BCT Editorial – 11/1/05

This page was last updated on November 3, 2005.

Missing the point; Editorial; Beaver County Times; November 1, 2005.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“It’s time to stop dwelling on WMDs and focus on the timing of war push

“The indictment of the vice president’s chief of staff, I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby Jr., on counts of obstructing justice, perjury and making false statements has raised the possibility that a trial might focus on the administration’s faulty rationale for going to war.

“The must not happen. Not the trial, but the focus on the weapons of mass destruction issue.

“After all, the Bush administration wasn’t the first to believe Iraq’s Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs. The Clinton White House did, the foreign intelligence community did, the weapons inspectors did.

“For that reason, blaming President Bush for over the WMD argument is a nonstarter.”

[RWC] I have to admit this position surprises me. I hope the author doesn’t get into trouble for going against a liberal talking point. <g>

“However, what is of more importance is the timing of the war push.

“Why, in late summer of 2002, did Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, then National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and other high-ranking administration officials start raising the specter of Saddam using his WMDs?”

[RWC] That’s a little bit of revisionist history. The military buildup around Iraq began in early 2002.

“Why, with polls showing Democrats might retain control of the U.S. Senate and make inroads into the GOP’s majority in the House, did they fly around the country talking about homeland security and national defense?

“Consider the following: In September 2002, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr. told The New York Times the administration had waited until then to start selling the public on the war because ‘from a marketing point of view, you don’t introduce new products in August.’

“In politics, timing is everything.”

[RWC] This is the second time in two months an editorial includes the Card comment. As I noted in my previous critique, “that’s in reference to most of the U.S. government being on vacation in August. With most of Washington’s elected officials on vacation, it made no sense to start a major information campaign during that period.”

The editorial failed to note Democrats in Congress were making the same assertions at the same time. In fact, the statements by some Democrats were stronger than those coming from the Bush administration.