What John Kerry Won’t Say About The Duelfer Report
By Sher Zieve
Oct. 7, 2004
To be fair, John Kerry is not the only one who refuses to comment on the entire Iraqi WMD report prepared by Charles Duelfer (Visiting Scholar Center for Strategic and International Studies). Although Mr. Duelfer did say that no WMDs were found in Iraq, he also stated in his opening remarks prepared for the US House of Representatives and presented to the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia: “Iraq used over 100,000 chemical munitions during its war with Iran. It used a variety of chemical munitions against its own population as well. Best known was the attack against the Kurdish city of Halabja. Immediate casualty figures numbered in the thousands, with long term effects that have not been calculated.” In response to Senator John McCain’s question as to whether or not the sanctions against Iraq were working, Mr. Duelfer replied: “My personal view is that the sanctions were in free-fall.”
As the Democrats on the Subcommittee continued to try to make their case for continuing sanctions on Iraq, via the UN Security Council, Mr Duelfer replied: “Ultimately, Iraq successfully divided the Security Council and we found that the Security Council, all of its members, would not agree to pursue sufficient force to cause Iraq to fully comply.” Note: With the still developing UN oil-for-food scandal, no one should be surprised.
Mr. Duelfer, also, soundly appeared to support President Bush’s and the joint Houses of Congress’ decision to go to war with Iraq, when he stated: “Remaining in Iraq is the intellectual capital to produce all of these [WMDs including biological weapons]. Remaining in Iraq is production equipment. Remaining in Iraq is at least a strategic reserve of these forces. And from what we are able to gather from many Iraqis who have left Iraq, these programs are still underway. Their full extent, their full capacity, can only be surmised. But no serious analyst believes that Iraq is not pursuing these programs and does not retain some capability. One can only assume that they continue to harbor ambitions of having a full array of these weapons, including nuclear.”
John Kerry, the DNC and the “mainstream media” (which desperately wants John Kerry as president) will only tell us that ‘no WMDs were found’. They will not report the underlying truth of the situation we faced, prior to going to war with Iraq. They, also, firmly and resolutely avoid reporting that many nations (including Russia and Jordan) told President Bush’s administration that Iraq had and was prepared to use weapons of mass destruction against its neighbors and the United States of America. John Kerry saw the same information, prior to his voting FOR the Iraq war, as did President Bush. Now, for political gain (to the detriment of the US) and to further attract and keep Howard Dean’s leftist anti-war voters, Kerry has “changed his mind”…again. When Senator Ted Kennedy told Mr. Duelfer that Iraqi war was a “wild goose chase”, Mr. Duelfer stated soundly that it had not been.
So, when John Kerry brings this subject up (and I’m certain he will) during the second Presidential Debate, tomorrow, President Bush should be able to completely and thoroughly contradict him. John Kerry, based upon his past and present words and deeds, continues to be a real and present danger to the United States. In order for us to continue as a sovereign nation, George W. Bush's presidency must continue. |
