Analysis: Bush war reasoning takes a hit

By TERENCE HUNT
AP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT

WASHINGTON -- Already in question, President Bush's justification for war in Iraq has suffered another major setback.

An independent commission threw cold water Wednesday on the administration's insistent claims of a link between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. That comes on top of the administration's failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Both ideas had been central ingredients of Bush's rationale for invading.

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The two key foundations upon which Mr. Bush chose to engage in an unprecented pre-emptive war have now been laid to rest as lies and fabrications. First and foremost, Mr. Bush asserted that Iraq still possessed stockpiles of hundreds of tons of chemical and biological weapons. He also claimed Iraq had an active nuclear weapons program. Neither of these claims were true. Secondly, he implied that Iraq had something to do with 9/11. In fact, Cheney still makes this claim, even after Colin Powell stated it wasn't true. Now the bipartisan 9/11 Commission, after a thorough review of the allegations and evidence has concluded that there is no evidence whatsoever that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11.

This nation has lost 837 of its finest sons and daughters on the basis of these false claims. Taxpayers of this nation have been fleeced hundreds of billions of dollars on the basis of these disreputable allegations. Having unnecessarily inflamed the passions of the one billion people of the Islamic world, Bush's reckless actions has made this world less safe for all of us. Having thumbed his nose at the U.N. and our allies, Bush's pathetic little war has stolen our national credibility from us. Little wonder why professional diplomats and military leaders from past Democratic and Republican administrations are now saying Mr. Bush must be removed from office.

Our war in Afghanistan was fully justified. The world supported us there. The Taliban Afghan government knowingly supported Bin Laden's efforts to attack our precious nation. But Iraq was simply a petty dictatorship fully contained and defanged to a state of political and military irrelevance for over ten years. Iraq posed no threat to the United States. The sanctions and inspections were working. There was no reason to go to war. None whatsoever.