cnelsen, post: 17090690
He wasn't lying about the intelligence. The intelligence was phony. Bush is culpable, no doubt. But he wasn't operating in a vacuum. There was the Mossad bullshit, the Feith-Wolfowitz-et al, and members of the press, remember Thomas Cakewalk Friedman?
I agree on pre-inspection intelligence. Bush deliberately and clearly lied about intelligence on March 17, 2003.
If Bush actually had intelligence that left no doubt that Saddam Hussein was hiding the most lethal weapons ever devised from UN inspectors, he had to be lying.
(1) Ten days prior he had no such intelligence when he offered in a draft resoloution to the UNSC that Saddam Hussein could remain in power if the inspectors could finish their work within ten days. If Bush had that undoubtably intelligence he could not make that offer to call off the invasion.
(2) So we are to believe that our intelligence agencies gathered sometime between March 7 through March 17 this finding that Iraq was actually hiding WMD from the inspectors. Not at all likely.
(3) If some final moments of decision intelligence was found about actual WMD being hidden during that brief time period, doubtless intelligence would to have witnessed the actual physical location, type and quantities of WMD discovered. We know post-invasion that the invaders had absolutely no idea as to where all that hidden WMD could be found.
(4) If Bush had in fact intelligence on hidden WMD he had already obligated himself and the USA to provide that intelligence to the inspectors in order to be verified. Then when found to be false war would have been avoided. Bush lied by withholding intelligence because he also claimed that all US intelligence was being turned over to the inspectors.
There was no last minute intelligence. Bush clearly lied they day in March when he decided to invade and kill to find those hidden WMD.