Two leftist organizations have released a study that claims that the Bush administration lied about Iraq. Somehow I think we've heard that one before. Well, the two groups--the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism--managed to secure major media attention by making the claim that the Bush administration released 935 false statements. Clearly no one was in the mood to read all 935, so the leftist groups boiled them down to 532. We hear that on 532 occasions the Bush administration claimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. So the claim is not that Bush told 532 lies, but that he told the same lie 532 times.
But consider this: If Bush actually knew that Iraq didn't possess weapons of mass destruction, and yet repeatedly told the American people that Iraq had them, didn't Bush expect that following the Iraq invasion his deception would be found out? When I raise this point with liberals on campus, they typically say, "Well, we're not saying that Bush knew for sure that there were no such weapons. We are saying that his administration stacked the data." But this is another way of saying that Bush actually believed that there were those weapons, and he mobilized whatever evidence he could muster to make his case. This may reflect prejudice against Saddam Hussein's motives or even imprudent decision making but it is hardly proof of lying.
Consider a similar decision made by President Roosevelt. In the period leading up to World War II, a group of refugee German scientists warned Albert Einstein that the Germans were building an atomic bomb. The project was headed by that country's greatest scientist, Werner Heisenberg. Acutely aware of the dangers of Hitler getting such a weapon, Einstein took this information in the fall of 1939 to President Roosevelt, who commissioned the Manhattan Project. America built the bomb, and later dropped two of them on Japan.
Many years later, Americans discovered that the Germans were nowhere close to building an atomic bomb. Their project was on the wrong track, and it seems to have stalled in its infancy. Some historians believe Heisenberg was trying to thwart the project from the inside. Be that as it may, in retrospect we now know that the intelligence that led to the Manhattan Project was wrong. But no one goes around saying, "Einstein lied" or "FDR lied." They didn't lie. They used the information they had to make a tough decision in a very dangerous situation.
The same is true of Bush. As a statesman, he had to act in the moving current of events. He didn't have the luxury of hindsight. To those leftist pundits who say, "Knowing what we know now, Mr Bush, why did you do what you did then?" Bush's answer is, "Obviously I didn't know what we know now." Acting against the somber backdrop of 9/11, Bush made a hard call based on an assessment of the intelligence provided to him. He may have acted in haste, and he may have acted in error, but he did not act in bad faith. Therefore the claim that Bush lied is itself a lie.
Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...
Mo's Blog Roll
Resources
Actually Bush Didn't Lie
Posted Jan 23rd 2008 1:20PM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Breaking News, Iraq, George Bush, Controversy
Add your comments
Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.
When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.
Mo's Video
The Sound of a Smoke-Free Barack...Almost two years ago we speculated on how Barack Obama's voice would change if he stopped smoking. ...
Most Popular Stories
- Don't Like Goodbyes...
- Pittsburgh Steelers: Is it Time to get some Cheerleaders?
- How NOT to give an Oscar Acceptance Speech
- Could Jim Belushi Win the Nobel Peace Prize?
- Spring Break Sexy T-Shirt Removal Training!
- Quest for the Crown 5: Plastic Wrap to Make you Less Fat!
- Quest for the Crown 4: Work Those Heels!
Most Commented On
-
Coming Soon
Recent Comments
- Roert Dean on General Clark is Absolutely Right!
- Ryan Anderson on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
- Saint Brian the Godless on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
- Saint Brian the Godless on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
- andreawalker419 on Breastfeeding an Eight-Year-Old?
- not-pboyfloyd on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
- Ryan Anderson on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
Mo's Bio
Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.
Top News Headlines
Political Machine Blog
- Meat for Public Schools Often Rejected by Fast Food Chains
- Salahis Subpoenaed To Appear Before Panel Probing Party Crashing
- Will George Stephanopoulos Go Better With My Omelet?
- $1 Billion Spent on Political Ads in '09
- In a Political Popularity Contest, Hillary Clinton Wins
- Tiger Woods' Transgressions and the Gender Split
- Jimmy Carter's Grandson Runs for Office in Georgia
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 32)
31. Bush is so fucking stupid he probably had no idea if there were any weapons of mass destruction. >>>
Odd, coming from an insignificant fraction of the person Bush is. Must be a self hatred thing.
Thomas J Gassett at 3:57PM on Jan 23rd 2008
32. Fine, reasonable thoughts Mr. D'Souza. The only cult-like behavior displayed here is the "I- hate-Bush-no-matter-what-he-does" crowd.
Becki at 1:43PM on Jan 28th 2008
33. The reason that bush had no fear of being held accountable for his lies is simple. Through his position in our government, gullible people believed him and repeated his lies and would have to call themselves liers if they ever changed their opinion.People like souza helped bush figure this scheme out.
John at 4:00PM on Jan 23rd 2008
34. If I remember correctly we went to Iraq because Saddam Hussein was known to have WMDs in the past (for sure) and then in 2002 refused to let UN inspectors review his inventory which contained certain weapons that could be used against neighboring countries with devastating effects.
In 2002 Bush warned Iraq that military force would have to be used if he didn’t allow weapons inspection.
Bush didn’t say we are invading Iraq because they have weapons of mass destruction; He said (paraphrasing) we are going to war with Iraq because they are not complying with inspections rules, and we suspect that they have WMDs.
Imagine this: If you knew your next door neighbor was released from prison recently for assault with a deadly weapon and murder, and the police suspect that he had been hoarding deadly weapons since he was released, and the neighbor refused to let them enter his home even with a warrant, would you support a police raid?
Bush was in a damned if I do damned if I don’t scenario. If we didn’t invade Iraq and later they used a WMD against anyone, Bush would have been labeled guilty of neglect of duty. People would be saying, “why didn’t he stop them when we had a chance?”
The reason why we are mired in Iraq right now isn’t because Bush got us into this mess. In fact it is too easy to sit back and place them blame on Bush. The reason why we are mired in Iraq is because we did what almost everyone in the United States of America knew to be the right thing at the time.
The reason why we are still there are for multiple reasons. For one we are Americans. We aren’t going to punish the general Iraqi people for something the Baath party did or what violent Jihadist are doing now. Also if we pulled out of Iraq right now, that would allow a weakened Iraqi government to be overthrown by violent Jihadist, which would result in an even deadlier war later.
As a soldier for nine years, and having an older brother still serving for seventeen years, I hate that we have people dying violently in Iraq. but I’m not going to blame our President for doing the right, but unpopular thing.
Why is it that in 2001 you could see the US flag waiving proudly on every American street, but now you hardly see it? Are we ashamed to be American? I would like you to know that I am still proud to be an American and I’m proud of Americans, and would hope that if you aren’t you might reconsider what America is about. Yes, negative things exist in America, (pornography, drugs, children without good mothers or fathers) just like the rest of the world, but I feel that America in general is a good country full of good people, just like the rest of the world.
marc at 4:00PM on Jan 23rd 2008
35. TJG: This was never said by Bill Clinton as far as I can tell.
"The factory was built by Bin Laden to make WMD for Saddam."
Please provide sources.
Ryan Anderson at 3:59PM on Jan 23rd 2008
36. Thomas J Gassett; Um... all those statements you provided are proven true. Why do you think they are lies?
>>>>
You make no sense at all, but then you are waving your idiot list from PANAC. Clue: PANAC is a think tank that once wrote a paper for Isreal, not the US. You can tell the real morons ... by the list they wave.
Thomas J Gassett at 4:00PM on Jan 23rd 2008
37. Tom; you weirdo. PNAC was very pro-israel, but they were an American organization.
Here, check it out...
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
Ryan Anderson at 4:03PM on Jan 23rd 2008
38. TJG: This was never said by Bill Clinton as far as I can tell.
"The factory was built by Bin Laden to make WMD for Saddam."
Please provide sources.
>>>>
Try doing a search. Start with Sudan, clinton. It's all there ... only a few mouse clicks away.
Thomas J Gassett at 4:04PM on Jan 23rd 2008
39. Actually Tom; if you are going to spout nonsense, it's your job to post the source. I'll wait.
Ryan Anderson at 4:05PM on Jan 23rd 2008
40. Tom; you weirdo. PNAC was very pro-israel, but they were an American organization.
Here, check it out...
http://www.newamericancentury.org/
>>>
Of course they are pro Isreal. I never said they weren't you reading challenged clown.
Thomas J Gassett at 4:06PM on Jan 23rd 2008
41. Actually Tom; if you are going to spout nonsense, it's your job to post the source. I'll wait.
>>>
Yeah, I shouldn't expect you to be capable of typing 'Sudan, Clinton' and reading it for your retard self. Sorry.
Thomas J Gassett at 4:07PM on Jan 23rd 2008
42. Tom -- "You make no sense at all, but then you are waving your idiot list from PANAC. Clue: PANAC is a think tank that once wrote a paper for Isreal, not the US. You can tell the real morons ... by the list they wave."
I read fine. You type bad.
Ryan Anderson at 4:08PM on Jan 23rd 2008
43. After 9-11, everyone was saying Bush didn't do enough to stop it, that he ignored intel. Well when he did act to an attack on our country, he got hammered for doing too much. The truth is that people who dislike Bush will always dislike him no matter what. He can do no right in their eyes. I think Bush's biggest mistake was using W.M.D.'s as a reason to go into Iraq. He didn't need to, he had plenty of other reasons. I seem to recall about 19 or so international resolutions that were just ignored by Iraq. To me this was reason enough. Why would Bush have lied anyway? What did we hope to gain besides the war on terror. Many say it was for oil, I'm still waiting for our free oil to be shipped to us by the boat load. Last I looked, gas was at $3.20 a gallon. As far as looking to the international community to stear our national policies, every country does what is in their best interest. No country is going to act or not act because of what other countries say. The U.S. had the courage and conviction to do what we felt was right and for that we should be proud.
Ed B. at 4:10PM on Jan 23rd 2008
44. Tom; well, I knew you wouldn't be able to provide sources, so I went ahead and looked on my own and didn't find anything from any sort of reputible source.
Although I did find one article from PNAC about this subject. HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!
Ryan Anderson at 4:09PM on Jan 23rd 2008
45. I know, it wasn't lying because Bush had his fingures crossed. DD, I hope you are a spin doctor for I would hate to think you actually believe what you write.
Kevin Taylor at 4:12PM on Jan 23rd 2008