Letter: War started with false premises

Friday, May 14, 2004 | 8:53 a.m.

The sorry mess in Iraq demands that all Americans take an honest look at why we are in Iraq in the first place.

We were told:

Saddam has weapons of mass destruction that he plans to use on us. False.

Saddam is developing nuclear bomb capability and poses an "imminent threat" to the U.S. False.

We were told that there was a direct connection between the al-Qaida and Saddam and 9-11. False.

Had Bush not unilaterally gone to war against the Iraqi people, we would not have more than 760 GIs killed and we would not have nearly 3,000 GIs wounded and 19,000 innocent Iraqi women and children killed.

And we would not have the growing prisoner abuse scandal killing our good reputation around the globe.

As Bush said so often during his campaign, "I will bring accountability back to the White House." The finger pointing should end because this scandal rests squarely on the doorstep of this White House.

JAMES J. POUPARD

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