Cool rant! But you're, at the very least, avoiding the issue.
Interesting point from someone who has yet to acknowledge that evidence HAS BEEN DISCOVERED that Saddam was continuing his WMD research and development, awaiting the day when sanctions would be lifted and his production attempts could resume.
But let's deal with the facts that were available at the time Bush and others stated that they still believed Iraq possessed WMD stockpiles.
1. 6,000 warheads, representing some 500 tonnes and allegedly claimed to have been expended against Iran in the '80s REMAIN UNACCOUNTED FOR.
2. The documents related to the above stated warheard were confiscated from the very hands of UNSCOM inspectors in 1998. They were NOT PROVIDED TO THE UNSC UNTIL AFTER UNSC 1441 was passed and US troops were enroute to Kuwait and Qatar. THE INVENTORIES THEY REPRESENTED HAVE NEVER BEEN ACCOUNTED FOR, NOT EVEN TO UNMOVIC INSPECTORS.
3. By extrapolation, Bush was PERFECTLY ACCURATE in stating that Saddam still possess WMDs. Iraq had them previously, and even accounted for them internally. But Saddam's regime decided to continue their intransigent obstructionism and failure to provide persuasive evidence that all weapons had been destroyed.
4. That means he, with the information he possessed at the time, did not lie. In fact, no one could CREDIBLY state that Iraq did not have any WMDs.. They could hypothesize, or maybe even theorize, but they couldn't provide any evidence that Iraq no longer possessed the inventories they irrefutably ONCE HAD.
5. While we all know hindsight is 20/20, it is disingenuous to hold Bush responsible for repeating inaccurate information provided to him by intelligence analysts, and which logically, or evidentially, could not be contradicted by credible facts.
The terms of the cease fire that ended Desert Storm and stated the conditions for Saddam's continued ability to remain in power had been continuously violated for the past 12 years. Whether or not Saddam continued to possessed dated stockpiles of WMDs is one issue. But the jury is still out, despite what David Kay has stated, IMO. They may still be found, or they may not. There are still literally tonnes of documents to be cataloged, translated, and analyzed. This remains a work in progress..
6. But more importantly is whether Saddam intended to R&D the production of even more deadly agents, any of which could rapidly be placed in production within the space of a year or so. And there is irrefutable evidence that this was the case in Iraq prior to the breakout of the war...
It was evidence of Saddam's desperate pursuit of WMDs at ANY COST, including the potential termination of his regime. No man would be so obsessed with taking such risks unless he planned on using them, or even worse, making them available to others who would use them...
And none of the later information was known prior to the war. It only came out post-facto through extensive searches and interviews with the scientists involved in those programs. YET, CONTINUING R&D RELATED TO WMDs IS AN EVEN MORE GRIEVOUS VIOLATION THAN MERELY STOCKPILING ANTIQUATED AGENTS. It displays intent to modernize and innovate even more powerful weapons...
On one hand you have someone who doesn't want to give up something that has already been produced and paid for, namely 6,000 warheads..
On the other, you have someone who is surreptiously pursuing a clandestine R&D WMD program, biding his time until those stupid American and UNSC bozos are manipulated into lifting the sanctions against his regime.
So put that in your pipe and smoke it Carl..
Hawk |
