A Bright Shining Lie

A. Scott Piraino

The President’s pretense for launching this invasion was his assurance that Iraq had, or would soon develop, Weapons of Mass Destruction. Now those accusations have been proven false, and it is impossible to believe that President Bush actually thought those weapons ever existed. The Bush administration does have overwhelming evidence of a rogue state developing nuclear weapons, but in North Korea, not Iraq.

In the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq, a ship loaded with North Korean Scud missiles was intercepted heading for Yemen. The Bush administration dithered, then let the ship sail to its destination. Yemen is an ally of the US after all, and it would not do to protest too loudly against the North Koreans, while beating the drums for war with Iraq.

The North Koreans took offense anyway. Angered by the ship’s seizure, they announced the next day the reactivation of a nuclear reactor capable of producing weapons grade uranium. They ordered UN inspectors out of their country, and dismantled surveillance equipment at their nuclear facilities. While UN inspectors were being evicted from North Korea, they were on the ground in Iraq, searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The UN team failed to find any illegal weapons in Iraq, even though Saddam’s regime provided a 12,000 page report detailing their weapons programs. The Iraqis allowed the inspectors to search anywhere they pleased, and were very forthcoming with information, but this did not satisfy the Bush administration. Iraq was declared in “material breech” of UN demands, and President Bush launched his invasion.

After the invasion of Iraq, North Korea became the first nation to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. North Korea probably has a few atomic bombs, but after seizing 8000 fuel rods being guarded by the UN, they will definitely have nuclear weapons within a few months. Yesterday they announced that those fuel rods have been reprocessed into weapons grade uranium, enough to produce several nuclear warheads.

The Bush administration’s only response has been to quietly unveil the Proliferation Security Initiative. Although not a proper blockade, the US will monitor North Korean ports of entry and search ships and aircraft after they’ve left the country. In effect the US is trying to prevent North Korea from exporting the nuclear weapons we now know they have.

Now the Bush administration must deal with Iran. After invading Iraq, the Bush administration began threatening Iran into allowing UN inspections of that country’s nuclear facilities. The inspectors found evidence that the Iranians were enriching uranium, a necessary process in making nuclear weapons.

The Iranians are not stupid, they have seen what Bush has done to their neighbor Iraq. They are offering to negotiate with the UN, and even with the United States, as long as negotiations are “based on mutual respect and equal footing”. But the Iranians have refused to stop their nuclear programs, and they continue to enrich uranium.

This administration is rapidly losing control of world events. Instead of dealing with North Korea and Iran, President Bush has embroiled one third of our Army in a bloody occupation of Iraq. Not only has the White House manufactured lies to justify this war, they have also ignored the truth, which is much more frightening.

…