Monday, December 22, 2008

Remember why we went to war?

Here is a transcript of the full text of Bush's speech from March 18, 2003, that sold the war to America.

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. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq's neighbors and against Iraq's people.

The regime has a history of reckless aggression in the Middle East. It has a deep hatred of America and our friends. And it has aided, trained and harbored terrorists, including operatives of al Qaeda.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did we really go to war based on faulty intelligence? It feels like a bad dream but unfortunately it really did happen. And the revisionist history that the GOP is using right now is shocking. As a Navy veteran, I can't tell you how much this infuriates me. I actually griped about this in one of my posts about how President Bush doesn't accept accountability for anything.

Oh, I really enjoyed the Joan Didion passage you posted earlier. I'm not familiar with her work but I will certainly look into it now.

Bart Schaneman said...

It's really easy to forget that the war is still going on. I don't live in America (or infinitely worse, Iraq) so I feel very removed from it all. Sometimes I run into troops stationed here, and that brings it to mind, that they're only a change in assignment away from the Middle East. But for the most part, the war doesn't directly impact me in any way. I think until we're done there we need to keep it in our consciousness.

RE: Didion. Thanks. "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" is great, and I've read some of "The White Album" but I'd like to read more. Reading Didion is extreme training for any writer.