WMD Just a Big Joke to Bush

Incredibly, President Bush actually got some laughs at the annual dinner of Washington radio and TV correspondents this week when he made jokes about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"Those weapons of mass destruction have to be here somewhere," Bush joked as he narrated a slide show of him looking behind furniture, as if hunting for them.

"Nope, no weapons over there. Maybe under here," Bush joshed, at the dinner where Presidents typically poke fun at the press and themselves.

Family members of the more than 500 American soldiers who have died in Iraq surely aren't laughing.

The New York Daily News reports the response of Representative Jerold Nadler (D-Manhattan) "It's disgusting that during his little performance on stage, the President seemed to forget that people are dying in Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction he lies about."

The Kerry campaign response to the debacle came from Iraq war veteran Brad Owens. "No weapons of mass destruction have been found and that is no joke ñ this is for real. This cheapens the sacrifice that American soldiers and their families are dealing with every single day."

David Korn, editor of The Nation, writes: "Even if Bush does not believe he lied to or misled the public, how can he make fun of the rationale for a war that has killed and maimed thousands?

Imagine if Lyndon Johnson had joked about the trumped-up Gulf of Tonkin incident that he deceitfully used as a rationale for U.S. military action in Vietnam: "Who knew that fish had torpedoes?" Or if Ronald Reagan appeared at a correspondents event following the truck-bombing at the Marines barracks in Beirut--which killed over 200 American servicemen--and said, "Guess we forgot to put in a stop light." Or if Clinton had come out after the bombing of Serbia--during which U.S. bombs errantly destroyed the Chinese embassy and killed several people there--and said, "The problem is, those embassies--they all look alike."

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