Editorial: Candor isn’t found in Bush’s dictionary

Tuesday, July 13, 2004 | 8:51 a.m.

On Friday the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a scathing report that offered further confirmation that the United States went to war with Iraq based on faulty intelligence. This flawed intelligence, the bipartisan report found, exaggerated the threat that Saddam Hussein's weapons programs posed to our nation.

So, in the face of the growing evidence that this war was made on false claims, is the White House displaying contrition for an invasion that has cost the lives of nearly 900 U.S. soldiers? Hardly. On Monday Bush contended the war in Iraq was justified because it removed a regime that had the "capability" of producing weapons of mass destruction. Of course, Bush neglected to mention that we haven't invaded Iran and North Korea, countries more capable of producing WMD than Iraq was.

There is no way that Congress would have gone to war if it had known that Saddam didn't have stockpiles of WMD and that there weren't strong ties between Iraq and al-Qaida. And for Bush to try to employ political spin on these revelations, when candor is what's needed instead, is self-destructive. George W. Bush sold himself as a straight shooter when he campaigned during 2000, but his continuing refusal to own up to his failures involving Iraq raises more doubts about his leadership.

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