No, Orca, the CIA, M6 and the other intelligence agencies noted that Saddam
Had large stocks of WMDs up to the Gulf War
Had failed to account for substantial quantities of these stocks
Deceived and hoodwinked the UN inspectors several times, being caught in large deceptions in 94, 95, and 98
Tossed out the inspectors in 98, so that no inspections at all took place in 1998 - 2002
Cost himself an estimated $150 - $200 billion in lost oil revenue by this behavior
...and universally concluded that Saddam was hiding stocks of WMDs. That was simply accepted. Again, unless you think Ken Pollack was lying through his teeth about the state of intelligence concerning Saddam in the 1990s, his books lays out the unclassified material. The matter under real discussion was, what was the state of the Iraqi nuclear program, again remembering that in 1991 Saddam possessed a working bomb that lacked only the fissionable material to put in it. (The CIA hadn't known that until the Gulf War, either). That was the subject of disagreement. Had the Iraqis revived their program? Could they obtain the weapons-grade uranium they needed? Those were the questions.
If the Russians chose to air last-minute doubts about WMDs, a glance at the Oil for Food vouchers will quickly show their billions of reasons to do so...if the French failed to do so, despite their billions of reasons, it certainly implies that their intelligence services were telling them the same thing as M6 and the CIA. |
