History and why we need it:

Ben...you know what they say about the past and history? Those who forget the past are doomed to relive it. I agree that we do not need to leave our ideals as a Country behind, but how can a few people make a difference? My naive self would love to stand up and scream what you have written, and like magic, people will wake up.
I guess I can hope.

Perhaps the information from the Administration was limited to the general public leading up to Mar 2003. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, given that there are means and methods included in various reports that put the lives of agents at risk. I will stipulate that BOTH SIDES limit the information flow, and continue to do so. It is up to the citizens of our Great Republic to SEEK OUT such information as is available to us, make our own decisions, then act.

The Congress and the Administration had access to the same information and reached the same conclusion: Iraq under Hussein was no longer to be tolerated. You can cite any number of reasons, but the decision was the same - and (at least theoretically) made with better information than we had. Was it slanted one way or the other? No one can state unequivically that it was or was not, we are dealing with intentions and capabilities here, not numbers. When dealing with capabilities and intentions, you look at what a potential enemy has, assume it works, and assume that he will use them as he has in the past.

For example: During the Cold War, we looked at Soviet Tanks, counted their number, inferred some of their capabilities based on apparent design and assumed that if given the chance this is what they could do. We then developed our strategy and tactics to reflect this threat. A similar approach was taken vis a vis Iraq with the additional factor that we had no assets on the ground! Everything had to be based on satellite intelligence, what limited electronic intel could be developed by aircraft, and what disaffected Iraqi scientists and military officers had to say. We KNEW he had posessed WMD at one point, we KNEW he had used them before (both against the Iranians and his own Khurds), we DID NOT know that they were gone. Therefore it was prudent to assume that a) he still had them, b) they were operational; c) that he would use them.

Sigh...the question now is where to go from here, isn't it?