Administration rewriting history

To the editor:

Orwellian comparisons to the Bush administration are a dime-a-dozen cliche these days. However, they continue to be frighteningly applicable. This metaphor will remain legitimate as long as the White House continues trying to rewrite history and distort facts to suit it ends.

In a stunning move, the administration is trying to blame Congress, specifically Democratic candidates John Kerry and John Edwards, for voting for the Iraq invasion. When intelligence was initially provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee, that committee deemed it insufficient to justify a pre-emptive invasion. The White House then used fabricated and doctored intelligence to incite fear in the public and bullied Congress and the American people with "for us or against us" rhetoric. This should scare anyone who has opened a history book.

Only after these deceptions and accusations did Congress agree to grant authority for military action. The resolution itself demands that any military action be undertaken in collaboration with the U.N. Security Council and should be used only if our national security was in immediate peril. Today the United Nations remains divided over American unilateral actions. It is glaringly evident that Iraq was never the menace that Bush made it out to be.

Lies were told. Promises were not kept. And it has cost hundreds of American lives, thousands of American casualties and billions of American taxpayer dollars. We can no longer continue to pay so dearly for an administration that is making up the story as it goes along.

PAUL BOTCH

Cape Girardeau