The Ming Report

SEND FOR THE REWRITE MAN !

July 9, 2003 - QUESTION: Yes, Mr. President. Do you regret that your State of the Union accusation that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials in Africa is now fueling charges that you and Prime Minister Blair misled the public?

BUSH: There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world peace. And there's no doubt in my mind that the United States, along with allies and friends, did the right thing in removing him from power. And there's no doubt in my mind, when it's all said and done, the facts will show the world the truth. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind. And so there's going to be a lot of attempts to try to rewrite history, and I can understand that. But I am absolutely confident in the decision I made.

Now that’s chutzpah! Now that the evidence the charge was based on has been shown to have been forged; now that it has come out that the evidence the President referred to had been shown to be false in a report to the Whitehouse in March 2002; Mr. Bush accuses the people who point out that his case for war was grounded on a fraud of attempting to “rewrite history”.

Someone needs to point out to the President that his remarks were recorded, printed and published from one end of the world to the other and nothing is going to change his words now. It is too late for him to “revise and extend his remarks”. The facts have shown the world the truth, and for George W. Bush, the truth hurts.

But he just couldn’t stop. He had to follow up:

In 1991, I will remind you, we underestimated how close he was to having a nuclear weapon. Imagine a world in which this tyrant had a nuclear weapon.

It is too late to re-write that history as well. The world already knows that the IAEA report that he had claimed to have read and cited to show that Saddam was on the verge of acquiring a nuclear bomb in 1991 did not exist. No amount of historical revision will create that non-existent report now. The facts have shown the world the truth in that instance too.

Mr. President, the facts are the facts and the truth is the truth. You can’t change it. You can’t spin it away. It is too late to hide it. And, Mr. President, it is a lot bigger than a failed two-bit burglary or a sexual escapade in the Whitehouse.

The question is again, “What did the President know and when did he know it?” The answer to the question is starting to come out.

It is too late for a re-write, Mr. President. Stop trying!