Congress and Weapons of Mass Destruction

To watch "The Talking Points Memo" in the Screening Room click here.

Hi.  I'm Bill O'Reilly reporting tonight from Washington.  Thanks for watching us.  Congress facing a serious problem with this weapons of massive destruction business.  That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

Unfortunately, the WMD situation is now been politicized.  Fanatics on the left are screaming about lies and conspiracies.  Fanatics on the right are yelling it doesn't matter if any deadly weapons are found in Iraq.

Both sides are wrong as usual.  The truth is the WMD issue does matter, and President Bush needs to explain it.  Talking Points believes the Iraq war was just, and the progress now being made between Israeli and the Palestinians would never have happened if Saddam Hussein was still in power.  Just that alone makes the war worthwhile.  We are not even mentioning the mass graves and other horrors of Saddam Hussein.

So, there is no question that America has done a good thing for the world.  However, when the president of the United States tells the American people that U.S. intelligence has pinpointed deadly weapons and those weapons don't turn up, the President has an obligation to explain.

All Americans must have confidence that the CIA and other intelligence agencies are honest and effective.  If the CIA told Mr. Bush there were weapons, did it make a mistake?  If so, how did that mistake come about?  These are logical questions that have to be answered in order for Americans to feel confident about their government.

That being said, it is fair to all the hunt for the weapons to continue without these hysterical accusations of lies and deceit.  People making those charges are being irresponsible and hurting the country.  Let's face it, there is a good chance that deadly weapons are hidden in Iraq.  It is beyond belief that both President Bush and British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, would conspire to lie to the world about this issue.  Simply inconceivable.

Thus, reasonable people are faced with two conclusions -- one, that the intelligence was wrong, or, two, that more time is needed to find the weapons. Talking Points just asks one thing from President Bush, an update on the situation in the next few weeks.  That's a very reasonable request and one the President must take seriously if he wants to advance the cause of the USA throughout the world.

In the end, if the intelligence was faulty, some people have to be fired.  If, God forbid, the intelligence was contrived, and I don't believe that, but if it is proven, then Congressional action must be taken.  We will have more on this with two members of the House Intelligence Committee coming up later.

And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day"...

As we told you last night, Martha Stewart's in big trouble.  Today, the federal government indicted her on nine counts of securities fraud, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false statements.  She denies all the charges.  Her stockbroker is also charged in the case.

Now we asked you to weigh in on this on billoreilly.com.  The poll question is: Is Martha Stewart being made a scapegoat?  Right now, 67 percent of you say no.  Just 33 percent say  yes.

Ridiculous?  Depends on how you feel about Ms. Stewart.  We'll keep the poll open for another day or so, OK?