George W. Bush Is Not A Liar
By Brian Wimer
8-29-03


Please, let's be reasonable. We can't say Bush lied. No we simply mustn't. For the sake of the nation, and the nation's children, and the nation's children's children, it shouldn't be said.
He did not lie when he told the nation in October of 2002 that Saddam Hussein had a "massive stockpile of biological weapons" and "thousands of tons of chemical agents."
No, he prevaricated. George W. is a benevolent prevaricator, yes, a global prevaricator, even a hegemonic prevaricator, perhaps. But not a liar. Never. A fibber. Not a liar.
In March, he told America: "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." There was no doubt he said. And he does not lie.
It doesn't matter that in 2002 Mohamed el-Baradei, chief of the UN nuclear weapons inspection agency, found: "No evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq."
It doesn't matter that in 1995 Saddam's son-in-law, Lieut. Gen. Hussein Kamel, formerly in charge of Iraq nuclear/chemical/biological programs, defected and said that Iraq had "destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons stocks and the missiles to deliver them."
It doesn't matter that after George W. cited a report from The International Atomic Energy Agency saying that that Iraq in 1998 was "six months away" from developing a nuclear weapon - the IAEA's chief spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said: "There's never been a report like that issued from this agency."
Or, that when White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan clarified that George W. was referring to an earlier IAEA report: "In '91, there was a report saying that after the war they found out they were about six months away" - Mr. Gwozdecky reiterated that no such report was issued by the IAEA in 1991, either.
And it doesn't matter, either, that a forum of veteran CIA intelligence analysts issued George W. a letter in March of 2003, titled: " Forgery, Hyperbole, Half-Truth: A Problem," complaining of his, "transparent abuse of intelligence reporting and the dubious conclusions drawn from that reporting" further alleging that the Bush administration was "shaping intelligence for political purposes."
That's all just "revisionist history."
OK, George W. is deceptive to be sure. Dissembling, too. And let's not forget deceitful. He is lacking veracity and frankness, and void of sooth, though seemingly sincere in his proclivity for pretense. But he did not lie.
"(Iraq) possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons," he said. "The threat from Iraq stands alone because it gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place," he said. "If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today -- and we do -- does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him as he grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons," he said. He knew. But, he did not lie.
George W. is, like the great minds of the modern era, an inventor. A fabricator. A mason of flim-flam. A builder of bunkum. He varnishes the truth. He colors the candor. He mints misstatements, Machiavellian misrepresentations and mystifying mis-citations. But, he does not lie.
He told the nation, with nary a wink, "Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biological weapons and is increasing his capabilities to make more ... We could wait and hope ... but I'm convinced that is a hope against all evidence." Indeed, all evidence. He did not once lie. Ever.
He is just an embroiderer, you see. A weaver of deceit. A knitter of cajolery. He simply dresses things up, our George W.. Sure, the Emperor has no clothes, but he does not lie.
"Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles," he said, although Iraq's "illegal" Al Samoud missiles fell to earth at 108. "Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas," he said, although inspectors found only one such model, marginally fitting the description, barely fastened together with tape.
George W. glosses. He, in fact, is glossy, like a USS Abraham Lincoln photo shoot. Mendacious, subrepticious and false. Fraudulent, indeed. But not a liar.
His Vice President Dick Cheney told us in August, "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction." Yet there was doubt. His Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said of Iraq's alleged WMD, "We know where they are." Yet he found none. His Secretary of State Colin Powell said last December to the UN, "We know that in the late 1990s, Iraq built mobile biological weapons production units." Yet, all we found were mobile food labs and two trailers, now assumed to be used for weather balloons. But there is no lie.
George W. stews the evidence. He cooks the books. He is a master chef of disingenuity. A concocter. A mealy-mouthed man of lip-service who cleans the outside of the platter. But not a liar.
Citing forged documents, George W. told America in January, "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." Yet, the CIA knew in March of the previous year that this documentation was fake. Yet, George W's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said the White House was unaware of the CIA's doubts just last week on national television. But, it's not a lie. No, never.
On the world's stage, George W. trumps-up and dumbs-down. He is a sham artist. A master of dramatic fiction. A Tartuffe. He plays the hypocrite, puts on the mask and cries "Wolf...owitz!" But he does not lie.
George sent Powell to the UN with a photograph captioned: "Terrorist Poison and Explosives Factory, Khurmal," allegedly linking Iraq to Al Queda. On the ground, two days later, journalists found what turned out to be an empty tent. But there's no lie here. Heavens no.
Double-tongued, double-dealing and double-faced, indeed. Insidiously perfidious and curiously spurious. Yes. Yes. Yes. But, our boy George W. is no liar to be sure.
George W. insisted, "Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group." On any given day, by golly. He does not lie. He belies, at worst.
He perverted the truth. Distorted and misreported. Shuffled, fenced and played it fast and loose, our athletic Commander in Chief. But he did not lie.
George W. told us all, "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof." And though the evidence was far from clear, he did not lie.
Our man George W. is not a liar like Nixon. Or a liar like Clinton. Or a liar like LBJ. Our George W. is a quack, a fraud, a fake, a charlatan, a counterfeit and a gammon, yes. If it could be said without too much giddiness, he even beats about the bush.
But he would not, could not lie, not in a train, not in the rain, not in a box, not with a fox. Our imperial cowboy George W. is not, nor has he ever been - not in the Texas Funeral Home case, not about who gets what in his tax cuts, not about the "nation's top economists" forecasting "substantial economic growth," not about 9-11 (from whether he saw the first plane hit the towers to what Tenet told him in the months before), not about farmers and estate tax, not about a single solitary thing - never, ever, ever has honest and true George W. been a liar.
Nor have his pants been on fire.
            The Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy"
            Groupe de communication Mulindwas
"avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"

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