Iraq

Note: Before reading My Thoughts, please read My Disclaimer!

Here are some important Presidential quotes to remember, when suggesting that President George Bush lied about Iraq:

The President's goal was "to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors." As the President pointed out, Iraq wasn't the only country to have developed weapons of mass destruction (WMD), but "with Saddam there's one big difference. He has used them, not once but repeatedly, unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war. Not only against soldiers but against civilians. Firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran, not only against a foreign enemy but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq. The international community had little doubt then, and I have no doubt today that, left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again."

Later that year, the President stated:

"Now, let's imagine the future. What if he [Hussein] fails to comply and we fail to act, or we take some ambiguous third route which gives him yet more opportunities to develop this program of weapons of mass destruction and continue to press for the release of the sanctions and continue to ignore the solemn commitments that he made? Well, he will conclude that the international community has lost its will. He will then conclude that he can go right on and do more to rebuild an arsenal of devastating destruction. And some day, some way, I guarantee you, he'll use the arsenal... If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow by the knowledge that they can act with impunity -- even in the face of a clear message from the United Nations Security Council and clear evidence of [a] weapons of mass destruction program."

- President BILL CLINTON, in announcing the (clearly insufficient and therefore largely ineffective) missile strikes against Saddam in 1998

Saddam Hussein never allowed the United Nations inspectors back into Iraq. Bill Clinton's predictions rang true -- Saddam Hussein was "emboldened...by the knowledge that [he] can act with impunity". That is, until President George Bush held him accountable for his actions...