The 'war president' waged a war of lies

[CShine]

A cascade of embarrassing revelations and accusations are demolishing George W. Bush's slickly packaged, made-for-TV persona as a "war president" and the scourge of Islamic terrorists. Former president Jimmy Carter accused Bush and British PM Tony Blair of waging a war of "lies" against Iraq. Poland's president said he was "deceived" by Bush into sending troops to Iraq. Spain's new prime minister denounced Bush's Iraq adventure as a "fiasco" and a "war based on lies."

A group of leading American business executives ran a full-page ad in The New York Times entitled "Have you noticed what's happened to chief executives who lie?" with a picture of an executive being led away in handcuffs. The ad described the Iraq invasion as a "state-sponsored deception (that) already dwarfs the damage done by the worst corporate scandals," citing 566 American dead and a cost of $125 billion US (not to mention 20,000 Iraqi deaths). The underlying message was stark: the president and his "war cabinet" ought to face criminal charges for lying to the nation and starting an unnecessary war for domestic political reasons.

The fourth bombshell exploded when Richard Clarke, the respected former counter-terrorism chief under presidents Clinton and George Bush Sr., went public with the most damning accusations yet made against the White House. His testimony before a commission investigating the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. asserted the Bush administration damaged U.S. national security, did not do enough to prevent the 9/11 attacks, and obsessed over Iraq while largely ignoring al-Qaida's threat.

Bush, said Clarke, did "a terrible job" in fighting terrorism. Bush's obsession with Iraq left the U.S. "needlessly unprepared" to counter an al-Qaida attack. He also criticized, somewhat less strongly, the Clinton administration's anti-terrorism efforts. Clarke, a Republican, insisted there were no links between Iraq and either 9/11 or terrorism, and that Iraq had no concealed weapons, a position long maintained by this column. But the feeble, politicized 9/11 commission failed to follow up on this dramatic testimony.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2004/03/28/398787.html

[JPZenger]

1. Bush Still Refuses to Testify Before Full 9-11 Commission

The Chair and Co-Chair of the 9-11 Commission, Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, were jointly interviewed on Fox News this morning. They both said that George W. Bush has only offered to meet with them, and not the full committee. They said they are pressing Bush to meet with the full committee. They said that if Bush insists on only meeting with them, they will give each committee member an opportunity to provide a list of questions they want asked.
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The date of Bush's meeting with the Committee has not yet been set.

Remember a couple weeks ago when the White House said that Bush could only be available for one hour before the Committee because he was so busy. That was the same week that he wasted half a day on a NASCAR race.

Also, does anyone remember that Bush tried to prevent the 9-11 Commission from being established in the first place, delayed White House cooperation, and then tried to prevent an extension of its deadline.

[Bozvotros]

2. Remember when he tried to get Kissinger to be chair?

That was game set match for at least LIHOP as far as I was concerned. Clearly he takes most of the US for idiots and sheep who will trust him even when he puts a lying, conspiratorial war criminal in charge of investigating the biggest security lapse in US history.

[Manix]

3. ...excellent article!