Norman Podhoretz On The Run Up To The War

Norman Podhoretz has published an extensive essay in the coming December issue of Commentary attacking the "Bush Lied" crowd with chapter and verse about what was "known" by all parties about Iraqi WMD before the war. The fact that all the intelligence agencies of the West, all the Senators and Congressmen and talking heads were wrong is disappointing and requires the remedies suggested by the 9/11 Commission, which have sadly been ignored by the Administration. But it does not make the President a liar. Only his conscience can know for sure, but the absence of any such evidence, and piles of evidence to the contrary, has not stopped the shameless Bush-haters.

Witness for example Josh Marshall, who in his reference to the Podhoretz piece suggests that his readers skip it (why confuse their little minds) and instead read Kevin Drum's alleged refutation of Podhoretz. The problem with this suggestion is that Drum barely even mentions any specifics of the Commentary article and hangs his so called refutation on the handful of doubts which appeared in the record in the two months just before the war.

Please, dear reader, do read all of the above links with an open mind and see where you stand. For myself, the Podhoretz piece, together with the 9/11 Commission Report, the Senate Intelligence Committee Report, the Robb-Silbermann Report and the Butler Report from the UK provide clear proof that the only infamous liar in this matter is the sainted Amb. Joseph C. Wilson IV.

By the way, how long will it be before the Democrats put Wilson up for Congress in a district they calculate is winable? That of course would expose Wilson to direct debate on what he and his wife did and what he said. Much tougher than questioning by a largely friendly press. Never mind.