The Return Of Sanity

Why did we invade Iraq? Why do we remain? Why does the Bush administration continue to lie about the reasons for the war? The long somnolent editorial boards of our major American newspapers have been roused by the 9/11 Commission. There is no place to hide for the Deserter and the neocon taliban.

"No liberation dances. No WMD. No supplying of WMD to terrorists, including al-Qaida. No link to 9/11. Why was it we went to war in Iraq?" Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Question: If Iraq did not have atomic, biological or chemical weapons, and if it was not in cahoots with terror gangs such as al-Qaida, what is the nature of the threat it posed? Bush and other officials need to supply honest answers to that question." Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"It's hard to imagine how the commission investigating the 2001 terrorist attacks could have put it more clearly yesterday: there was never any evidence of a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, between Saddam Hussein and Sept. 11. Now President Bush should apologize to the American people, who were led to believe something different." New York Times

"On Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney declared that Saddam Hussein "had long-established ties with Al Qaeda." A day later, President Bush pointed to Islamic militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, who may be hiding in Fallouja. "Zarqawi's the best evidence of a connection to Al Qaeda affiliates and Al Qaeda" in Iraq, he declared. It's hard to imagine that either Bush or Cheney had an inkling of what an interim staff report of the independent 9/11 commission would say Wednesday. There is "no credible evidence that Iraq and Al Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States," the new report states. In fact, prewar Iraq spurned Al Qaeda's overtures. Though Zarqawi may be directing attacks against Americans in Iraq, and Baghdad may now be Terror Central, it is a consequence of the war itself." Los Angeles Times

Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that Iraq had "long-established ties" with al Qaeda -- a comment President Bush seconded the next day. The administration has conceded there's no "direct" link between Iraq and 9/11, but it has labored to create that impression. And, in addition to weapons of mass destruction, Iraq's connections to terrorism were part of the administration's case for war. By now that seems implausible. To the extent the administration persists in promoting either its claims of a terror connection or weapons of mass destruction, its integrity is called into question at a time when it's trying to restore its credibility with the American people and the world. Newark Star-Ledger

As long as the administration insists on the 9/11 connection, its solution to the Iraqi problem will be based on false assumptions. The 9/11 panel's report, based on the findings of U.S. intelligence and unencumbered by political considerations, should be the last word on the subject. Miami Herald

"The great virtue of the commission's reports, however, lies not with its depiction of particular intelligence failings but with its faith in transparency -- a refusal to fall for the authoritarian fallacy that certain unpleasant matters must be kept secret from the general populace." Boston Globe