Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Just the facts . . . Douglas MacKinnon (press secretary to former Sen. Bob Dole, former Pentagon and White House official, and novelist) wrote an op-ed on the 9/11 Commission for today's Baltimore Sun. The title: "Partisan finger-pointing puts us in peril." According to MacKinnon, anyone who denies the following "facts" is simply playing "destructive partisan politics" that threatens our future success in the War on Terror. "It doesn't matter who did what before 9/11. It's over." "By any honest, nonpartisan assessment, our nation is safer now from terrorists than before 9/11." "For the most part, the 9/11 commission is not only a joke but a waste of time and taxpayers' money . . . It's a distraction from our mission in the war against terrorism." "According to the report by David Kay, the administration's chief weapons inspector in Iraq, Saddam Hussein and his top generals believed they possessed weapons of mass destruction because their own terrified scientists lied to them. Regardless if any are ever found, the leadership of one of the most evil regimes in history believed it had such weapons. Revisionist or partisan history aside, it was because of that reality that the United States and coalition forces went to war." [Yes, the WMD fiasco is Saddam's fault. If he had only been more careful in formulating his beliefs.] "The blame for 9/11 rests solely with bin Laden and al-Qaida, period." If anything is indicative of partisan politics, it is to claim something as fact that is an open question. 9:35:47 PM    comment [] Compare Remarks by the President on Bombing in Baghdad (Bush Ranch, Crawford, Texas, August 19, 2003): Iraqi people face a challenge, and they face a choice. The terrorists want to return to the days of torture chambers and mass graves. The Iraqis who want peace and freedom must reject them and fight terror. And the United States and many in the world will be there to help them. USA Today, "Fallujah death toll for week more than 600," April 11, 2004: More than 600 Iraqis have been killed in Fallujah since Marines began a siege against Sunni insurgents in the city a week ago, most of them women, children and the elderly, the head of the city's hospital said Sunday. Statistics and names of the dead were gathered from four main clinics around the city and from Fallujah General Hospital, said hospital's director Rafie al-Issawi. Bodies were being buried in two soccer fields, one of which was visited by an Associated Press reporter. It was filled with row after row of graves. 1:07:44 AM    comment []

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