By Ben Barrack

In 2003, I believed President George W. Bush and was not at all equipped to come to an educated conclusion myself about going into Iraq. I chose to believe the Republican narrative and was in full support of ‘Shock and Awe’, a name given to the operation that sought the removal of Saddam Hussein from power, which our military bravely and successfully carried out.

The national wound caused by 9/11 was still gaping and fresh. I, like so many other Americans, wanted revenge and justice.

Someone needed to pay and many of us chose to trust our Commander-in-Chief. I was one of them.

Bush’s Lies about 9/11 led to this.

Unfortunately, Saddam Hussein was absolutely the wrong target and Bush must have known.

I’m not saying the Bush administration lied about WMD’s. I give them a pass on that. In fact, had the U.S. gone into Iraq a year earlier than it did, odds are good they’d have found what they were looking for.

That’s not the point.

Neither Iraq nor Afghanistan is where we should have spent so much blood and treasure.

If Bush had been serious about going after the country most responsible, he would have targeted Saudi Arabia. Instead, in the days after 9/11, the administration went to work, aiding and abetting the Saudis by allowing the wealthy ones – many of whom should have been detained and interrogated – to flee the country.

The contents of a 2004 New York Times article by Craig Unger warned of the then upcoming 9/11 Commission whitewash by citing a conservative watchdog group many conservatives rely on today:

…evidence shows that the evacuation involved more than the departure of 142 Saudis on six charter flights that the commission is investigating. According to newly released documents, 160 Saudis left the United States on 55 flights immediately after 9/11 — making a total of about 300 people who left with the apparent approval of the Bush administration, far more than has been reported before. The records were released by the Department of Homeland Security in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative, nonpartisan watchdog group in Washington.

Today, conservatives – myself included – pounce on discoveries made and revealed by Judicial Watch. They have done tremendous work on cases like the New Black Panther Party voting case and Operation Fast and Furious. When it comes to Benghazi, it was Judicial Watch who published the ‘smoking gun’ email on September 14, 2012.

Why should conservatives accept Judicial Watch as credible on matters damaging to Obama and all but ignore it on matters that were damaging to Bush?

The answer is we…..

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