs, and he was just waiting for the opportunity.

Now remember -- those are the assertions of Saddam to his interrogator -- words which exculpate George W. Bush, a man for whom Saddam had no love. They do a great deal to explain why EVERY MAJOR INTELLIGENCE AGENCY IN THE WORLD believed Saddam was seeking WMDs.

So you can make the claim that "Bush lied" -- but only if you want to willfully ignore the facts.

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Posted by: Greg at 11:01 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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