Every time is ask for help in punching up and editing a letter, the kos community is right there to improve it by fay.
Here we go again and have at it!
Here is the offending LTE to be rubutted.
President Bush is a leader
Mark Twain once said facts are stubborn things. In a recent letter ("War truth ... finally") the Bush administration was accused of "fixing the evidence" and "lying to America" to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Let's look at the facts.
Fact 1: The "fixed" evidence was the numerous violations of the United Nations sanctions including the chronic disruption of the U.N. weapons inspectors.
Fact 2: The "lying" to America was the premise that Iraq possessed nuclear or long-range ballistic missiles, biological and chemical weapons, again, in violation of U.N. sanctions against Iraq. On June 3 The Associated Press reported "... that material that could be used to make biological or chemical weapons and banned long-range missiles has been removed from 109 sites in Iraq," according to U.N. weapons inspectors' report dated June 2.
Fact 3: The president takes an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.
On Sept. 20, 2001, the president said before Congress, "We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism," and Congress acknowledged the threat and authorized the use of military force. That doesn't sound like "fixing the evidence," and it doesn't sound like "lying to America" either. It sounds like a president willing to be a leader.
My reply in need of the edit and punch.....
Editors:
What a laughable and feeble rebuttal offered by Mr. Darrell Burk's letter of July 24th.
Mr. Burke offered 3 "facts", each out of context and meaningless as they relate to the proven Bush lies chronicled in the multitude of documents generally referred to as the Downing Street Memos.
The fixing of evidence has nothing to do with UN Resolutions, his first "fact". Bush bypassed the UN to start this war. This action is what prevented the weapons inspectors continued unfettered access to sites to do their inspections as call for by some of those very UN resolutions.
The most disgusting part of Burke's misrepresentation was offered as his second "fact" referencing a June 2nd AP story about material removed from 109 sites in Iraq. Here are real facts Burke omitted from that story. The material removed was not prohibited WMD, which every report shows Iraq did not posses. These materials were items like pumps, valves and fermenters that were classified as "dual use" items. These sites had been inspected by UNMOVIC and were under UN lock and key and we failed to secure the sites. Another fact is the material was "removed" by looting putting it into unknown hands, making us less safe.
His 3rd fact is true. Congress and the world united after September 11th in our efforts to capture or kill Al Qaeda terrorist. And yes, it was your "leader" who "fixed the evidence", "lied to America" to mislead us into Iraq allowing Bin Laden and company to escape.