Hope this doesn't come across as piling on, I know you've got responses from EEE, Ed, and Peter already.

I disagree. Bill O.'s point was that Bush did NOT "lie" to America and the world about Iraq having WMD's as Moore would like us to believe.

It is true Moore wants us to believe that but he's not alone in that desire. Granted he doesn't make the best spokesman for the case and I actually think appearences like the one he made with O'Reilly will cause people not to see his film. He was abrasive.

His point, which MM refused to recognize or accept, was that Bush was told by MI6, Putin and the (pitiful) CIA that Saddam DID have WMD's.

To state that he did have them is true but it's the when did he have them that matters. The fact is that when O'Reilly says that MI6, Russia, and our CIA said he had them he's trotting out a piece of disinformation that the Bush administration is using in a very sly way to paint a false picture that there was some sort of consensus among the world intelligence agencies about Saddam having WMD's and being a danger. This statement is far from the truth. Only Great Britain was willing to back us up in that respect, Putin remember was not gonna put his money where his mouth was so to speak. Also recall there was dissent among the ranks in MI6 and our own intelligence gathering services about what Saddam had. Add to this weapons inspectors saying at the time that Iraq did not have the facilities or stockpiles to build WMD's. Put all this together and what you get is a large collection of people telling the Bush administration and the world that there was no WMD threat from Saddam. Also if you look at the aftermath of Bush and company ignoring their pleas, you see several intelligence people and terror specialists resigning their posts in disgust. There was no consensus that Saddam was a threat, Putin did not buy that. There was a great deal of protest from intelligence sources worldwide about what Bushco was saying. That's why I think it's very dishonest for O'Reilly to say that...but if he buys into it that's fine...but for members of the Bush administration to promote this idea...well that really is criminal. Let's not rewrite history. The facts were well known at the time. Iraq and their fighting forces had been decimated by years of sanctions and were a only perhaps a minor threat in their own region. Saddam's funding of terrorists and terrorist attacks consisted of his giving cash to the Palestinians to go after Israel. The state of research and development facilities for weapons in Iraq was in disarray at best...pathetic at worst. Now despite all the dissenting voices Bush and friends built up this idea that we were in great danger from Iraq even though most of the rest of the planet said that was what makes the grass grow.

In America we love DOOM, Apocalypse, and end of civilization crap. We have so many folks that jump on that bandwagon at the drop of a hat it's ridiculous. Just ask any New Englander what happens in the winter anytime the weatherman says we're gonna get some snow. People rush to the super markets and buy up every loaf of bread and every last drop of milk. We buy into this crap in this country and Bush and friends used and abused us that way. That just seems very obvious to a great many people. Watch the old Steven Speilberg flick "1941" and it's a pretty good take on how people in this country have reacted to Bushco's "Nonstop express train to TERROR!"