Letter from Harry Reid

I just got an email from (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid who says the following:

We've all heard their heated rhetoric on Iran.

George Bush, Dick Cheney, other administration officials, and right wing pundits using phrases such as "imminent threat" and talking about the potential for World War III. Now we know these are just the latest in a long line of inaccurate and misleading comments -- the same type of misinformation that got us into the Iraq war.

All 16 of our nation's intelligence agencies have concluded that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program four years ago. This finding, contained in the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that was released yesterday, further diminished the credibility of the President, who has a dangerous record of overstating threats.

Of course, instead of announcing a new diplomatic offensive, George Bush's response was to state, "the NIE doesn't do anything to change my opinion about the danger Iran poses to the world." Well, maybe his opinion hasn't changed, but the facts have. The President is the only person that I know who can receive a report like the NIE and believe that it's a warning signal.
...
Instead of stubbornly insisting the NIE did not "change his opinion", George Bush should announce a new diplomatic surge.

George Bush used this playbook in the build-up to the war in Iraq -- and now he is trying to lay the same foundation for us to go to war in Iran. For the last seven years, we've seen this kind of misinformation coming from the White House. Our nation deserves better.

It does indeed.

Reid is urging people to send a letter to the editor to their local newspaper. If you're talented in that way, may I recommend doing so as well.