Mitt Romney actually comes up with a genius idea

[DeistPaladin]

I think you're being intellectually dishonest here, and here's why:

1. I'm sure you know the difference between being wrong/in error and lying.

Yes, I do. People who make mistakes usually correct themselves after they've been shown to have been mistaken.

Bush, by contrast, stood up at the 2004 RNC and spoke about his anguished decision to go to war with Iraq but knew he had to because we'd been attacked on 9/11. By that point, anyone paying attention knew that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11. Yet, he still used this attack as his justification for the war.

In 2006, a reporter FINALLY had the temerity to ask Bush why we invaded Iraq and Bush repeated the lie that it was because we'd been attacked on 9/11. When Thomas, the reporter in question, pressed him that Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11, he brushed her off and went to the next question.

It's always the Bush apologists but never Bush himself who offers the "Well, maybe he didn't lie. Maybe he made a mistake". If this were true, then let him say so and apologize. Furthermore, let him show the faulty intelligence that made him so certain that Saddam was in league with the terrorists of Al Qaida or that there was serious risk to our security that justified his hyperbolic language about "don't let the smoking gun be the mushroom cloud." Let's see the faulty intelligence that led to the mistake if it exists.

Bush lied. People died. Stop making excuses for him.

2. I'm sure you know that Bush was not alone in believing that Iraq had and was hiding an advanced WMD program.

So we've gone from "Hey, he just made a mistake" to "Oh yeah, well, he wasn't the only one".

There certainly were quite a few people brow-beaten into parroting this message. One CIA agent's career was ruined because of what her husband wrote. I fail to see why this absolves Bush for his lies or disastrous war.

Democrats were also under pressure to support the drum beat of war. I remember that time well. "Shut up and support the troops or you're a traitor".

Many of the Democrat leaders during that time, much to my disgust, quickly collapsed into the fetal position whenever Bush questioned their patriotism and were willing to fall in line. Their spineless nature does not justify Bush or make his claims true.

So again, where's the lie when prior administrations and political adversaries were making the same claims about Iraq's development of WMD?

Bush was president. Bush pushed for this war. Where's his "personal responsibility" he campaigned on. I hold him primarily responsible.

3. I'm sure you know that WMD is a broad term, which includes chemical weapons, and that it's a fact that Hussein used chemical WMD, which obviously means he had WMD.

Are you serious? So now we're at "...and he might have meant...". This is the stuff of Christian apologetics. He said "mushroom cloud".

I would like you to point me to where Bush linked Al Qeda to the reason to invade Iraq. I know that's how his naysayers like to spin it, but what I recall, and the speeches of his that I've re-read, don't mention Al Qeda as a reason. Here for example is the UN speech where it's clear that the rationale is to keep advanced WMD from falling into the hands of terror groups. http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-201_162-521781.html

I thought I remembered otherwise and a quick google search of "Saddam, Links to Al Qaida" confirmed that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Huss...llegations