Tully...I think its fair to say that some will never accept the fact that Bush lied to the American people, with the complicity of Congress who did not have access to the same intel, and much of the media.
That number has diminished significantly to only the hard core supporters who place ideology over truth.
Most others who initially supported the war have changed their opinion not only as a result of the failure of the Bush occupation strategy that has kept us mired in the midst of an unending sectarian conflict at the cost of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, but also because more facts continue to expose the immoral decisionmaking process by the Bush administration that brought us to this point.
Most recently, the phase II Senate Intel Committee report that was released yesterday on how Bush used (and abused) the intel.
While it concurred with the general consensus that the intel on WMDs was faulty, it strongly rebuked Bush on several key points....
Bush/Cheney/Rice repeatedly played the post 9/11 al Queda-Saddam boogyman card and misled (lied to) the American people on that supposed connection despite the lack of intel to support that contention.
Bush withheld dissenting opinions from numerous intel agencies on Saddam's lack of WMD capabilities, and
Bush/Cheney/Rice attempted to sell (mislead, lie to) the American people on how quick and easy an invasion and occupation would be despite sigificant intel to the contrary...they were warned nearly a year earlier by the CIA and DIA that a US invasion would face serious resistance from "the Baathists, the jihadists and Arab nationalists who oppose any U.S. occupation of Iraq" and chose to intentionally and deliberately withhold that intel for fear that it might undermine their case for war.
From the Senate Intel Committee:
Quote:
Before taking the country to war, this Administration owed it to the American people to give them a 100 percent accurate picture of the threat we faced. Unfortunately, our Committee has concluded that the Administration made significant claims that were not supported by the intelligence,” Rockefeller said. “In making the case for war, the Administration repeatedly presented intelligence as fact when in reality it was unsubstantiated, contradicted, or even non-existent. As a result, the American people were led to believe that the threat from Iraq was much greater than actually existed.”
“It is my belief that the Bush Administration was fixated on Iraq, and used the 9/11 attacks by al Qa’ida as justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. To accomplish this, top Administration officials made repeated statements that falsely linked Iraq and al Qa’ida as a single threat and insinuated that Iraq played a role in 9/11. Sadly, the Bush Administration led the nation into war under false pretenses.
“There is no question we all relied on flawed intelligence. But, there is a fundamental difference between relying on incorrect intelligence and deliberately painting a picture to the American people that you know is not fully accurate."
http://intelligence.senate.gov/press....cfm?id=298775
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A moral leader does not act in that manner.