No subject

"The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new 
evidence of Iraq's pursuit of weapons of mass murder," Mr. Rumsfeld testified 
yesterday before the Senate armed services committee.
 
"We acted because we saw the evidence in a dramatic new light, through the 
prism of our experience on 9/11."
 
It was an about-face from a man who confidently proclaimed in January: 
"There's no doubt in my mind but that they [the Iraqi government] currently 
have chemical and biological weapons." (He was seconded in March by 
Vice-President Dick Cheney, who said of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein: 
"We believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.") 
 
+http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030710.urums0710/BNStory/International/ 

All I can say is:  WTF?

The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting commentary on this:
 + http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0708/p09s01-coop.html

"Conservatives' lack of interest in the WMD question takes an even more 
ominous turn when combined with general support for presidential warmaking. 
Republicans - think President Eisenhower, for instance - once took seriously 
the requirement that Congress declare war. These days, however, Republican 
presidents and legislators, backed by conservative intellectuals, routinely 
argue that the chief executive can unilaterally take America into war."

"Thus, in their view, once someone is elected president, he or she faces no 
legal or political constraint. The president doesn't need congressional 
authority; Washington doesn't need UN authority. Allied support is 
irrelevant. The president needn't offer the public a justification for going 
to war that holds up after the conflict ends. The president may not even be 
questioned about the legitimacy of his professed justification. Accept his 
word and let him do whatever he wants, irrespective of circumstances."
--------------

Any responses from the pro-war folks on the list?

I'm interested to hear opinions in light of this annoucement that the main 
reason for going to war (i.e., that Iraq has WMD) cited by Bush, Rumsfeld, 
Cheney was a BIG FAT LIE.

I am outraged that our so-called leader feels it is necessary to 'act on his 
conscience' at the expense of several THOUSANDS of lives (5K-7K killed during 
Iraq ware), several BILLIONS of dollars and at the integrity of the office.  

Jeff
-- 
"Keep yourselves far from every form of exaggerated nationalism, racism and 
intolerance."
-- Pope John Paul II