The Need to be Sure

George Tenet believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Last night on 60 Minutes, he told the American people that he was a man of integrity, and did not deserve to take the blame for the faulty intelligence that led us into the disaster that we now face in Iraq. But holding the position of the Director of the CIA, and advising the leaders in this country about something as serious as war, seems to me, a thing that you should not only believe to be true, but something you can prove to be true. Here is a guy who missed all of the warning signs of September 11th, provided the faulty intelligence that led our nation into a complete disaster, and now he's trying to convince us that he is blameless. There were those of us who had no access to secret intelligence, ordinary citizens who believed that there was not a grave threat, and even if Iraq did have some nerve gas or anthrax, there was not a threat to America, or even Iraq's neighbor's.

I'm sorry George, if you're going to war, you need to be sure.

Americans should consider modern history, and reflect on the last two disastrous conflicts, and the events leading up to the beginning of hostilities.

In the case of the Vietnam War, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, drew the North Vietnamese into an attack on US naval ships because of covert military actions that the US had taken against some North Vietnamese military targets. The American press never learned that the first attack in the Gulf of Tonkin was provoked by these covert actions, and the second attack never actually happened. Instead, Lyndon Johnson was given the Tonkin Resolution by Congress which authorized the use of force, and began the sad period in our history known as the Vietnam War.

The official number of American soldiers killed in Vietnam is 58,202.

The conflict in Iraq is more clear in our memory, and less bloody. But what a difference good information would have made in both cases.

Next time, and I pray there won't be a next time, Americans need to be sure.

| +Save/Share | |