To the editor:

The arguments put forth by Republicans, chiding Democrats for charging Bush with lying when their own President Clinton believed there were WMDs is just another smokescreen thrown up to cover the fact that every statement put forth by them – except that Saddam was a horrible dictator – proved to be false. Clinton was right when he said Saddam was a threat to those around him. In response, he bombed targeted areas believed to be weapon factories. That’s probably the reason why none were ever found “after the war.”

The difference is that Clinton did not destroy the country in the process or cause the deaths of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians as well as thousands of our own devoted troops to depose a dictator who was already powerless and under our thumb. Who’s to say the Iraqis wouldn’t eventually have ousted him themselves? Time was on our side.

If we had spent a fraction of the $200 billion the war is costing us on eliminating bin Laden and other terrorists, the world would truly be a safer place. All we’ve done so far is add fuel to the fire.

Steve Crockett,

Lawrence