David Kay’s Statements on WMD in Iraq
Earlier this week, the administration’s outgoing top weapons inspector in Iraq, David Kay, when asked about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, replied, “I don't think they existed." Kay based his statement on over six months of investigation undertaken by the CIA’s Iraqi Survey Group. The following is a sample of international editorial commentary on his recent statements
Japan
"Recent admissions by top U.S. officials that Iraq might not have had weapons of mass destruction, or WMD, demand an explanation. Questions must be answered and the damage done to both U.N. and U.S. credibility must be repaired... Mr. Bush argued for the need to go to war because Iraq's possession of WMD posed an urgent danger. No such claim can be leveled against 'WMD-related programs.' The U.S. must discover why that gap existed and explain to the world why it acted on the basis of faulty intelligence. Failure to do so will ensure that doubts arise every time the U.S. tries to marshal international support for action in the future."
- The Japan Times, January 28, 2004
Australia
"The resignation of the United States' chief Iraq weapons inspector, David Kay, and his stated belief there are no weapons of mass destruction to be found there, should not be seen simply as another blow to the countries that went to war specifically to eliminate the threat. More importantly, it is a victory for the United Nations and the international community generally who, over the previous decade, put pressure on Saddam Hussein to rid his country of the WMD menace."
- Canberra Times, January 27, 2004
France
"A year ago, in his State of the Union message, President George W. Bush lacked a sufficiently alarmist formula to describe the immediate danger that Iraq's arsenal of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed to the United States... A few weeks later, citing meteorological constraints, President Bush went to war. There could be no question of waiting any longer: the danger was too great... Almost a year after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, the head of the US inspection mission in Iraq has just submitted his conclusions. He has worked with hundreds of men. He has operated in the favorable environment of a country administrated by the United States. David Kay was definite: there were no WMD’s."
- Le Monde, January 27, 2004
Malaysia
"The story of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction is turning into a dime novel of farce, fear-baiting manipulation, hubris and hypocrisy. In the latest chapter, David Kay, once stridently bullish about Saddam Hussein's illegal weapons hoard, resigned from the Iraq Survey Group on Friday after having found no stockpiles, or any capacity to build them, that would have justified President George W. Bush's decision to go to war last March… The absence of WMD in Iraq has damaged American credibility in the eyes of the world and struck down the UN's authority to deter aggression."
- Kamrul Idris, New Straits Times, January 26, 2004
China (Hong Kong)
"[Kay’s assessment] is the most authoritative challenge yet to the claims that Iraq had to be attacked to remove an imminent threat to the world… His conclusions will add weight to allegations that suspect intelligence concerning Hussein's weapons was too easily relied upon and then exaggerated by US and British leaders in a bid to swing international opinion behind the invasion... U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney said last week that 'the jury is still out' on the weapons issue. That may be true. But the jury - in the form of international opinion - is still lacking evidence and is becoming more skeptical by the day."
- South China Morning Post, January 25, 2004 |
