Wrong Day to Rationalize War

I am appalled at President Bush's use of his Veterans Day speech to politically attack those who disagree with his invasion of Iraq. Can this president never let our fighting men and women be the center of attention, be the ones honored and have a day totally dedicated to them? Bush's posturing about how much he cares for them rings false when he uses their day to attempt to rationalize his past actions. He has misused and abused our brave fighting men and women, and his war has led to the deaths of more than 2,050 and the injuring of thousands more.He said it is irresponsible to rewrite the history of how the war began although we are now finding that we were misled by the White House with the help of the media. Bush repeats that “everyone” believed Saddam Hussein had WMDs. However, everyone except Bush was willing to wait for the inspectors to do their job.Bush denies that his administration misrepresented intelligence to gain the support of Congress, even though conflicting information questioned the wisdom of that invasion, and only someone of great arrogance with a preconceived intent would have gone forward.Evidently, Bush feels it is more important that he shore up his ever falling numbers in the polls than it is for him to come clean with the American people and spend just one day focused on the truth.

BETTIE J. REINA

Milmay

Letter published in the Press of Atlantic City, November 18, 2005

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/opinion/letters/story/5706255p-5723800c.html