Mitt Knows -- Not

Willful ignorance is S.O.P. for the GOP candidates. This guy is a complete joke, or worse.

Mitt Romney, in the Republican presidential candidates debate last night, said that the reason we went to war in Iraq was that Saddam Hussein would not let weapons inspectors in.

That's right up there with Gerald Ford's gaffe, saying that "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe."

Romney's statement is manifestly not true. It is obviously not true. Did Hans Blix not exist?

It is true that the Iraqi regime was, by nature and practice, opaque. But it is also true that the inspectors got in, got access everywhere they asked to go, and that they found virtually nothing. It is also true that they wanted to continue their inspections until they could shine a light on any remaining gray areas and say with more absolute assurance, as was discovered after the invasion, that there were no weapons of mass destruction or any active programs to make any. It is also true that when the inspectors couldn't find weapons, that Colin Powell changed the rules and said it was not enough, that Saddam had to prove that they had all been destroyed. Then George Bush changed them again and said the only way to avoid war was for Saddam to abdicate, and gave him 48 hours to get out of town.

It is not only true that the inspectors got in, it is also a matter of record that it was the United States that demanded that the inspectors leave.

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