We must agree with the Republicans who are running around claiming that we did not go to war because of those sixteen words relating to Sadam trying to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger. From all accounts, this Administration was determined to go to war against Sadam Hussein no matter what. We also agree, that President Bush’s statement was technically correct. British intelligence did in fact state that they believed that Sadam Hussein was trying to get yellow cake uranium from Niger and other African countries.
What the administration and its Republican backers seemed to be missing however, is that regardless of whether the statement was in fact technically true, the higher ups in the White House and most likely even our President knew that the British report was inaccurate. By attributing this information to British intelligence, George W. Bush may not have been lying but even the most staunchest of his Republican supporters should have the candor to acknowledge that the White House was deceiving.
Why they cannot see this or why they won’t acknowledge it is purely political. These are the same Senators, Representatives, and politicians who had no trouble piling on former President Clinton in his denial of having a sexual liaison with Monica Lewinski. Although it got lost in the shuffle, President Clinton did not formally lie. If you recall, President Clinton’s lawyers were given a distinct definition of sexual behavior and conduct by the United States District Court Judge. Technically, President Clinton answered correctly that he did not have sex with Monica Lewinski based upon the definition given by the Judge.
Although Clinton was technically correct in his answer, nothing changed the fact that to the American people he was a liar. Regardless of what the Judge defined as sexual conduct or how the Judge defined it, we all knew that what he was doing was sex.
The Republicans jumped on him. They did everything they could to ruin his administration, to ruin his presidency, and to keep this country in a political gridlock while they cultivated the boy blunder from Texas to be our next President. They were not willing to concede that he was technically correct. They were not willing to concede that the definition of sex given by the Federal District Court Judge allowed latitude for him to answer the way he did. Rather, they went to the heart of the matter. He lied to the Judge and he lied to us.
Yet, these same men do not want to hold our current President to the same standard. These same men who are not willing to say that President Clinton was technically correct when he answered his questions, are more than happy and willing to propound that our current President was technically correct when he blamed the intelligence on Britain.
Clinton knew that he was deceiving when he said that he did not have sex. He was called to task on it. George W. Bush knew that he was deceiving the American people when he stated that Sudam Hussein had try to buy yellow cake uranium from Niger. The difference must be that the lies were about or the deceptions were about.
In President Clinton’s case it dealt with a personal matter that had no bearing on national security, but it was sex. In President Bush’s deception, it was not about sex but it was about killing and the use of weapons. Apparently, Republicans and Conservatives seem to think it is OK to deceive as long as somebody dies for it. It is OK to deceive if you get to kill some Arabs. Its OK to deceive as long as it means only one or two American soldiers will get killed a day. (Of course, if one of the two soldiers that get killed today in Iraq happen to be related to any of the administration officials then it would not be OK. That’s highly unlikely since when was the last time that the current occupiers of the White House and the top administration officials actually had a relative put in harm’s way.)
In fact, when you look at the zeal in which the Republicans attacked Clinton for his deception and you look at the exact same zeal that they are defending George W. Bush with for his deceptions, the new Republican or administration slogan should be “make war not sex”.