Analysis of Kerry's Charge that Bush Misled the Country to War

The Coffee Shop Times ^ | October 21, 2004 | Douglas Barricklow

[SmokeRing]

Time for a “shout out” to Jim Lehrer: Many thanks for the following question to John Kerry in the first Presidential Debate:

“...you have repeatedly accused President Bush -- not here tonight, but elsewhere before -- of not telling the truth about Iraq, essentially of lying to the American people about Iraq. Give us some examples of what you consider to be his not telling the truth.”

To me, this is one of the more important questions that Kerry must answer in this campaign--especially given what we know about Kerry’s track record of nuanced support for the war in Iraq.

First, we must all understand that John Kerry is not Michael Moore. Kerry, like the intelligence agencies of Britain, France, and Russia--and like the Clinton Administration--thought Iraq held hidden stores of WMD’s before the war. None have been found. The intelligence seems to have been wrong. Are we surprised? Well, given that our intelligence agencies didn’t discover North Korea’s active nuclear weapons program throughout the late 90’s, I guess we shouldn’t be. Also, we’ve learned that Saddam’s own military generals thought they had WMD’s right up until the moment the U.S. military arrived on the Iraqi border.

But, on the campaign trail, as Jim Lehrer indicated with his question, Kerry insists that Bush deceived the country when making his case for war. I’ve wanted to know why Kerry believes this to be true.

Based on his answer to Jim Lehrer, there are several reasons. . .

[Bluegrass Federalist]

That is a fantastic statement. Too bad the MSM can't be as succinct.

[WOSG]

Good analysis on Kerry on Iraq.