The Lies that Led to War

My article is online at Salon.com about the Downing Street memo "The lies that led to war": A leaked British memo, and other documents, make it clear that Bush intended all along to invade Iraq -- and lied about it to the American people. The full gravity of his offense has not yet sunk in.

"May 19, 2005 | When Newsweek's source admitted that he had misidentified the government document in which he had seen an account of Quran desecration at Guantánamo prison, Pentagon spokesman Lawrence Di Rita exploded, "People are dead because of what this son of a bitch said. How could he be credible now?"
Juan Cole

I only wish that there was something I could say, but on this specific issue, I tend to agree that Bush Lied. I don't believe that he was misled, or confused, or even that everyone else thought so. That just don't cut it. As I have said before, I believe that there were good reasons to take out saddam, why the administration never used any of them, but instead went with what I have always called "the lowest common denominator" issues is beyond me. I think it was a belief on the part of the administration that the American people were not smart enough to handle the truth, and so they went with their scare tactics. Which I think reflects the mindset if the administration more than saying anything about the American people.