I hold two opinions that will be unpopular here, both thru and odd coincidence the result of the absence of proof to the contrary.

1. Bush did not intentionally lie about the existance of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). It he did, where are the fake WMDs? Hear this out. Surely if the Administration knew there were no WMDs and Karl Rove is the evil genius some hold him to be, someone would have arranged the planting of fake ones. No finding WMDs would be (has turned out to be) a political nightmare. If you're going to lie and fake evidence to start a war, why not go all out and fake the cause of the war? It's been done plenty of times in the past.

They certainly had enough time to do it with the time it took to get troops in place and the wrangling in the UN. No shortage of people who hated Saddam enough to be willing to plant the evidence. Technically there were no obstacles. Biological or chemical WMDs are ridiculasly simple to make. Any chemical or pharmacutical plant would do for one (ask Bill Clinton) and you don't need much more than the makings for a micro-brewery or white lightning still for biologicals. Any reasonably large cache of artillery or rockets would be useful, too.

Can't you see it? Just dress Geraldo and his camera crew in containment suits, show them a site you claim is contaminated, some trumped up test "proving" what was in the shells and let him film you destroying them. It wouldn't hold up forever, but it would do until after the election. Later on you could simply declare anyone who doubts the evidence to be conspiracy nuts. That this didn't happen is proof that the Administration really expect to find the damned things.

1. The rebuilding of Iraq is going well. I owe this to Glenn Reynolds, a columnist at MSNBC. In his article, EXPERTS AGREE: WAR GOING WELL!, he says there are two things that prove it's going well. First, Tom Dashle says so:

"Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., on Thursday praised the Bush administration's war and nation-building work in Iraq and said he has no serious concerns about the lack of weapons of mass destruction.
Daschle told state chamber of commerce representatives meeting in the South Dakota capital that he is satisfied with the way things are going in Iraq.

'I give the effort overall real credit,' Daschle said. 'It is a good thing Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. It is a good thing we are democratizing the country.'

He said he is not upset about the debate over pre-war intelligence on weapons of mass destruction, an issue that has dogged President Bush as Democratic presidential contenders have slogged through the primary season."

Second, he points out that John Kerry is not making the Iraq war the centerpiece of his presidential campaign. As Reynolds points out "And how (er, besides the above) do I know that things are going well in Iraq? Because if they weren't, Presidential candidate John Kerry wouldn't be so anxious to talk about Vietnam instead."

See what I mean? :-)