President Clinton asserted:

"I didn't have sex with that woman." This is a lie about a personal

matter, but nevertheless, a lie just the same which embarrassed us as

a nation. President Nixon announced a ban on any further biological warfare

research with great fanfare while in office. We now know that this research

never ceased. Should U.N. inspectors scour our country as they are Iraq?

President Kennedy made a "big

deal" of the need to explore space, the new frontier. We now know,

from recently released tapes, that Kennedy couldn't care less about space

exploration; Kennedy states on the tapes that we needed to beat the Russians

and this is the only reason to go into space. We can be thankful that

a great achievement of the human race occurred although based on a lie

and petty competition.

Our Congress voted us into

war with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution passed because

they were told that we were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Tens of thousands

of American citizens went to war and were maimed or killed based on a

lie. No such attack ever occurred.

Vietnam isn't the only war

we have waged based on a lie. "Remember the Maine" was the slogan

that sent Americans to war before the turn of the last century. Headlines

in the New York Times proudly announced "Remember the Maine,"

a ship that was sunk in Havana harbor. The culprit was never identified;

nevertheless, America went to war, fueled by the "yellow journalism"

of the time.

President Bush now announces

over and over again that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction. American

families are torn asunder as we mobilize for war. We must ask not where's

the beef, but where are the weapons of mass destruction?

President Bush says, yes, indeed

Iraq has them, senators say they see no credible evidence even when given

secret briefings. So, we must ask as Americans if this President is lying

as previous presidents have?

Peter Duran

Fayetteville