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Bush Administration: Honor And Integrity?

Chris Edelson, Esq. - 11/15/2005

George W. Bush was elected president by Americans who were offended by Bill Clinton’s sexual escapades in the Oval Office, and by Clinton’s inability to tell the truth about exactly what he did with Monica Lewinsky. Bush promised to restore “honor and integrity” to the White House, and told voters he looked forward to putting his hand on the Bible for the oath of office, drawing a vivid contrast with the image of Clinton lying under oath.

Nearly five years later, the Bush administration has made a mockery of the “honor and integrity” campaign promise. It is clear that this administration has lied to the American people. We know that Scooter
Libby, Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, lied. He lied to Scott McClellan, the president’s press secretary, when he said he was not involved in
discussing Valerie Plame with the press. (Like Libby, presidential advisor Rove lied to McClellan when he denied involvement in the Plame leak.) Libby also lied when he told the special prosecutor that he first learned about Plame from journalists; we now know (thanks to Libby’s own notes) that Cheney himself told Libby about Plame.

Most importantly, it is clear that the president himself lied. Bush told Americans that no one wanted to get to the bottom of the leak scandal more than he did, and that if anyone in his administration was “involved in” leaking a CIA agent’s identity, that person would be fired. It turns out that the president knew, two years ago, that Rove was involved in the leak. But the president did nothing (other than moving the goal posts and saying leakers would be fired only if they violated the law). He continued to pretend that he was in the dark and was eager to take action, if only he could find out who in his administration was involved in discussing Valerie Plame with the press.

As has been suggested elsewhere, all this lying was not a coincidence. It was part of a cover-up designed to conceal an even bigger lie—the false reasons cited for going to war with Iraq. The administration told Americans that Saddam Hussein was six months away from having a nuclear weapon, citing an IAEA report that actually said nothing of the sort. The president said that Saddam Hussein had drone planes capable of carrying out an overseas chemical weapons attack on the United States. This was not true. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld told us that he knew exactly where Iraq’s nonexistent WMD were, and he named specific locations. This was also false. Finally, there was the lie that culminated in the Scooter Libby indictment; in his 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush told us that Iraq had attempted to obtain yellowcake uranium from Niger. It was Joe Wilson’s debunking of this particular falsehood that apparently led to the administration’s decision to expose his wife’s identity as an undercover CIA operative.

Whether or not the president, or any of his men, broke the law, it is clear that they lied to Americans, about important matters related to national security. There is nothing honorable about this. Whether they were under oath or not, the president and his men betrayed the trust of the American people. Americans understand perfectly well that this administration has broken its promise about restoring honor and integrity. A recent CNN poll shows just 1 in 10 believe the administration did nothing illegal or unethical. The jury is still out, literally, as to whether crimes were committed. But Americans already know they were lied to, by an administration that once made lofty promises about its integrity.