Deception

Frank and explicit—that is the right line to take when you wish to conceal your own mind and confuse the minds of others.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), British statesman and novelist.
Sybil (1845).
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Rice says report on Saddam
validates move to wage war
By Bill Sammon
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said
yesterday that the United Nations would have
backed the war against Iraq had it known about
newly discovered abuses by Saddam Hussein.
Miss Rice said a report to Congress last week by
David Kay of the Iraq Survey Group showed several
instances of Saddam lying about his weapons
programs to a team of U.N. inspectors led by Hans
Blix. The team's failure to ferret out specific,
definitive evidence of weapons caused the United
Nations to balk at the prospect of war last year, she
said.
"Had any one of these examples been discovered
last winter, the Security Council would have had to
meet," Miss Rice said. "And I believe that they
would have had no choice but to take exactly the
course that President Bush followed."
As part of a White House effort to gain support
for Iraq's reconstruction, Miss Rice highlighted
further misdeeds by the Saddam regime.
"Right up until the end, Saddam Hussein
continued to torture and oppress his people," she
said in a speech to the Chicago Council on Foreign
Relations. "Right up until the end, Saddam Hussein
lied to the Security Council.
"And let there be no mistake, right up to the end,
Saddam Hussein continued to harbor ambitions to
threaten the world with weapons of mass destruction
and to hide his illegal weapons activities," she
added.
Frustrated by the media's focus on setbacks in
postwar Iraq, the administration is rolling out a more
positive message blitz that continues with speeches
today by Mr. Bush and tomorrow by Vice President
Dick Cheney. One of the goals is to curb
second-guessing of the president's decision to oust
Saddam.
The effort to portray Mr. Kay's report as
vindication of the president's decision to wage war
did not impress the media, which continue to
emphasize U.S. military casualties in Iraq.
"Can you make the bad there go away just by
talking up the good?" a reporter asked White House
Press Secretary Scott McClellan at a briefing
yesterday.
"It's important to keep the American people
informed about what we are doing," the spokesman
replied. "So there will be a sustained effort to keep
the American people informed."
He added: "We are in a period where we are
accelerating our efforts. There are a lot of important successes to point out in
Iraq."
For example, he said, the administration is gradually convincing other nations to
send troops to Iraq to help U.S. forces establish order while a new government is
established. Turkey is the latest country to offer troops.
"I keep hearing in the press that the United States is going it alone — what a
funny thing to say," said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "We have 32
countries working with us in Iraq.
"Eleven of our 19 NATO nations have forces in Iraq today," he added. "NATO
is assisting Poland as it prepares to lead a multinational division in south-central
Iraq, comprised of forces from 17 different nations in that one division."
But Democrats maintain that the United States is shouldering the burden of
peacekeeping alone. And their complaints about Mr. Bush's request for $20 billion
to rebuild Iraq's infrastructure persist.
"Why should American troops take virtually every risk and the American
taxpayer pay virtually every dollar of the cost of what is happening in Iraq?" said
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.
But Miss Rice said the reconstruction and democratization of Iraq are natural
outgrowths of a war that now appears more justifiable than ever.
"Those who question the wisdom of removing Saddam Hussein from power and
liberating Iraq should ask themselves: How long should Saddam Hussein have
been allowed to torture the Iraqi people?" she said.
"How long should Saddam Hussein been allowed to remain the greatest source
of instability in one of the world's most vital regions?" she added. "How long
should Saddam Hussein been allowed to provide support and safe haven to
terrorists?"
She also said the establishment of an Arab democracy in the Middle East is vital
to U.S. national security interests. But she cautioned that such changes will not
occur rapidly.
"Achieving real transformation in the Middle East will require a commitment of
many years," Miss Rice said. "We must remain patient.
"Our own history should remind us that the union of democratic principle and
practice is always a work in progress."