President Bush and Honesty

I don't know if we know for a fact what the Bush Administration believed about Iraq before going in. It's possible they believed everything they said about Weapons of Mass Destruction - in which case they are guilty of being wrong, but not of lying. Of course they are also guilty of willfully ignoring information that contradicted their believes.

But there is one lie that President Bush and his advisors told before the election. They led Iraq and the world and me to believe that peaceful solution was possible; it wasn't. And we get new evidence of this all the time. Tyler Drumheller, the former highest ranking CIA officer in Europe, has come forward with new information that they had made up their mind what to do in Iraq long before they told the rest of us.

"[The source] told us that there were no active weapons of mass destruction programs," says Drumheller. "The [White House] group that was dealing with preparation for the Iraq war came back and said they were no longer interested. And we said 'Well, what about the intel?' And they said 'Well, this isn't about intel anymore. This is about regime change.' "

They didn't want any additional data from Sabri because, says Drumheller: "The policy was set. The war in Iraq was coming and they were looking for intelligence to fit into the policy."

This dishonesty is hurting is now in regards to our dealings with Iraq. Understandably they don't find the Bush administration entirely trustworthy.

Thank you President Bush.