EDWARD SCHWIER, Richland

I saw the political cartoon in the Dec. 12 Herald with reference to weapons of mass destruction and Iraq, and it reminded me of how many comments I've heard or read since the '90s that claim we were lied to. Invariably, the justification for the U.S. invasion is discounted.

It's well documented that Iraq and Iran used chemical weapons in their earlier wars, and there is strong evidence that Iraq also mixed biological agents with mustard gas.

Iraq had WMDs and used them. The lack of reports of finding these or other WMDs in either the first or second U.S.-Iraq war can be attributed to any number of reasons. However, to say that this proves the intelligence community and U.S. leadership lied to us is folly.

I have a little more detailed knowledge of the situation, capabilities of the various countries and what our initial plans for defense of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia against an Iraqi invasion were based on than most people. I served as director of operations for the Joint Task Force Middle East home-ported in Bahrain in 1989 and 1990. Our theater of operations included Afghanistan, so I have a different perspective there too.