69 million page views

The reasons and rationales

Reader comment on item: Iraq's Weapons & The Road to War

Submitted by Sheerahkahn (United States), Jun 3, 2003 at 16:17

Mr. Pipes,

The world is a funny place, with all sorts of odd ideas of what is correct and what is wrong. Sometimes, truth gets turned on it's head, and down becomes up, left becomes right, wrong becomes correct, evil becomes holy, and lies become truth. Somewhere in all this morass of moral ambiguity lays the truth, buried in the shadows of obfuscation, hyperbole, and good intentions.
If the world cannot trust the US to discern this truth out of this moral morass, how can America's own citizens trust it's government to do so?
President Bush outright lied to the American public about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction because he didn't have the back-bone, or the mental capacity to articulate in a coherent manner the rationale that the United States has plenty of justification in Saddam's unwillingness to cooperate with the UN for us to take matters in our own hands.
Aside from the fact that the Europeans just plain lack any semblance of a spine, with france being the larger of the more obnoxious amoebas, Bush just didn't have the capacity, the will, the moral fortitude...who knows what limited his ability to convey America's disappointment with the UN's willingness to let a man who started a war, flaunt his disregard to international law and the cease-fire agreement.
Bush told a bald-face lie to the American public to elicit an expected, and desired, response of support. He wrongfully assumed that the only way he could've convinced us to go to war to remove Saddam was to emphasize Saddam's, as of right now, non-existant WMD's, and by saying that he had these weapons we, the US, was in iminent danger of attack.
Bush lied to the American public because he was afraid that we, the American public, did not understand that Saddam was, and in my opinion, still is, a threat to America's interest in the region. In short, President Bush had, and still has, no respect for the intelligence of the American people. If he had respect for us, he would've told the truth rather than lie and point to the moral evolution of the war as a way to distract us from the fact that he lied about the iminent danger of these, so far, non-existent WMD's.

In short, all Bush had to say to us was, "look people, this Saddam guy has not lived up to the cease-fire agreement he signed in 1991, has actively sought to undermine the US influence in the region through diplomatic terrorism, has openly sent funds to the families of suicide bombers eliciting a quid pro quo support of future suicide bomber's in Israel, has killed thousands if not hundreds of thousands of his own citizens...ladies and gentlemen of the United States, I emplore you to embrace the call for freedom of the Iraqi people from this dictator and bring closure to this international circus that has weighed us down for the past ten years."
No mention of WMD's, no need to peddle fear so that people are deathly afraid of loud sounds at night, just simply have stated the facts as they were, and allow us to say, "Mr. President, release the dogs of war!"

There were plenty of valid reasons to go to war none of which involved the issue of WMD's. Bush chose poorly, and now he must account for his decision to lie.

Sheerahkahn
Dislike
Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

<< Previous Comment      Next Comment >>

Reader comments (48) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Why do people forget the truth? [145 words]Sonja G LarkinNov 18, 2005 19:0728603
I'm right [39 words]Paul M. NevilleJun 11, 2003 21:309519
The War's Critics Should Stop Trying to Rewrite History..... [284 words]JJun 11, 2003 18:199509
Iraq's Weapons and the Road to War [523 words]Dick SartainJun 10, 2003 23:099480
Comprehension Failure [203 words]Robert ArsenaultJun 10, 2003 13:299443
They (Purposefully?) Don't Get [121 words]TerryJun 9, 2003 13:559426
unilateral promise keeping [68 words]daniel coshnearJun 9, 2003 12:209424
looking for a reason to justify this war... [41 words]ElsJun 9, 2003 06:249422
you surpass your commenters [78 words]William KinneyJun 8, 2003 20:569420
cat/mouse game [40 words]Nomi KaplanJun 7, 2003 15:509415
Kudos [21 words]Charles BartlesonJun 7, 2003 01:419412
Excellent analysis [119 words]Gene AmerineJun 6, 2003 12:249408
The elephant in the room to the south.... [833 words]Matthew KennelJun 5, 2003 18:179402
Why the recent war took place. [296 words]Steve TJun 5, 2003 06:549398
Saddam's Game [19 words]Elizabeth MarksJun 4, 2003 18:209393
Good Words, But... [48 words]Gene BehlJun 4, 2003 18:099392
Liberal leaps of logic [601 words]David WolfJun 4, 2003 16:089389
Nah! [291 words]Robert B. ArbetmanJun 4, 2003 14:219386
No sense [133 words]Glenn KlotzJun 4, 2003 14:089385
Credibility Mr. Pipes [37 words]George TanakisJun 4, 2003 13:449384
The Ultimate Sum of Fears, the Path not Taken. [1977 words]tom watsonJun 4, 2003 13:349383
North Korea comes next. [53 words]Alan SullivanJun 4, 2003 12:279379
Thanks for helping me understand [93 words]Thomas ArthurJun 4, 2003 11:329378
Chemical WMD [43 words]Alan GerlachJun 4, 2003 10:299376
You are correct [76 words]YoniJun 4, 2003 09:589375
That's not the Justification Bush and Blair Used [75 words]Matt PackJun 4, 2003 05:109371
Sorry for the rudimentary parallel and language but... [149 words]A LenceskiJun 4, 2003 02:469370
Response to Kevin lee: Big failure in elementary logic [167 words]Philippe StephensonJun 3, 2003 22:489364
Double standard [94 words]Larry RogulJun 3, 2003 19:479358
Good Chronology [21 words]Stan CharlesJun 3, 2003 18:259356
Lack of Intellectual Honesty [77 words]Larry KletterJun 3, 2003 17:409355
OBSTRUCTION [54 words]GRAHAM RAEL-BROOKJun 3, 2003 17:209354
WMD [18 words]Bernard C. BarthJun 3, 2003 16:579353
The reasons and rationales [558 words]SheerahkahnJun 3, 2003 16:179351
Don't change the topic [114 words]Eric WeitzmanJun 3, 2003 15:289350
Invasion of Iraq and Elusive WMD [111 words]Carol MizrahiJun 3, 2003 15:249349
Finding Weapons of Mass destruction does count [104 words]Anne ClouseJun 3, 2003 15:249348
Exactly right [48 words]David C. StolinskyJun 3, 2003 15:149347
Not true, Dr. Pipes. [122 words]Tyson ValeJun 3, 2003 14:229344
What a Wonderful War [148 words]T. A. CallaghanJun 3, 2003 14:109343
Moslem Countries Should Let Palestinians Become Nationals [137 words]Marc WeisburgJun 3, 2003 13:319341
WMDs were the decisive reason [82 words]Lawrence AusterJun 3, 2003 11:509340
To do one's duty is always a good thing... [80 words]Alain Jean-MairetJun 3, 2003 10:239339
Failure of elementary logic [158 words]Kevin LeeJun 3, 2003 10:019337
With all due respect... [125 words]PlatosearwaxJun 3, 2003 09:509336
Mistaken Reasoning [363 words]Project2012Jun 3, 2003 09:199334
You're moving the goalposts [206 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
David MikesellJun 3, 2003 09:049333
The inspectors were withdrawn, not kicked out. [109 words]Marc PienaarJun 3, 2003 04:569331

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)