before it was authorized by either the US Congress and before UN Resolution 1441. The 600 bombs dropped on 391 Iraqi military targets exceeded the UN mandate to secure the security of the no-fly zones, and were de facto illegal under international law. By extension, they were also illegal under U.S. law, because the president of the United States is bound by our Constitution to uphold our international treaties. Furthermore, starting the war before it was even legitimized testifies to the lie that Bush was spewing at the time and still spews to this day: that war, for him, was a last resort. The bombs also lend additional credence (not that they needed any) to the British memoes which stated that the Bush and Blair intention was to wrong-foot Saddam into a justification for an invasion. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1669640,00.html
I think it's pretty obvious that Bush wanted to go to war. I don't need to read another article about it. I agree with Rex on this particular subject, that Bush wanted to justify going to war with Iraq rather than having a justification & it being a "last resort".
And now that you've admitted Bush wanted war and lied about it being a last resort, how far-fetched would it have been for Bush to fix the intelligence around that policy? And would you agree with Michael Moore, as he stated in Fahrenheit 911, that when a man volunteers for our Armed Services our solemn duty to him is to wage war only as a last resort?
I don't agree that Bush fixed intelligence. I believe that Bush looked for evidence to support his claims & ignored evidence that contradicted it. That's completely different & not nearly as deceitful. After reading whether I would agree with Michael Moore, I quit reading.
Kuwait Sanctions WMD buildup Reinforce Sanctions Demand compliance with sanctions Adamant refusal to comply with sanctions Request UN enforcement of sanctions UN looks the other way 9/11/01 Can no longer ignore dangerous dictator Remove dangerous dictator No lying necessary
Whether the war was warranted or not isn't necessarily relevant to whether W. lied about it being a last resort or not. All of those things you listed were reasons for going to war, none of those reasons you listed were necessarily reasons for immediate action. Bush wanted a war with Iraq. Those facts justified it & he did it.
I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or not. My point is that Bush did not have to lie about anything. There was plenty enough justification. Did Bush want to go to war with Iraq? Yes, indeed.
I'm agreeing with you that there was justification to go to war. But that wasn't the point of Rex's thread. Whether lying was necessary or not, I do think that Bush lies when he says the war in Iraq was a last resort. It wasn't.
