Lynn C. Woolsey: “the Secretary of State was on the talk show circuit this past weekend and said something extraordinary about the reason…”

“the Secretary of State was on the talk show circuit this past weekend and said something extraordinary about the reason we invaded Iraq. These are Secretary Rice's words: ``I understand that Americans see violence on their screens. They continue to see Americans killed. But I would ask that people remember why we are there.'' Secretary Rice continued: ``We are there because having overthrown a brutal dictator who was a destabilizing force in the Middle East, we are trying to help the Iraqis create a stable foundation for democracy and a stable foundation for peace.'' I would have liked to have seen Ms. Rice and the rest of the Bush national security team come before the Congress, the American people, and the world community with this argument in late 2002 and early 2003. My guess is they would have gotten roughly 25 votes in this body to authorize the President to go to war. Actually, they didn't get mine, or two-thirds of the Democrats; but they got enough votes to go to war. But, of course, the Republicans were too smart for that. To make their case for war, they needed something that would scare the pants off everyone in this Congress and in this country. So we heard a lot of tall tales about aluminum tubes, uranium from Niger, and reconstituted nuclear weapons. Secretary Rice herself engaged in the ultimate fear mongering when she said, ``We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.'' When it came time to close the sale, they sent Ms.…”