Your speculations could be accurate. I hope that they are. But I have my doubts that things are tied up so neatly. Bush could be way above average as a strategerist and still there will be lapses and dropped balls. I hope we have solid evidence of Sadaam's weapons violations, but we might not. If it were a tremendous bluff on Bush's part, proceeding on the logic that says Sadaam is hiding things without the data to nail it, I'd perhaps admire him even more than if he had "proof positive" in his back pocket.
If it were a tremendous bluff on Bush's part, proceeding on the logic that says Sadaam is hiding things without the data to nail it, I'd perhaps admire him even more than if he had "proof positive" in his back pocket. The man has chutzpah, to be sure, but I think this would be farther out on a limb than he'd be willing to go.
He's literally putting his presidency on the line here, and I cannot believe he would do so without a few aces up his sleeve.
Also, I don't think he's a liar. He's cagey, but not a liar, and he has repeatedly declared, to the American people, our allies and to the U.N., that Iraq is a credible threat.
He would have to be both a liar and a lunatic to say such things without solid proof in his back pocket.