The report of two nonprofit journalism organizations found that the Bush administration issued 935 false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two-year period following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The report published by the Center for Public Integrity and the Fund for Independence in Journalism avers that the avalanche of false statements led to a docile press and a softened-up citizenry enabling the administration to launch its war of conquest against Iraq.

Now five years later, we are bogged down in a trillion dollar catastrophe responsible for millions of dead, wounded and exiled Iraqis and upward of 100,000 dead, wounded and mentally broken American military. Military suicide attempts and deaths is at an all-time high. The poisonous legacy of depleted uranium scattered all over Iraq by the war party will haunt the American conscience for centuries, if we are so fortunate to last that long.

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, “You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time,” but 935 false statements makes it a war crime.

Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn