Published in The Courier-News on July 11, 2005

Why does George W. Bush persist in implying that the war in Iraq has anything to do with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001?

The bipartisan 9/11 Commission report concluded there was no direct link between al-Qaida and Iraq. No evidence has been uncovered since America invaded Iraq to indicate that Saddam Hussein was in any way behind the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Yet Bush persists in his demonstrably false claim that Iraq and 9/11 were related.

In his address to the nation June 28, Bush said, "After September the 11th, I made a commitment to the American people: This nation will not wait to be attacked again. We will defend our freedom. We will take the fight to the enemy ... Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war."

Iraq was not a battlefield in the war on terrorism until Bush made it one by invading it and falsifying the reasons for our presence there.

Lying to the public and to Congress is an impeachable offense. Republicans in Congress were outraged that Bill Clinton lied about an affair. Aren't the consequences of Bush's lies far more serious than those of Clinton?