It disturbs me to see President Bush preparing to shift the blame for the Iraq war from himself to the intelligence community. I strongly suspect that the community was pressured by the White House to come up with conclusions that supported its preconceived goal of attacking Iraq. Remember Bush’s Freudian, “this is the guy who tried to kill my dad?”
However, the deeper issue is that of pre-emption, another way of saying hitting first. Hitting first is a tactic of school-yard bullies, something I was brought up to believe was wrong then and still believe is wrong now. The concept applies to nations as well as to individuals, and I am ashamed that my nation, the United States, would be involved in such an action.
Another schoolyard analogy is the idea finishing a fight that someone else started. I believed that Saddam had the weapons, and do believe he was a bad despot. If he had actually used such weapons against us, I would have been in favor of a strong response. The very military action the president took would have been justified as a second strike, but not as a first strike.
In the investigation and debate about the performance of the intelligence community, let’s not forget that it doesn’t matter. President Bush’s first-strike attack on Iraq was immoral in any case.
Lynnwood
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