John LeBoutillier
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002

1) The somber tone was meant to show how serious the topic of war is. And it is serious.

2) The speech was a compendium of reports, stories and anecdotes about the "homicidal dictator" who, indeed, is a "student of Stalin."

3) But - and this was the speech's big failing - there was nothing new. What Team Bush needs in order to move this argument in the U.N. - and in the court of world public opinion - is to produce hard intelligence - dates, facts, pictures, tapes - which prove the case. For example, Mr. Bush talked of an al-Qaeda leader hospitalized this year in Baghdad. Well, why not tell us his name, the hospital he was in and for how long? SPECIFICITY DISPELS SKEPTICISM!

4) For those of us who read everything they can about Saddam's Reign of Terror, there indeed was nothing new in the speech. In fact, certain things were left out. For example, what about the report of the top Baghdad nephrologist (kidney specialist) who was secretly whisked off to Afghanistan a couple of years ago to treat a sick Osama bin Laden? Why don't our Intel agencies pin that down? If they did - and thus prove a direct Saddam-Osama link - then the case against Iraq would be a slam-dunk.

5) The speech last night also was the perfect opportunity to use satellite photographs and radio intercepts to reveal what Saddam is really up to. Claims from the President that Saddam intends to use pilotless planes to send WMD (weapons of mass destruction) over the the USA are mistaken. Yes, Saddam hopes to use WMD against his neighbors with such planes; but the range to the USA and our air defenses are prohibitive.

6) The fact that the President did not use any such intelligence information once again shows how inept the CIA/DIA/NSA are. Why has the President kept a Clinton appointee - and long-time Democratic Senate staffer - as Director of Central Intelligence? What does George Tenet have on the Bushes anyway?

7) I harp on this need for hard facts and dispassionate intelligence information because this Administration a year ago went out of its way to de-link Saddam from 9/11. Now, all of a sudden, they are moving toward a different position. Pentagon advisor Richard Pearle on "Meet the Press" on Sunday claimed to have seen new intel information proving that several of the 9/11 hijackers had repeated contacts with the Iraqis. OK, show it to the world!

8) The latest Gallup poll echoes a recent Fox News poll: support for the war in the USA has actually declined since this debate began. It has gone down from 66 percent this summer to 53 percent now.

9) Specific facts - and less heated rhetoric and constantly changing rationales for war - would rally public support for such a war.