Oh, Absolutely

From a 20/20 interview to air on Friday:

Barbara Walters: This was our main reason for going in. So now when we read, "Okay, the search is over," what do you feel?

President Bush: Well, like you, I felt like we'd find weapons of mass destruction. Or like many, many here in the United States, many around the world, the United Nations thought he had weapons of mass destruction, and so therefore, one, we need to find out what went wrong in the intelligence gathering. Saddam was dangerous. And . . . the world was safer without him in power.

Walters: But was it worth it if there were no weapons of mass destruction? Now that we know that that was wrong? Was it worth it?

Bush: Oh, absolutely.

First, why did "many, many here in the United States", the world and the United Nations think he had WMDs? Because YOU TOLD THEM HE DID! Their reliance on your unequivocal statements, assumed to be based on knowledge from the world's most sophisticated intelligence apparatus, cannot now be used to support your mistake. Second, "what went wrong" was not in the "intelligence gathering", but in the intelligence analysis, wherein your minions interfered, and presented only those interpretations that would support your pre-chosen policy. (Unless by "gathering" you mean "fabrication", in which case I'd say that "what went wrong" is that making up stories about uranium purchases from Niger, and mobile bio-weapons labs only works until someone can find out the truth.)

We had intelligence that should have told us before we went to war that there was no cause to go to war. The reason it didn't wasn't that we failed to gather the data. The problem was that you wanted to go to war, so your team ignored it. And worse, you then presented the American people and the world with a manufactured crisis, false certainty, and horrifying predictions, in a profound abuse of power.

"Saddam was dangerous"? Please, Mr. President. We've just officially given up the effort to find proof he was dangerous. That's the point of this story. Without WMDs, he wasn't dangerous to those of us who didn't live in Iraq. Would you please stop saying that he was? If you really want to go with the whole new "bringing democracy" fiction, go with it, and abandon the now-discredited "Saddam was dangerous" story, OK? (Speaking of bringing democracy, how's that election coming?)

"Absolutely" worth it. Thousands of lives and maimings, torture, destruction, worldwide loss of credibility and trust, massive propaganda value handed to our enemies, conversion of a controlled authoritarian state into a failed, terrorist-breeding one, erosion of our military capability with effects lasting for years, and a huge increase in our national debt. All to topple a tin-horn dictator who really didn't pose a serious threat. Worth it? Mr. President, you are "absolutely" insane.