Bush's crime is worse than Nixon's
6/11/2003

It Is becoming increasingly clear that the Bush administration
lied to the American people and the world about Iraq. In the
face of the lack of evidence of a chemical or biological weapons
program that provides an imminent threat to our country, or a
link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, President Bush, Colin Powell,
Condoleezza Rice, and Dick Cheney have started spinning
extraordinary explanatory tales to obfuscate the truth.

In this case there is a simple explanation for the lack of weapons
findings, and it is Bush's desire to test the power of Bush's new
empire. His crime, which resulted in a war supported by few and
opposed by many, is much worse than Nixon's Watergate break-
in or Clinton's sexual indiscretion. Bush's crime erodes the trust
needed for democratic government and makes war and death the
province of a small clique at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

IT IS time for the public and the media to recognize that the effect
of the Bush policy has been a putsch of democracy. Perhaps the
opposition party will consider the damage done by its previous
acquiescence and act to regain our confidence by calling for the
impeachment of this clique.

LEWIS PEPPER, MD
Boston University School of Public Health

This story ran on page A22 of the Boston Globe on 6/11/2003.