Short Attention Span Theater - Part II

Greetings from the Left Coast! In Part I of Short Attention Span Theater, we talked about how some Democrats, particularly those running for President, were counting on us to forget the positions they had taken in the past and believe that what they're telling us now is what they've truly always believed. Well, today we're going to play a little game. I'm going to give you some quotations, and we'll see if you can guess who said what. After you've had a chance to read them, I'll give you the answers. Ready? Here we go:

Quote #1
“I was convinced that Saddam had chemical and biological weapons and was doing everything in his power to get nuclear weapons. There was some disparity in the information I had about how far along he was in that process. I didn’t rely on George Bush for that. And I personally think there’s some dishonesty in suggesting that members of the United States Senate relied on George Bush for that information, because I don’t think it’s true. It’s great politics. But it’s not the truth. I’ve just heard people say, I can’t even tell you who, I’ve just heard people say, ‘Well, you know, George Bush - misled us.’ You know, it’s just— I was there, it’s not what happened. I was on the Intelligence Committee, so I got direct information from the intelligence community. And then I had a series of meetings with former Clinton Administration people. And they were all saying the same thing. Everything I was hearing in the Intelligence Committee was the same thing I was hearing from these guys. And there was nary a dissenting voice."

Quote #2
"Iraq is a long way from Ohio, but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risk that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."

Quote #3
"The lesson of the 20th century is, and we've learned through harsh experience, the only answer to aggression and outlaw behavior is firmness. He [Saddam Hussein] will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has 10 times since 1983."

Quote #4
"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."

Quote #5
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

Quote #6
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."

Quote #7
"We know that he [Saddam Hussein] has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."

Quote #8
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."

Quote #9
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."

Quote #10
"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."

Quote #11
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force--if necessary--to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."

Quote #12
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."

Quote #13
“Whether one agrees or disagrees with the Administration’s policy towards Iraq, I don’t think there can be any question about Saddam’s conduct. He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do. He lies and cheats; he snubs the mandate and authority of international weapons inspectors; and he games the system to keep buying time against enforcement of the just and legitimate demands of the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States and our allies. Those are simply the facts.“

Quote #14
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members .. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."

Quote #15
"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."

Quote #16
"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real..."

Quote #17
"I think we have to acknowledge what's gone on in Iraq. Saddam Hussein, in effect, has thumbed his nose at the world community. And I think that the president's approaching this in the right fashion."

How many did you guess? Want a hint? Would you believe that every single quote was from a prominent Democrat? No, really. Here's the breakdown:

Quote #1 - Senator John Edwards in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of The New Yorker, January, 2007

Quote #2 - Madeleine Albright, then President Clinton's Secretary of State, in remarks at Ohio State University, February, 1998.

Quote #3 - Sandy Berger, then President Clinton's National Security Advisor, who appeared with Secretary Albright at Ohio State in 1998.

Quote #4 - Letter to President Clinton dated October 9, 1998, signed by (among others) Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, and John Kerry.

Quote #5 - Representative Nancy Pelosi, December, 1998.

Quote #6 - Senator Carl Levin, September, 2002

Quotes #7 & 8 - Al Gore, September, 2002

Quote #9 - Senator Edward Kennedy, September, 2002

Quote #10 - Senator Robert Byrd, October, 2002

Quote #11 - Senator John Kerry, October, 2002

Quote #12 - Senator Jay Rockefeller, October, 2002 (at the time, he was Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee)

Quote #13 - Representative Henry Waxman, October, 2002

Quote #14 - Senator Hillary Clinton, October, 2002

Quote #15 - Senator Bob Graham, December, 2002

Quote #16 - Senator John Kerry, January, 2003

Quote #17 - Senator Harry Reid (yes, that Harry Reid), September, 2002

Yep, every single one of these quotes was uttered by a Democrat. Many are the same Democrats who, today, are saying that President Bush "misled" us into war. They were fooled. The intelligence was cooked. But remember the very first quote by John Edwards? These people were members of the Congress of the United States. They had access to whatever intelligence reports and personnel they needed to satisfy themselves on the issues. Claiming that they were somehow fooled just isn't credible. Particularly if you buy into their other contention that George W. Bush is an idiot. (If he was able to fool that many smart people, he certainly can't be an idiot! Or if he did, they certainly can't be very smart people!) And how are we to explain the fact that they were taking the same positions way back during the Clinton Presidency? Was the Clinton administration guilty of the same deceit?

Let's be intellectually honest for a change. The Democrats would love nothing more than to find some reason to impeach President Bush. If there was a shred of evidence that he had lied or twisted the intelligence, articles of impeachment would have been brought so fast it would have made John Kerry's change of heart (between January, 2003, and Presidential Campaign time) seem positively glacial. The bipartisan (that means there were Democrats on it, folks) Senate Intelligence Committee report of 2004 stated that it "did not find any evidence that administration officials attempted to coerce, influence, or pressure analysts to change their judgments related to Iraq's weapons-of-mass-destruction capabilities." Not being satisfied with that report, another bipartisan commission was formed, the Robb-Silberman Commission. In its March, 2005, report, it found "no evidence of political pressure to influence the intelligence community's pre-war assessments of Iraq's weapons programs...Analysts universally asserted that in no instance did political pressure cause them to skew or alter any of their analytical judgments."

So "Bush lied" is itself one of the biggest lies in circulation out there. Look up "lie" in the dictionary of your choice, and you'll find that it means deliberately saying something you know is not true. Everyone believed Iraq had WMDs. Our intelligence service believed it, and so did the British, the Russians, the Germans, and even the French. Heck, we found out after the fact that Hussein's own generals thought he had them!

The fact is, we don't know what happened to the WMDs. We know he had them. We know he used them, both during his war with Iran and against the Kurds in his own country. And we know that they weren't in Iraq when we got there - or, if they are, they're hidden really well. They could have been, as some believe, smuggled across the border into Syria - God knows Saddam had plenty of notice that we were coming before we got there. In case you missed it, there was an explosion in the Syrian city of Aleppo last July. Jane's Defense Weekly reported in its September 26th, 2007, issue that the explosion had been caused by a rocket fuel accident at a plant where scud missles were being fitted with chemical warheads. Now there's also evidence that Iran has been providing Syria with the raw materials necessary to manufacture mustard gas and Sarin (a nerve gas) - but the fact is we don't know for sure whether they're making it from material they got from Iran or from Saddam's old stockpiles. And the reason we don't know for sure what happened to the WMDs is that Saddam wouldn't tell us. If he had opened up and let the inspectors do their jobs instead of trying to block and harrass them at every turn, he would still be in power, happily feeding people feet first into wood chippers and letting his sons rape newlyweds and torture the national soccer team when they lost.

Ever since they lost the 2004 Presidential election, the Democrats have been trying to convince the American people that we were "misled" into war, and it was all the Republicans' fault. Bad, bad Republicans. They tricked the poor Democrats. Oh, if they could only take back their votes authorizing the war! (Well, OK, that last sentence is true.) But I think it's pretty clear who the liars are. And that's another reason why, as I said earlier, I cannot imagine myself ever again voting for a Democrat.

I do, however, commend John Edwards for finally coming clean on the subject - he seemed content to let the lies go by unchallenged when he was John Kerry's running mate, but "better late than never," as the old saying goes. The fact is, one person who has been consistently telling the truth all along is George W. Bush. He said exactly what he was going to do. He said exactly why he was going to do it. And he's done exactly what he said he would do. And he's continuing to do it in spite of what it has cost him politically. More on that later. Thanks for listening.