Robert Wright posts:

An alert viewer questions one of my two indictments of Bush--the one alleging that Bush was wrong to claim that Saddam Hussein precipitated war by defying an ultimatum. The ultimatum I had in mind was the demand that Saddam let weapons inspectors into Iraq (Saddam's compliance with which Bush had once before demonstrated no recollection of). The viewer notes that, right before the war, Bush said Saddam could avoid war by surrendering power, leaving the country, etc. Well, if that's the ultimatum Bush had in mind, then he's technically off the hook. But if that's the ultimatum he had in mind, he didn't exactly go out of his way to make that clear. Here is what he said: "It is true that Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing and using weapons of mass destruction. It is true that he systematically concealed those programs, and blocked the work of U.N. weapons inspectors. It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong. As your President, I am responsible for the decision to go into Iraq. Yet it was right to remove Saddam Hussein from power. He was given an ultimatum -- and he made his choice for war." My interpretation of Bush's meaning continues to strike me as the more plausible of the two.