A year later, we know the truth

Editor's note: Editing of this letter, published Tuesday, inadvertently changed its meaning. This version restores the writer's intent.

To the editor:

It's been over a year since George Bush sought congressional authority for his military invasion of Iraq. Caving to public pressure generated by alarming White House intelligence interpretations, Congress granted authority for the president to undertake military action but only if the national security of the United States were threatened.

A year later, we all know there were no Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, no nuclear capability and no links with al-Qaida or the 9-11 attack. These were all lies. There never was a threat to national security. However, since an arrogant George Bush pranced across the aircraft carrier declaring hostilities were over, more Americans have died than during the invasion itself, casualties mount and billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been wasted. All the invasion has done is eliminate one of many dictators previously supported by the United States, promote terrorism and turn Iraq into a haven for terrorists, all the while making a few U.S. executives very wealthy.

Despite this debacle, members of the Bush administration remain uncontrite. They cycle between maintaining long discredited lies and denying they ever said them. But we know this war absolutely never was about terrorism, and 9-11 was merely a justification for war planned years ago by Bush appointees Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Perle and others from the Project for a New American Century. Consistent with PNAC goals, this war sacrifices our military personnel to promote U.S. interests and global domination in the service of greater U.S. corporate profit.

ALAN JOURNET

Cape Girardeau