The Soapbox

Recognizing the Truth, part 1
By Joe Shehan

There are many people out there who would say that the below is not the truth, but more lies coming from my side. Yet, I challenge those who would say that to try to pick a part the actual statements made by this author. I firmly believe that those on the left who are claiming to stand on the side of truth, or that they are speaking truth to power, could not recognize truth if they tried. Not because they are incapable of knowing the truth, but because they have allowed themselves to be deceived. I hope to shed the proverbial light on a few of the topics where I believe their “truth” is nothing more than fabrication.

Lie #1: Bush and Cheney Lied!

On November 6, 2007, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) went to the floor in order to argue the merits of H.R. 333, the Impeachment of Vice President of the United States Richard Cheney, and to force a vote. Listening to his argument for impeachment began to once again reveal the inaccuracies in this overall accusation.

By claiming, without any proof, that the V.P. cherry picked data in order to convince the American people and Congress to go to war with Iraq is both in accurate, but disingenuous. By placing the blame solely on the shoulders of the President and Vice President, it removes the responsibility of every Congressman and Senator who campaigned nationally and within the halls of Congress for the war. However, it over looks several facts about the build up for the war.

On such fact is that 6 different intelligence communities, including our own, reported every piece of information the V.P. and the President used as facts, and that those members of the Select House Intelligence Committee signed off on their findings. To then accuse the President and V.P. of lying after it is shown that these findings were incorrect, is both intellectually dishonest, but also reeks of opportunism in a time of great national turmoil. Let us also not forget that President Clinton just one year before he left office, proclaimed almost the same accusations against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

Before we begin to start the impeachment trials of two of our leaders, let’s try to take a legitimate and unemotional look of the real situation. Yes, the nuclear weapons program was much smaller than we realized, but we still discovered thousands of canisters of biological agents which would be classified as WMDs.

I believe if looked at carefully, one would rationally determine that the decision to go into Iraq, though ill advised, was based on the best intelligence we had at the time, and that the intelligence and not the President or V.P. should be blamed for this mistake.