But how do you explain the pre-war statements from the administration that said, in effect, we know where the WMDs are? Rummy even mentioned a few rather specific locations.
If you could, please provide a link to such comments by Rummy..
I know I vaguely recall some media reports claiming that, but I never saw an actual Government official be quoted on the record as having said that..
But my overall impression has been that "voluntary" inspections were never going to be stringent enough to break through the tremendous effort of non-cooperation and deception the Iraqis were engaged in. Thus, it was going to require someone being required to occupy the entire country in order to feel confident that the weapons had been destroyed.
This didn't have to be this way.. S. Africa dismantled it's WMD program voluntarily and no one invaded them. Saddam's regime has no one to blame but itself for the atmosphere of distrust and disbelief that has surrounded the inspection process since 1995 (and even before).
Voluntary inspections only work if they were backed up by a UN that was SERIOUS about overthrowing Saddam should he fail to comply. He knew they weren't serious, especially as long as he had France and Russia "in his pocket" with promises of Multi-hundred billion dollar oil concessions.
And the intel on WMD sites that was given to Blix that repeatedly turned up nothing?
It all requires that we understand the "sources and methods" by which the intel was collected. It would seem that our inside source was a muckety-muck within Iraq's high command.. Thus, relatively high credibility is normally attached to such information.
And based upon the very evidence obtained during the inspection process about unaccounted for weapons, it would very easy to believe such info.
But Blix, like so many other UN parties, seems willing to ignore the findings of the UNSCOM inspectors. And it would seem that he has been just one more player in a game aimed at burying the truth as the Iraqis recorded for THEMSELVES.
And that's just incredible that they would do so..
It really matters not if we knew where the weapons were or not, or whether our intelligence about their location was faulty.
What matters is that the Iraqi managers of their WMD inventory were accountable to more senior Baathist officials and maintained the proper records.. Records which they continually denied to the UNSCOM inspectors, or confiscated when they were revealed by accident.
And thus, Saddam's regime was obligated to account for those weapons to the same extent they expected their underlings to account to THEM. Failing to do so constituted a violation of the cease fire agreement and every UN binding resolution against Iraq.
That's what matters.
Hawk
Hawk |
