Excellent article: countering the spin

The official search for WMDs in Iraq has ended. The most dangerous weapons we were told to fear two years ago weren’t found. This news is actually not new. Dafna Linzer of Washingtonpost.com reported last week that Charles A. Duelfer, the CIA’s top weapons hunter, submitted a report to Congress four months ago that contradicted nearly every pre-war assertion by top Bush administration officials.

This isn’t new news, but it does do a good job of answering some common questions regarding justifying the invasion, such as:

• “Saddam was a ruthless tyrant who killed his own people.”
• “Saddam would’ve given WMDs to Al Qaeda.”
• “Even if Saddam didn’t have weapons, he would have eventually.”
• “We couldn’t afford to wait for an attack.”
• “Iraq wants democracy.”
• “We have to bring the fight to the terrorists.”

It’s a very well written piece that should be read by anyone who considers any of the above statements as justifying our actions in Iraq.