Bush's Smoking Gun Hypocrisy

By now it is well known that U.S. President Bush's main line for supporting a pre-emptive attack on Iraq is because "we don't want to wait for a smoking gun." In other words, the Bush regime believes it doesn't need to produce evidence that the Iraqi regime has developed weapons of mass destruction and that the American public and the international community should take Bush's word for it. In fact, the Bush administration is now saying that the U.N. weapons inspectors will probably not find evidence.

But Bush is not always so proactive. When pulling out of the Kyoto treaty on global warming, he contended that more research was needed into the causes of climate change before governments could decide on appropriate solutions. But there is ample evidence demonstrating that there is global warming. And even if the effects are not entirely known, we should not wait for a "smoking gun" when it comes to the environment we all must share.

Related articles:

• Scientists Alarmed by Continued Warming Trend (Los Angeles Times, December 12, 2002)
• Declaration Puts Bush in Quandary (San Francisco Chronicle, December 10, 2002)
• Lack of Smoking Gun Complicates U.S. Aims in Iraq (cantonrep.com, December 8, 2002)
• White House Reaction to Iraq's Claim it has no Weapons of Mass Destruction (NPR Weekend Edition, December 8, 2002)

Related sites:

• CNN.com In-Depth Specials - Global Warming: US turns its back on Kyoto
• Natural Resources Defense Council - Global Warming