We Can't Ignore The Man Behind The Curtain

Today's AP news again:

"[Vice President] Cheney pressed the administration's high-voltage attack on war critics, particularly Senate Democrats who voted in October 2002 to give Bush authority to go to war in Iraq and who now oppose his policy, calling them "dishonest and reprehensible."

"The flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight. But any suggestion that prewar information was distorted, hyped or fabricated by the leader of the nation is utterly false," Cheney said in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute.

Speaking as a veteran and a father of someone who may be placed in harm's way, I believe:

1. The pre-war intelligence was not fabricated by senior intelligence or Washington political figures.

2. The intelligence supplied to these individuals was flawed from the beginning.

3. In the rush to execute a war on Iraq, that administration officials (notably the 'retired' Director of Central Intelligence) failed to do everything in their power to verify the validity of the intelligence. They got the answers they wanted to hear and acted accordingly.

4. These individuals, whoever and wherever they are, failed in their duty to the men and women of the United States military, the American people as a whole, and to their President.

5. In the rush to invade Iraq, diplomatic means were still available to resolve the issues raised by the flawed intelligence.

6. To continue a war based on flawed intelligence and where diplomacy was and is an option is wrong and continues to be wrong.

Finally, I believe to speak such truths out loud and to the current administration is to risk be publicly labeled unpatriotic, a coward, and dishonest.

This is a different country than I was born into, and I was born at the beginning of Vietnam.