Using the victims

The Washington Post reports today that Bush met with victims of Saddam's rule. While it is a profound experience to talk to those who have been victimized by totalitarian governments, it reeks of an attempt at political gain on the backs of the victims. With support for the war in Iraq at a low point, Bush is trotting out the victims of Saddam to give himself political cover for manipulating intelligence to get us into the war. We did not go to remove a "tyrant" as Bush likes to call Saddam, for if we had, we would have also had to go into Sudan, Libya, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and the list goes on. We went to Iraq on the claims of the administration that Saddam had WMD. That was the reason and any attempts to shift the explanation to anything else is dishonest. Therefore, it seems particularly sick for Bush to use the victims of Saddam as political cover to bolster his reputation. They have been through enough from one leader. They don't need to be exploited by another.