Pelosi was the Democrats’ leader in the House in March 2003 when she said
“My position has not changed. I do not believe that going to war now is the best way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction.”
This statement accepted as fact that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, like nuclear or biochemical weapons. Pelosi thought that these WMD could be controlled without yet going to war, although she didn’t rule it out:
“Before going to war we must exhaust all alternatives, such as the continuation of inspections, diplomacy and the leverage provided by the threat of military action.”
She voted against the war, seemingly to her credit. Nonetheless, her recent statements prove without question that she failed morally, not simply because she knew that the pro-war side was going to win the vote, but because she herself lied to Americans and the world about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
This week, at a CNN Townhall, Pelosi, citing her position as ranking member on the intelligence committee that gave her access to intelligence, said the following:
“…so, I knew there were no nuclear weapons in Iraq. It just wasn’t there…The intelligence did not show that-that-that was the case. So I knew it was a misrepresentation to the public…”
I accept as true her statement today in December, 2019 that she knew there were no WMD in Iraq in March, 2003, because she did have access to insider intelligence and ultimately no WMD were ever found. This means that Pelosi lied to the public in 2003 when she said “I do not believe that going to war now is the best way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction”. She knew Bush was lying about the existence of WMD, which her statement accepts as fact, and she joined in the lie. She didn’t inform the public that a large-scale misrepresentation or lie was being perpetrated and had been perpetrated for months on end. She had to know, because of her elite intelligence position, that the intelligence community was instrumental in furthering this lie campaign.
Pelosi’s impeachment inconsistency (no on Bush, yes on Trump) should not divert us from the much, much greater failing of Pelosi, which is that she outright lied in support of the pro-war justification. This far outweighs her nay vote in 2003 because if she had spoken out and revealed that Iraq had no WMD, she could have swayed many more votes to the “No” side and perhaps have prevented this immoral war that did such tremendous damage to human life and property.
If Pelosi could lie in 2003 about such an absolutely critical matter that involves the lives and deaths of so many people and exhibit no remorse about it in 2019, can we believe a word she says today about why Trump should be impeached, when his case involves no truly critical or even substantial matter?
Nancy Pelosi didn’t do her job in 2003. She didn’t represent us. She misrepresented to us, and that is the term she used, misrepresentation. She’s misrepresenting again today.
Maybe Pelosi’s rationale is that the intelligence material was secret, known only to a select few like her as one of the Gang of Four, which she mentions in that Townhall clip. All that proves is that she didn’t have the guts to do what had to be done, which was tell the truth and stop the war. She valued her own position more highly than the millions of lives she could have saved. Pelosi is a selfish power-loving coward. Her statements are not routinely trustworthy or believable. They have to be scrutinized carefully because when put to the test in an extremely important matter that seriously affected the general welfare, she placed her own position and power above all else.
9:45 am on December 12, 2019