I don't think so, or the public would now be turning on the Administration. I do not think that the Administration relied on the "immediacy of threat" argument, anyway, but on the inevitability of threat, which the article more or less ratifies. It also makes clear that there were probably stockpiles, as most everyone, not just the Administration thought, until practically the run up to war, so that it is idle to act as if there were no basis for the alarm. It is not even clear that there was much exaggeration, that remains to be seen. As far as the assessment of putting things into the hands of terrorists goes, no one thought that Hitler would ally with Stalin, given his anti- Communism, until the Hitler- Stalin Pact: the analysis was speculative, and, in any event, did not preclude Iraqi agents using terrorist tactics themselves.
Anyway, again, the public is not terribly interested in where the WMDs are, never have been, so your initial point is doubtful...... |
