Western Courier

Mr. Florio,

Let's assume for a moment that all of the things you've accused France & Russia of doing are completely true.

Their opposition to the war in Iraq still doesn't justify it.
The war was sold to the American people as a security issue. We were told that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. None were found!

Now, the Bush administration is trying to justify the war by trying to make a connection between Saddam's Iraq and terrorism. This is a shameful attempt to again deceive the people Mr. Bush works for.

Sometimes he also says that the war was justified to promote humanity and democracy in Iraq.

Frankly, Mr. Florio, the president has flip-flopped on the issue so much my head is spinning. We don't know why Mr. Bush took us to war! We may not know the real reasons for many years. In the mean time, more Americans will die & billions and billions more dollars will be spent. And the outcome may not be different.

I suspect that the real truth of the situation with France & Russia is that their motives for opposing the war are more complex than your scenario suggests. Why do you think that given our understanding of human nature, our motives are completely selfless & those of our allies are motivated completely by commercial interests?

The fact is that America has been guilty of more than our share of shady conduct when our national interests made it a priority.