William G. Horter – 12/8/05

This page was last updated on December 17, 2005.

The straight facts on Iraq; William G. Horter; Beaver County Times; December 8, 2005.

As you will read below, Mr. Horter wouldn’t recognize a “straight fact” if it jumped up and bit his butt. The Beaver County Times published my letter to the editor on this subject.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“A man from Beaver wrote a letter Tuesday saying Bush didn’t lie or hype the facts going into the Iraq war (‘Democrats, media are liars’).”

[RWC] Mr. Horter failed to note the author (Bill Russell) quoted the bipartisan Robb-Silberman Report (2005). On a side note, the body of Mr. Russell’s letter didn’t call Democrats or the media liars. In my experience, the Times supplies the letter title.

“I can answer him with one fact. Months before the war, a memo was written between the head of British intelligence and Prime Minister Tony Blair. It’s called the Downing Street Memo. That memo stated unequivocally that the ‘facts’ were being ‘fixed’ around the policy of invasion and war.”

[RWC] See my critique of Ms. Catherine Gatian’s letter about the Downing Street memo. Another error: The memo was not “written between the head of British intelligence and Prime Minister Tony Blair.” A foreign policy aide (Matthew Rycroft) wrote the memo (actually minutes of a PM meeting with advisors) to his boss, the PM’s Foreign Policy Adviser (David Manning).

“Remember, this was months before the war. Also, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he knew where the WMDs were, why didn’t he relay that information to U.N. inspector Hans Blix?”

[RWC] As most persons, it appears Mr. Horter didn’t understand the inspection process. Many of us thought there were hordes of inspectors running around Iraq looking for banned weapons. In reality, the process depended on Iraq pointing out the banned weapons to inspectors or proving the weapons had been destroyed. The inspectors did not have freedom of movement. They had to tell the Iraq government in advance where they wanted to inspect and they had to be escorted to sites by Iraqi soldiers. This procedure had the fatal flaw of assuming Iraq would cooperate. As we now know from Iraqi scientists, they had advance notice of inspections and were told to move incriminating material for the duration of the site inspection.

I’m sure the U.S. did relay suspected sites to the U.N., but with advance notice it would do little good. As I also recall, our concern was with mobile WMD sites that would be almost impossible to find. If you recall, we had very little success during the Gulf War in destroying the mobile Scud missile launchers because the launchers were constantly moved. If Iraq really did have mobile WMD labs, they would have been nearly impossible to find.

“Also, I saw Condoleezza Rice say that those aluminum tubes ‘could only be used for a centrifuge to make enriched uranium.’ That was completely untrue. The fact is, those tubes were known to be for artillery rockets. If she didn’t know that, she sure should have.”

[RWC] Mr. Horter didn’t mention that the CIA concluded the tubes were intended for uranium enrichment. While it’s true other people didn’t agree with this assessment, does he want us to believe Ms. Rice should have ignored the CIA conclusions?

“And lastly, President Bush used the famous 16 words in his State of the Union speech, and then afterward, admitted he shouldn’t have. There was no yellowcake sought in Niger, and none was ever found in Iraq.

[RWC] Mr. Horter claims, “President Bush … admitted he shouldn’t have” said, “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” The British Butler Report (2004) on this subject stated, “We conclude also that the statement in President Bush’s State of the Union Address … was well-founded.” Further, the “Report on the U.S Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq” (2004) by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded (Conclusion 13) Joe Wilson’s debriefing in 2002 bolstered the CIA’s belief that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Niger.

Mr. Horter claims no yellowcake “was ever found in Iraq.” A UN International Atomic Energy Agency inventory during December 2002 reported hundreds of tons of yellowcake, unrefined uranium, and other uranium compounds at the Tuwaitha facility alone.

A minor point: I don’t believe President Bush “admitted he shouldn’t have” made the speech statement. If I’m not mistaken, it was CIA Director George Tenet who took responsibility for the statement, though I honestly don’t know why anyone felt a need to “apologize” for a position the British stand by to this day. Lest we forget, Bill Clinton appointed George Tenet and President Bush kept him on.

“All of these ‘facts,’ plus the administration’s repeated wrapping of the war around 9/11 were, if not lies, very misleading. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, and those facts were well known to this administration at the time.”

[RWC] At this point in time I can assume folks like Mr. Horter will continue to claim untruthfully President Bush tried to link Iraq with 9/11.

“To denigrate politicians who have since learned of these facts as popularity hounds is wrong. They are simply people who have used information to learn. And what they have learned, has changed their minds. I like that, a person who can admit a mistake.”

[RWC] Mr. Russell didn’t denigrate anyone. This is yet another example of the liberal mindset. When you criticize a liberal’s position, it’s a personal attack.

“Perhaps, Tuesday’s letter writer can take the facts I’ve presented and learn as well. Many have. The majority of the people now know this war was a huge mistake.”

[RWC] No one can learn from the “facts” Mr. Horter presented. With apologies to the movie “Billy Madison,” “Mr. Horter, what you’ve just written is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone is now dumber for having read it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

Below is the letter to the editor I referenced above as I submitted it. The Times published the letter on December 16^th.

“Straight facts?”

William Horter’s letter (“The straight facts on Iraq,” December 8th) fell very short on the title’s promise.

Mr. Horter hangs his hat on the so-called Downing Street memo. In this context, the memo’s British author used “fixed around” as Americans use “centered around.” That’s why the issue was short-lived in the anti-war British press, and why the American press quickly dropped its “smoking gun” hype. Another error: The memo was not “written between the head of British intelligence and Prime Minister Tony Blair.” A foreign policy aide (Matthew Rycroft) wrote the memo (actually minutes of a PM meeting with advisors) to his boss, the PM’s Foreign Policy Adviser (David Manning).

Second, Mr. Horter claims “President Bush … admitted he shouldn’t have” said, “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” The British Butler Report (2004) on this subject stated, “We conclude also that the statement in President Bush’s State of the Union Address … was well-founded.” Further, the “Report on the U.S Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq” (2004) by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence concluded (Conclusion 13) Joe Wilson’s debriefing in 2002 bolstered the CIA’s belief that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Niger.

Third, Mr. Horter claims no yellowcake “was ever found in Iraq.” A UN International Atomic Energy Agency inventory during December 2002 reported hundreds of tons of yellowcake, unrefined uranium, and other uranium compounds at the Tuwaitha facility alone.

There were other errors, but I’m out of space.

The subject letter’s “straight facts” provide yet another example of why it’s important to double-check all information sources, especially when they appear to support your position and you want the provided “facts” to be true.

Ask Dan Rather.