An Open Letter to the American Electorate

by Bob Zimmerman, Tiburon, California
September 28, 2003

What the Bush Administration Knew About Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq and When They Knew It

The war, war, and more war wing of the Republican Party has roundly criticized Senator Edward Kennedy for accusing the Bush administration of misleading the American people and Congress about the American invasion of Iraq. Kennedy declared that President George W. Bush had approved war plans to invade Iraq well before the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were tragically struck on September 11, 2001.

Well, hard evidence, unearthed after Kennedy’s accusation, indicates that the Bush administration may be guilty of far greater crimes than covering up just when Bush approved the invasion of Iraq.  Post 9/11,  the Bush administration repeatedly justified its invasion of Iraq on the proposition that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and that those weapons posed and imminent threat to America and to Iraq’s neighbors.

The evidence, compiled by Australian investigative reporter John Pilger, shows that well before the American invasion of Iraq, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Bush National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice had affirmed that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction and posed no imminent threat to America or Iraq’s neighbors.

In Cairo, on February 24, 2001, Secretary Powell declared, “Saddam Hussein has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors.” Then, on May 15, 2001, Powell boasted that America’s containment policy had prevented Hussein from developing weapons of mass destruction or restoring his prior military power. Bush National Security Advisor Rice seconded Powell saying, “We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt.”

Although Pilger’s evidence was widely reported in Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, our media remains mute. If Powell and Rice knew that the Bush administration’s rationale for invading Iraq was a lie, they should have spoken out.

If Pilger’s evidence is factual, the Bush administration has not only lied to the American people and the Congress; they have ordered our troops into harm’s way to prosecute a lie; they are complicit in the murder and mutilation of thousands of innocent women and children; they have burdened American taxpayers with an enormous moral and financial debt; they have reduced America’s credibility with most of the free world to near zero; and they have committed treason.

If the Pilgar evidence of Bush administration lies is solid, nothing short of impeachment is called for.


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Bob Zimmerman, author of:
The American Challenge: Twenty-One Winning Strategies for the 21st Century
bobzimmerman@usa.com

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