[Mavdog]

As Kerry stated during the debate when asked if Bush "lied" to the American public, there is no reason to make such a claim. I, and from Kerry's clear words on the subject Kerry himself, don't believe that Bush lied to us about Iraq.

The criticism is that Bush was selective about the information that he chose to believe. There were voices inside our government as well as outside our government who not only were expressing pessimism about Hussein's pursuit and possession of WMD, but there were many who contradicted the Bush assertion of Iraq's connection to the War on Terror. As the article on the missle tubes which was in the NYTimes this weekend shows, the Bush administration was quick to latch onto those items which supported their goal of a war and equally quick to dismiss those items which would undermine that goal. The accusation is that Bush fell victim to tunnel vision, ignoring what would have otherwise produced caution and reexamination. In that regard he failed.

Bush truly believed what he was saying, so no he did not lie. That is not to say that his decisionmaking was (and it seems continues to be) based on selective information and intelligence, ignoring what did not support the conclusion he wanted.