President George W. Bush was hell-bent on the idea that Saddam Hussein was hoarding weapons of mass destruction in secret somewhere in Iraq – Bush even invaded Iraq because of it.

But the resignation of David Kay, the United States’ top weapons inspector in Iraq, brings about problems with Bush’s reasoning behind the war.

In fact, according to The Boston Globe, Kay claims the weapons “do not exist.” Though Kay made his case to say that Bush is not at fault for the recent discovery – or lack thereof – he has not made it very well. Kay said the intelligence community is at fault for the miscommunication, not the president.

It was Bush who pushed hard for a connection between Iraq and al-Qaida. It was Bush who made it known to the world that he believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And not only did he believe it – he had proof. But it was widely reported last summer that Bush and administration officials pressured intelligence officials to find information that proved the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Bush used the “threat” of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction to intimidate the world and make people feel unsafe. Putting the merits of this war aside, it is hard to deny that Bush wanted this war. He made it obvious that ridding Iraq of both its leader and its weapons of mass destruction was his number one priority during last year’s State of the Union address. He was very specific and very adamant about intelligence reports showing that the weapons existed.

But his demeanor changed during Tuesday’s State of the Union address. Instead of talking about “weapons of mass destruction,” he talked about “weapons of mass destruction programs.” Bush changed his terminology to protect himself from further criticism when the proof came out. Kay’s resignation came on Friday – three days after Bush gave his speech.

If the U.S. military could find Saddam Hussein inside a hole barely big enough to fit more than one man, Bush’s supposed weapons of mass destruction must be found eventually. But America is tired of waiting for that eventually, and apparently Kay is tired of making them wait.

People gave Bush the benefit of the doubt when he proudly announced on Dec. 13 that he had found Hussein. He had found the one man he had been looking for since the start of the war. But he has not found the weapons – the real security threat – he claimed to have known about before that war began. Americans can no longer allow Bush to slide by on the fact that he captured Hussein.

The world is indeed a better place without Hussein leading Iraq. But America would be a better place if it knew it could trust its president not to spin information in order to capture such a man. If Bush had waited to rush into Iraq and given the weapons inspectors a chance – one which would have inevitably found that weapons of mass destruction were not nearly as abundant as administration officials said they were – he would have looked like a fool for not being honest about them in the first place.