Staying the course

I guess hindsight is not always 20/20...

President Bush declared Monday that "knowing what I know today, we still would have gone on into Iraq," signaling that revelations of flaws in the prewar intelligence had not changed his mind about the wisdom of attacking and removing Saddam Hussein from power.

Bush acknowledged that no banned weapons had been found in Iraq, but he said they might still turn up. "We still would have gone to make our country more secure," he said, adding that Hussein "had the capability of making weapons."

This administration never ceases to amaze me. President Bush is basically admitting he would have invaded Iraq no matter what, as many have recently suggested. His arguments would have much more substance if this were not simply the latest in the varying justifications for the war. If you take the nation to war, the American people are required to know why you have made that choice prior to sending our sons and daughters into battle. It is not information that should be dissiminated on a need to know basis. A legitimate debate could have occured in the Congress and the country over whether the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein justified going to war. Unfortunately, President Bush and his "coalition" did not trust the American people enough to relay their true feeling to us and felt they had to, at minimum, emphasize or exaggerate minimal threats, and at worse, simply lie. I simply can not put my trust in someone who does not trust me. Contrary to popular belief, we can handle the truth.

Steering a ship, seeing an iceberg, and running head on into it because you want to "stay the course" does not fit my definition of strong leadership.