Government and trust...

I work for a government agency and I'm proud of what I do. The majority of people that I work with and around are bright, thoughtful, and motivated. We believe in the mission of the agency, and work hard to solve the problems we know are important to our constituents and for the preservation of our natural resources.

So why do I now feel a sense of depression with government, our government, in general? It's actually an easy question to answer, although it's been hard to admit it, until now. This week President Bush and other members of the administration are now acknowledging that no evidence has been found to link al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. They're saying this is what they meant all along. Yet, for almost 2 years members of the administration continuously linked Iraq with 9/11. This was the mantra used over and over again to justify our invasion. That and the fact that Iraq had WMD and wanted to use them, but that's for another discussion.

The backpedaling is so rapid that you have to worry that one of them might trip over themselves and get hurt. Is the change politically motivated? Of course. There's an election to campaign for!

Five months ago I was among the majority who felt there was sufficient justification for our invasion of Iraq. It now appears that I'm among the growing majority that feels the exact opposite. The loss of trust is beginning to run deep. The campaigns for 2004 have begun.