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Bush’s War Story Is All Wrong
President Bush likes to say that if his war critics had their way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power. But if we are to believe the president, the same thing can be said about him: if he had had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power.

A dominant theme of Bush’s case for war against Iraq has been that it was forced on the United States. It was a war of necessity because Saddam refused to comply with UN resolutions calling for him to dismantle weapons of mass destruction. As Bush summarized his pre-war position on Meet the Press February 8, “We expect you, Mr. Saddam Hussein, to disarm, your choice to disarm, but if you don’t, there will be serious consequences.”

What if Saddam had complied with the resolutions? Bush’s position implies that Saddam would have remained in power and no war would have occurred. After all, the resolutions did not demand “regime-change.” But if Bush was prepared to leave him in power, why does he now list Saddam’s brutality against the Iraqi people as grounds for war?

There’s only one way to resolve this paradox: Bush is not telling the truth....