While the White House is saying Bush never lied, the London Independent yesterday in an article titled “20 Lies About the War” reported that the Iraq-Niger deal was one of just many falsehoods put forth by the Bush and Blair administration.

Among the lies:

• Iraq and al-Qa’ida were working together

• Iraq was trying to import aluminum tubes to develop nuclear weapons

• Iraq still had vast stocks of chemical and biological weapons from the first Gulf War

• Saddam Hussein had the wherewithal to develop smallpox

• Iraq could deploy its weapons of mass destruction in 45 minutes

• and, that the war in Iraq would be easy

Interim Iraqi Gov’t Created, U.S. Retains Veto Power
A 25-member interim governing council of Iraqis met for the first time yesterday after being assembled in part by the U.S.-led occupation administration in Iraq. The body will be given limited power and the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority will have veto power over all decisions made by the Iraqi council.

The council includes 13 Shi’a Muslims, five Sunni Muslims, five Kurds, one Christian and one Turkmen. The Guardian of London reports the composition of the council may make it the most representative government in Iraqi history. Former exiles hold a slight majority on the board. But only two of the council members are women. One woman in Iraq told the Guardian, “Men made a mess of this country. We should have at least half of the council.”

The body in its first official act yesterday banned all holidays connected to Saddam Hussein’s rule and declared April 9, the day Baghdad fell, as a national holiday. Among the banned holidays is today, July 14, which marked the fall of the monarchy.

The Iraqi council is deeply divided over the U.S. occupation. The New York Times reports that only Ahmed Chalabi of the Pentagon-backed Iraqi National Congress expressed gratitude toward the U.S. and Britain for removing Hussein.