Dan Abrams
The dishonest arguments against war with Iraq
newsandopinion.com | Democratic Representative and now presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich suggesting that oil is the driving force behind the war. Others have suggested, it's Israel. Still, others saying it's payback for Saddam's assassination attempt on the president's father.
WELL ANYONE MAKING these allegations better be willing to defend exactly what they're saying. They're saying this administration is at the least morally corrupt, lying to the American public and the world about their motives and willing to have Americans die for that lie, and at worst, that they're actually abhorrent criminals. That's absurd. Look, this war is not an easy call.
Attacking Iraq without more international support may be the wrong decision, may be a dangerous one, but a questionable decision does not make it corrupt. To believe these accusations about oil or payback is to suggest that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction have no real bearing on the decision to invade. And I think to deny that a dangerous despot has those weapons is to deny reality.
The fact that Saddam has not accounted for hundreds of known weapons of mass destruction is a serious issue, not a straw man, not created by novelists in this administration. It's real and it's dangerous. And yet, I was one of the first to criticize the administration for trying to link Iraq to al Qaeda. I still believe they undermine their credibility by harping on that supposed connection, with almost no evidence to back it up.
It's an argument that does not justify a war. But also, doesn't justify calling the president a criminal. As they say in the world of rap music, "let's keep it real." This is too important for serious people to be making serious allegations that cannot and should not be taken seriously |
