If I got one-tenth of a cent every time I heard someone say that President Bush lied about WMDs here on campus, I would rival Bill Gates in wealth. I’m sure everyone has heard this numerous times from the dominant powerhouse of liberals here on campus. Well this is one Republican who is fed up and tired of hearing it. So I am going to stand up – because not many other of my fellow Republicans have the balls to do it and let you know who should really be apologizing.

The argument that Bush lied about Iraq possessing WMDs and should apologize has become the main argument for liberals against the president. No other argument has been brought up as frequently and as strongly as the president’s so-called lie. However, the left refuses to believe that the decision to send troops to Iraq wasn’t solely the president’s decision.

Talk to a liberal and they would say that it was only Bush and the Republicans who wanted troops in Iraq – completely false. The president can commit troops to a country without approval from Congress. But recall if you have forgotten – or choose not to remember – that Bush wrote to Congress asking for their approval. His request for support to deploy troops into Iraq was granted on Oct. 11, 2002. Congress said that they supported the president.

But this is because the Republicans control Congress you say. True, yet it is hard to ignore the fact that many Democrats voted to support the president’s decision to send troops. For example, the left’s dear friend, presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, spoke on the very issue in Congress. What did he say you ask? Well I would be more than happy to tell you. Kerry said, “I will be voting to give the president of the United States the authority to use force – if necessary – to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that the deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.” Well that’s interesting – Kerry not only supported the move to war but he also said that he believed that Saddam possessed WMDs.

Well isn’t this interesting? Hasn’t Kerry come out condemning president Bush for lying about the non-existence of WMDs in Iraq? And didn’t he also demand an apology from the president to the nation? Once again looks like Kerry is flipping his opinion.

Kerry took a stance to support the war. His vote shows that had he been the president he would have committed troops to Iraq as well. But now Kerry has been saying the complete opposite. If Kerry expects the president to apologize, then he, and other Democrats who supported the war and now condemn it, needs to apologize also. For if Bush “lied,” then so did the Kerry, Al Gore, former-president Clinton, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Tom Daschle and even good ole Teddy Kennedy, who all have been quoted as saying that Saddam had WMDs and posed a threat to the U.S. Looks like Bush and the Republicans weren’t alone in their thinking.

So, in short, President Bush should apologize to the nation, but only if Sen. Kerry apologizes on the account of the Democrats. Hey, you can still say Bush lied, but then you should realize so did Kerry.

Allyn Parker is a first-year business/economics major