To the editor:

During a correspondents dinner in Washington last month, George Bush presented a “White House Election Year Album” slide show in which he “poked fun” at himself and his staff. A series of photos showed him on his knees, looking behind drapes, and moving furniture around the Oval Office. Comments included: “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere,” “Nope, no weapons over there!” “Maybe under here?”

I can’t speak for Mr. Bush, but before I could send people to their deaths and then joke about the lameness of my reasons for doing so, I’d have to be a sociopath.

Didn’t anyone on his staff pause and think of the hundreds of families whose loved ones have returned from Iraq damaged or in body bags? That many of the grieving have only “died defending his/her country” to cling to? And shouldn’t that actually mean something? Didn’t anyone think to remind him that thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians were killed during an attack we justified with false claims of the imminent threat of those nonexistent WMDs, so maybe this isn’t good joke material?

We’re accustomed to the lies and the sickening pattern of ego, greed and personal agenda — rather than facts, fairness, or foresight — shaping policy. So I’ve been grateful every time the truth and the true nature of this administration is exposed. I took no pleasure in this, however. When I think of the families, I can’t sleep at night.

Christy Kennedy,

Lawrence