Thank goodness for Sen. John Cornyn, one of the few Republicans willing to stand up and push back against Democratic prevarication. On the floor yesterday he hit Sen. Harry Reid where it hurts:
Before the war, a leading Democrat — in fact, the Democratic leader — clearly stated his position in Iraq. As of this morning, his quotation was still on his Senate Web site. It says:
“What is my position on Iraq? Saddam Hussein is an evil dictator who presents a serious threat to international peace and security. Under Saddam’s rule, Iraq has engaged in far-reaching human rights abuses, been a state sponsor of terrorism, and has long sought to obtain and develop weapons of mass destruction.”
I agree with this statement on the Web site of Senator Reid of today, November 7, 2005. But today we are told by the same Democratic leader that somehow this administration was responsible for manipulating intelligence to authorize the war in Iraq when, in fact, he took the same position at the time that force was used. At least his Web site takes that same position today.
For the record, I would like to read the conclusions of the Intelligence Committee investigation and the Silberman-Robb investigation so there will be no doubt that the Bush administration did not manipulate intelligence to justify this war.
The Intelligence Committee report, which was supported by both Democrats and Republicans, states the following:
“The Committee did not find any evidence that Administration officials attempted to coerce, influence, or pressure analysts to change their judgments related to Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capabilities.”