Every time I read letters to the editor from conservatives I just want to tear my hair out. My latest LTE is long and they likely won't print it but hey, at least I feel better now.
Letter is below the fold...
Editor:
Hardly a day goes by that I don't read another letter from a conservative writer that makes the claim "Bill Clinton thought Iraq had WMD" as if that somehow means case closed about the reasons for the war. They are absolutely right, Bill Clinton thought this, as did Al Gore, the Europeans and just about anyone else who followed the issue closely. What they fail to acknowledge is that despite this, Bill Clinton and the Europeans didn't think this possibility meant the U.S. should occupy Iraq, sacrificing thousands of American lives and billions of dollars in the process. The Administration claims they were looking at the same intelligence as Clinton did. If that is true, shouldn't the fact they were looking at intelligence that was several years old worry you?
Bill Clinton thought the issue could best be dealt with using sanctions and air strikes, actions, I might remind you, that were roundly criticized by the majority Republicans in Congress as a "wag the dog" ploy to distract public attention from the Lewinsky scandal. While Osama bin Laden was plotting and planning, Republicans in Congress could only focus on the action in Clinton's pants, jeering and criticizing while painting themselves as the Party that would "keep this country safe". Considering the fact that no WMD have ever been found, the case could be made that these military actions actually worked--a claim backed by some weapons inspectors during the run-up to war.
Conservative letter writers fail to acknowledge that it wasn't the Democrats raising the frightening specter of "mushroom clouds", that Iraq was somehow connected to 9/11, that there were direct ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda and that invading Iraq was urgent. These claims belong to persons named Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, the gasbags on Fox News and right wing columnists and pundits.
Not unlike the luminaries listed above, the conservative letter writers cherry pick the arguments most likely to pull emotional heartstrings without actually engaging in the argument in a serious way. If we're going to have the public discussion on the Administration's case for war, let's have it. Discussing the case for war shouldn't be a political campaign where lies, innuendo, half-truths and propaganda should be acceptable. It shouldn't be fought with AstroTurf letters to the editor generated by talking points from the RNC. The issue isn't what the Democrats said, it's what the Administration said. The Democrats didn't make the decision to go to war. George Bush did. Accountability starts and ends in the White House.