SunTrip

The Nation -- The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery will alter the text on a sign next to a new painting of President Bush in order to accurately reflect that fact that there was no connection between the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States and the war in Iraq.

The change came in response to a request from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who asked curators at the gallery to alter the wording posted with the painting went on display December 19 in the National Portrait Gallery.

The sign said that Bush's tenure was "marked by a series of catastrophic events (including) the attacks on September 11, 2001, that led to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

That was not the case, noted Sanders.

"The 9/11 attacks did not lead to the war in Iraq. What President Bush was telling us (before the war) was that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and that Iraq was somehow in collusion with Al Qaeda," he explained. "Those were misstatements of fact, as even President Bush has since acknowledged."

The independent senator suggested that: "You can agree or disagree with the war. I simply think it's important that history not be rewritten. Politicians spin all the time, but a wonderful national institution like the National Portrait Gallery should stick to the facts."

With that in mind, Sanders wrote Martin Sullivan, the director of the Portrait Gallery, requesting a change in the sign's wording "so that in explaining our current president's portrait we do not inadvertently rewrite history."

Sullivan agreed. In a letter to Sanders, the curator wrote that he appreciated the senator's concern and announced that the gallery would "revise the label and delete the words 'led to.'"

"I very much appreciate the prompt response from the director and appreciate his willingness to make the change," said Sanders, who spoke with Sullivan Monday afternoon.

So, thanks to Bernie Sanders, at least one piece of the historical record of the Bush-Cheney interregnum has been corrected to reflect reality.

Even as Sanders was setting things straight at the National Portrait Gallery, however, Bush was holding a "final exit interview" press conference at which he compared himself with Abraham Lincoln, bristled at suggestions that his response to Hurricane Katrina was inadequate -- "Don't tell me the federal response was slow..." -- and said of those who objected to his lawless tenure: "I don't know why they get angry..."

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