In case anyone had any doubts about Bush saying one thing and doing the complete opposite, I present for your viewing pleasure (and horror), President George W. Bush Caught on Film, produced by the House Appropriations Committee in 2002.
Bush on Iraq (Sources: Reuters, The Associated Press)
Oct. 7, 2002: “The Iraqi regime… possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons.”
March 17, 2003: “Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.”
January 20, 2004: “Had we failed to act, the dictator’s weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day.”
January 27, 2004: “First of all I think it’s very important for us to let the Iraq Survey Group do its work so we can find out the facts, compare the facts to what was thought.”
February 8, 2004: “Saddam Hussein was a danger to America… because he had the capacity to have a weapon, make a weapon. We thought he had weapons. The international community thought he had weapons.”
February 8, 2004: “There is no such thing necessarily in a dictatorial regime of ironclad absolutely solid evidence. The evidence I had was the best possible evidence that he had a weapon.”
Next came the admission in testimony to Congress by the Administration’s handpicked weapons hunter, David Kay, that after hundreds of interviews and months of hunting, we had not found any weapon stockpiles after all. Nor was the link between Saddam and al-Qaeda ever proven. Nor has anyone ever established any link of the events of 09/11/2001 to Saddam or Iraq.
President Bush says he respects “good science,” when making public policy. But, the crux of the matter apparently hinges on the definition of “good,” especially when it comes to matters of war or the environment. When good science clashes with this Administration, science loses every time. The Bush administration, after all, has said that “the jury is still out on global warming,” suppressed scientific data on global warming in a 2002 annual report on the state of air pollution, and published a 2003 “comprehensive” report on the environment without including any information at all about climate change.
I think it’s worth noting when we’re listening to double talk.
