Lying to a Nation

First off, I do not think it is ever acceptable for an official to lie to the people. I understand that in certain cases, telling the entire truth may frighten the public or perhaps would reveal more evidence than is safe to do, but blatantly lying and making faulty claims about who did what is completely wrong. I find it difficult to believe that you would need to make up a fake reason to go to war with another nation, because the original reason would reveal too much to the public. The people have a right to know why their president has made the decision to take them into a time of war.

If you are going to make such startling claims as "Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb." you had better make sure that you are one hundred percent positive that the statement is true. To even make a claim such as that based on a hunch is foolish and causes panic and confusion. The public loses faith and trust in your power over the country when they suspect you are lying to wheedle the outcomes you want out of a potentially drastic situation. How can the people take you as a legitimate leader when they consider you to be merely a manipulator and twister of facts? If you are not telling the whole truth, then you are still lying, and anyone who knowingly makes a statement they know is false, knowingly allows someone to make a statement they know is false, or knowingly twists a statement while still 'telling the truth' is at fault for whatever may come from that in my mind. Everyone who allows that to happen is collectively at fault, and should be removed from their post. Lying to the nation is unnacceptable.