Mass Deception on Iraq Weapons Continues

For the first time yesterday, George Bush publicly "appeared to back away from his once-emphatic claim that weapons of mass destruction would be found in Iraq." In response to questions about former chief Iraq weapons inspector David Kay's assertions that Iraq destroyed its WMDs years before the U.S. invasion, Bush said the war was justified because Saddam Hussein posed "a grave and gathering threat to America and the world." As WMD claims further lose validity, the administration is now trying "to justify the war as good for humanity." Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch reported that human rights claims could not justify the Iraq war, since "the war was not necessary to stop... atrocities."