HIGHTOWER: WMD Lies Spinning Out of Control
By Jim Hightower, AlterNet
February 9, 2004
alternet.org
If you've ever seen a big washing machine go into its spin cycle, you have some idea of how fast the Bushites are spinning the truth as they try to launder their story on those missing Weapons of Mass Destruction, which they insisted only a year ago that Saddam Hussein had and was prepared to fling at America.
After months of scouring Iraq to find WMDs, Bush's own chief weapons hunter has resigned, declaring that he doesn't think they existed. So – spin, spin, spin – the new line is that well, OK, Saddam didn't actually have the weapons, but he was well on his way to making them. George himself, in his state-of-the-union dance, used this new spin referring to "weapons-of-mass-destruction-related- program-activities." Never has a president used so many hyphens in a single phrase!
Dick Cheney even slouched out to insist that two flatbed trucks found in the desert were mobile biological weapons labs, giving "conclusive proof" that Saddam had an active WMD program. Alas, the chief weapons inspector shot that ludicrous idea down, too, saying that those trucks were only making hydrogen for weather balloons.
Then came spinmistress, Condi Rice, Bush's top security advisor, asserting that because of Saddam's devilish secrecy,"you're never going to be able to be positive" about whether he had WMDs. But, Condi – you, George, Cheney, Rummy, and all the rest told the world last year that you were "absolutely positive!"
Next was Bush's PR flack Scott McClellan, who went into reverse spin, claiming that Bush never said that Saddam posed an "imminent threat" but only a"growing" one. Hogwash, Scott – George even warned us of the specter of "mushroom clouds" rising over our country.
Bizarrely, in his state-of-the-union speech, George W even blurted out that, "No one can now doubt the word of America." Come one, George, we cant even figure out what your word is! Maybe all that spinning has made you dizzy.
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