In his Sept. 3 article “Bush misled U.S.,” David Sansing attempted to mislead the readers of The Reflector. What Mr. Sansing didn’t mention was that Bush’s opposition in this election also thought that Iraq posed a major threat and that they indeed possessed weapons of mass destruction.
In a speech on Oct. 9, 2002, Sen. John Kerry stated: “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.”
He also stated on Jan. 23, 2003: “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….”
Mr. Sansing’s prime deception is to repeat the false accusations and rhetoric of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
The assertions that we simply went to Iraq because Saddam possessed these weapons are ridiculous. After Sept. 11, 2001, Bush made it very clear to the world that we would not tolerate countries who harbored or assisted terrorist organizations. The Iraq-Al Qaeda link has, in fact, been proven, although the liberal media and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party would have you believe otherwise. You can research this for yourself.
If you don’t believe Bush or Kerry, Sen. Hillary Clinton, in a speech on Oct. 22, 2002, stated: “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.”
The intelligence of Iraq’s WMD may eventually turn out to have been completely wrong. However, in a post Sept. 11 climate, the president, his advisers and the Congress could not afford to be wrong and risk another attack on American soil. After all, there is new evidence suggesting that Iraq transferred all of its weapons to Syria just before the war began.
I don’t know about you, but I feel safer knowing that Saddam is out of power, and that our great soldiers are doing their job and defending our freedom.
Damon Johnson is a sales engineer from Cordova, Tenn.