TCS: Tech Central Station - Did Bush Lie? Ask GoogleSimple sound bites ("Bush lied, People Died") don't cut it when you examine all the information any more than eating at McDonalds twice a day gives you an understanding of their logistics system (how they get buns and burgers everywhere as needed).President Bush came out swinging on Veterans Day in a speech accusing his Democratic war critics of re-writing history. Some war critics have mounted a campaign against him by boiling the entire pre-war history and post-invasion violence down to a two-word phrase: "Bush Lied". They say he lied us into war by distorting intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to convince Americans to fight an unnecessary war. The "Bush Lied" accusation is, if true, an indictment of the entire war itself, and one could reasonably argue we should cut our losses and get out of it.
The president could have destroyed the entire "Bush Lied" attack a long time ago. And he could have done it in a way that showed what a wired, technologically savvy president he is; and in a way that would have simplified his side of the debate down to three words and a number:
Google "Clinton Iraq 1998"
Targeting Al Quaeda and Osama only would have been like burning a local warehouse in McDonald's supply chain – a few stores shut down for a short time, but they'll reopen soon enough. It's a quick fix, slapping on a band-aid and hoping it doesn't get worse.
Bush decided on a different tactic - dismantle the corporation. You want to end terrorism, you shut it down all over as you can manage. Build democracies instead of accepting dictatorships all over and terrorism will end. It won't be fast or easy, but it'll be sure.
The main problem is - Bush is actually doing more than mouthing platitudes and making a half-hearted token attempt at solving the problem. This just plain isn't acceptable to some, who'd prefer the status quo and would rather have problems left unsolved so they can be used for election fodder later.
And what we're seeing with this "Bush Lied" stuff, IMHO, is a group that's gotten to a point where they don't see any way to back up out of the quagmire they've slid into. They were for the war 100% when it looked like a cakewalk, despite Bush saying it wouldn't be easy. Now that it looks like it'll take time, they're saying they were lied to.
Okay, figure (just for argument's sake, because it's verifiably incorrect) that Bush lied... what does it say about how gullible they were in the first place? And if they're that gullible, what does that say about how well they could lead the country?
J.