"The whole world knows that George Bush lied about the WMDs."
Fine call him a liar. However, I think these guys in powerful places have a habit of seeing things the way they want them to appear. For instance, Woodrow Wilson, who was a decent guy in some ways, was derided by his foriegn peers for seeing things only his way. In fact, some jokingly called him Jesus Christ because he believed what he believed and there was no convincing him otherwise, irregardless of facts that might have been presented to him.
I recall a headline in the NYT in the early seventies about Nixon's position on Pakistan and India, "Tilt, tilt, tilt." No matter what facts the defense and spy agencies presented him with, Nixon saw things only his way. Kissinger told his analysts that the info they were supplying was not what the president was interested in seeing.
You can call these guys liars all you want, but the reality is that "facts" can be looked at a thousand different ways and he saw WMDs. He was a believer, he wanted to believe, he saw what he wanted to see. We all do the same thing from time to time. Hey, he wanted to invade Iraq, he did. Let's live with it.
Just as an aside. The invasion, imo, strengthens the U.S. hand in diplomacy in the region. Also consider that without a U.S. presence in Iraq right now, the Iranian government might have been more inclined to use a heavier hand than they have so far to quell student protests. |
