Editor:

I’m writing in response to Jay Richards’ column (“The politics of treason,” Nov. 2).

This column reminded me of something a former physics professor said-“I am a physicist, and as such, I have no interest in reality.”

Richards, are you majoring in physics? None of the opinions you expressed are supported by fact.

The most glaring lie was when you wrote: “It is an insult to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians who have died.” That number has been discredited again and again.

The highest Iraqi death count that has any widespread credibility is around 25,000.

The next lie was your claim that Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame’s husband, was sent to Niger by the Bush administration. He was sent by the CIA-not even the director, but the head of the Nuclear Proliferation Task Force.

You also claimed that Bush had no evidence to back up his claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking large amounts of uranium from Africa.

Here is some evidence that should stop you from claiming that “Bush lied and kids died”:

If it was not widely suspected that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, why was President Clinton bombing for four days during Operation Desert Fox?

Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said in 1998 that Hussein “will rebuild his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction and some day, some way, I am certain he will use that arsenal again, as he has 10 times since 1983.”

In 2002, Jacques Chirac said, “What is at stake is how to answer the potential threat Iraq represents with the risk of proliferation of WMDs.

Baghdad’s regime did use such weapons in the past. Today, a number of evidences may lead to think that, over the past four years, in the absence of international inspectors, this country has continued armament programs.”

If Bush lied, it means that all the people in the known world also lied.

Sorry if I find it a little hard to believe that all of the world’s intelligence agencies were lying to us together, and somehow investigatory journalist Jay Richards found the truth.

Next time, take the time to back yourself up.

Mark Jones

Senior, Mechanical Engineering