Downtown Austin
Why Were We Lied To?
RECEIVED Tue., March 8, 2005
Dear Editor,
Nice try, Carl [“Postmarks,” March 4]. But it was nukes, not chemical weapons the Bush administration was lying to us about (as in scare talk about a "smoking gun turning into a mushroom cloud,” aluminum tubes, and yellow cake). It was general knowledge that Saddam had chemical weapons and that he used them extensively against the Iranians during his war with them in the Eighties. Yet the Raygun administration was quite happy to do business with him while it was well known he was committing these atrocities. For example, in a meeting with Saddam in 1983, Rummy told him that the U.S. would assist him in building an oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan. And now we have all this talk 20 years later about him being a bad boy? The real crime here is the Republicans taking advantage of the general level of ignorance of world affairs in this country to frame a tinpot dictator with a crumbling army as a threat to the United States. So, I still want to know, why were we lied to? Was it the oil? Was it to get back at Saddam for his attempt on papa Bush's life? Or was it just right-wing ideology?
Nice try, Carl [“Postmarks,” March 4]. But it was nukes, not chemical weapons the Bush administration was lying to us about (as in scare talk about a "smoking gun turning into a mushroom cloud,” aluminum tubes, and yellow cake). It was general knowledge that Saddam had chemical weapons and that he used them extensively against the Iranians during his war with them in the Eighties. Yet the Raygun administration was quite happy to do business with him while it was well known he was committing these atrocities. For example, in a meeting with Saddam in 1983, Rummy told him that the U.S. would assist him in building an oil pipeline from Iraq to Jordan. And now we have all this talk 20 years later about him being a bad boy? The real crime here is the Republicans taking advantage of the general level of ignorance of world affairs in this country to frame a tinpot dictator with a crumbling army as a threat to the United States. So, I still want to know, why were we lied to? Was it the oil? Was it to get back at Saddam for his attempt on papa Bush's life? Or was it just right-wing ideology?
Srinivas Nedunuri