[geeks] Religion and the Presidency

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Phil Stracchino wrote:
> Lionel Peterson wrote:
>> He said there were WMDs in Iraq because he believed it to be true, as 
>> did almost every elected official that saw the top secret breifings.
> 
> Well, yeah, but that's because that's what they wanted the briefings to 
> show.  Every time someone tried to present some evidence that the claims 
> of WMDs in Iraq were false, the entire administration stuck their 
> fingers in their ears and shouted "LA LA LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"
> 
>> That there weren't WMDs doesn't make his decision a mistake or wrong - 
>> it makes the info he and others in gov't got wrong... There is a 
>> difference.
> 
> It does if the whole WMD story was a deliberate fabrication, which is 
> what all the available evidence suggests.  They weren't looking for a 
> *reason* to invade Iraq; they were looking for an *excuse*.

Even if there were, much of what happened could be seen as a gross 
overreaction to the presented evidence.

I forget who said it, but a foreign head of state, on the eve of the 
Iraq invasion warned that the war would get started only *after* Iraq 
had been "conquered".

Peace...  Sridhar