USA: IRAQ WAR

NY Times OP/ED: The Faulty Weapons Estimates

There seems little doubt that the Bush administration's prime justification for invading Iraq — the fear that Saddam Hussein harbored weapons of mass destruction — was way off base. Nine months of fruitless searching have made that increasingly clear.

But last week three new reports cast further doubt on the administration's reckless rush to invade Iraq. Taken together, they paint a picture far different from the one presented to Americans early last year. They depict a world in which Saddam Hussein, though undeniably eager to make Iraq a threatening world power, was far from any serious steps to do that. The reports strengthen our conviction that whatever threat Iraq posed did not require an immediate invasion without international support. And they underline the importance of finding out how far the Bush administration's obsession with the Iraqi dictator warped the American intelligence reports that did so much to convince Congress and the public that the attack was justified.

"Die NY Times fordert nun eine unabhängige Untersuchung darüber, wie es zum Irak Krieg gekommen ist. Die NY Times hätte sich besser vor einem halben Jahr darüber Gedanken gemacht, als Sie fast täglich Regierungs-Propaganda auf Seite 1 abdruckte"