Investigate Bush Administration on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq

Via Act For Change:

Evidence is mounting that the Bush Administration manipulated evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in the months leading up to the preemptive attack. According to the Washington Post, Congressional Republicans have already spurned demands for a serious probe, referring the matter to closed door hearings of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The Bush Administration repeatedly asserted that it knew with certainty that Iraq had such weapons. This argument was the only argument that resonated with the public, and was essential in paving the way for putting our soldiers and many civilians at risk.

The failure by U.S. or British troops thus far to find any weapons of mass destruction, following the earlier failure by U.N. inspection teams, calls into question the Bush Administration’s honesty. Some are arguing that the unfolding story of mass killings and torture by Iraqi forces are justification enough for the war. While we disagree with that point, it is utterly irrelevant to the importance of discovering whether the Bush Administration knowingly lied.

If it did, countless lives and hundreds of billions of dollars were put at risk under explicitly false pretences. If this Administration can successfully use the big lie to launch a war, then it and future Administrations can use the big lie for other purposes as well.

Frankly, we hope the Administration did not lie on this point. But if it did, the truth must come out. In the absence of an independent prosecutor, the Senate (and an aggressive and independent press) is our best avenue to the truth.

Call to action

Urge Senators Frist and Daschle, the Majority and Minority Leader respectively, to convene a select Senate committee immediately, with sufficient funding and investigative power, to learn the truth about what the Bush Administration really knew about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.