THE PRESIDENT STRIKES BACK

In his Veteran's Day speech yesterday at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania, President George W. Bush finally struck back at the critics who have been banging the "Bush lied, people died" drum.

...our debate at home must also be fair-minded. One of the hallmarks of a free society and what makes our country strong is that our political leaders can discuss their differences openly, even in times of war. When I made the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, Congress approved it with strong bipartisan support. I also recognize that some of our fellow citizens and elected officials didn't support the liberation of Iraq. And that is their right, and I respect it. As President and Commander-in-Chief, I accept the responsibilities, and the criticisms, and the consequences that come with such a solemn decision. While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began. (Applause.) Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war. These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community's judgments related to Iraq's weapons programs. They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein. They know the United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing his development and possession of weapons of mass destruction. And many of these critics supported my opponent during the last election, who explained his position to support the resolution in the Congress this way: "When I vote to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat, and a grave threat, to our security." That's why more than a hundred Democrats in the House and the Senate who had access to the same intelligence voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power. (Applause.) The stakes in the global war on terror are too high, and the national interest is too important, for politicians to throw out false charges. (Applause.) These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will. As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them. (Applause.) Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. (Applause.) And our troops deserve to know that whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united, and we will settle for nothing less than victory. (Applause.)

I hope the President and his people will follow this up with a barrage of counterpunches. Release intelligence information from the Pentagon and the CIA that painted the picture of Saddam's regime before the war. Use press releases, speeches and TV spots to highlight statements from all the prominent Democrats who voted in favor of the war that indicated their belief in Saddam's WMD stockpiles and programs. If you can get it, release information about assessments from other intelligence services that also believed in Saddam's WMD capabilities. Finally, challenge the Democrats to "**** or get off the pot". If the President lied, or deliberately misled the Congress and the American people to support going to war in Iraq, then he should be impeached. Let the President and his people demand the Democrats follow the logic of their position. Let them put an impeachment resolution on the floor of the House. The GOP leadership should allow it to go before the appropriate committees for public hearings, then, if the Democrats can prove the President deliberately lied to the American people, it will come to the floor, be debated on, and passed. Once indicted, we can have a trial in the Senate.

Obviously, it won't happen. But I think the President would force the Democrats into a political corner. If they refused to go along with impeachment, they would alienate their base (which is absolutely frothing at the mouth to impeach the guy). The very public re-examination of the case for war would, I think, re-affirm the view that ALMOST EVERYONE in position to know believed Saddam was maintaining some kind of WMD program. Therefore, the President didn't lie, and only the most extreme radicals can maintain that position.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid the President's advisors don't have the balls for it. But it would be quite a spectacle.