Reply #135: I appreciate your considerate discussion of issues. Living in a

[RaleighNCDUer]

so-called red state, I hear a lot of discussion which is not nearly as calm or considerate.

I can understand your reasoning on many of the issues, though I disagree with them. One point, however, I must point out is that the WMD intelligence was not simply inaccurate. It was manufactured by this administration. CIA reports before the war clearly stated that Saddam had no capacity for building WMDs. The information that was listened to went from our paid agent, Chalabi, directly to the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon, and was then presented as the only reliable information. Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and Bush wanted this war. The only listened to information that supported their view.

This has been common knowledge for months, ever since the administration disavowed Chalabi, or rather since they got from Chalabi what they needed then threw him away.

If I took at face value what the government said, I would likely have supported the war myself -- I come from a military family and served in the Marines, and am not opposed to war in principle recognizing its occasional necessity. But Watergate taught me to look twice at everything any government official says, and where possible to examine the sources.

This administration is simply not credible in either the war in Iraq or the war on terror.