"How can anyone no matter what party affiliation, not notice the glaring discrepancy between
"dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities."".......
I'd say it would be a selective memory. You wish to focus
only on one issue when several critical issues were
addressed in bringing Saddam into compliance & remove him
as a threat. It wasn't an either or situation. It was give
them all up, OR ELSE!
Saddam's WMD programs were an integral part of the
Cease Fire Agreement & ensuing UN Resolutions....
From UN Resolution 687....
8. Decides that Iraq shall unconditionally accept the
destruction, removal, or rendering harmless, under
international supervision, of: (a) All chemical and
biological weapons and all stocks of agents and all
related subsystems and components and all research,
development, support and manufacturing facilities; (b) All
ballistic missiles with a range greater than 150
kilometres and related major parts, and repair and
production facilities;
From UN Resolution 1441.....
....Recalling that in its resolution 687 (1991) the
Council declared that a ceasefire would be based on
acceptance by Iraq of the provisions of that resolution,
including the obligations on Iraq contained therein,
President Bush Outlines Iraqi Threat
....Eleven years ago, as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi regime was required to destroy its weapons of mass destruction, to cease all development of such weapons, and to stop all support for terrorist groups.....
....surveillance photos reveal that the regime is rebuilding facilities that it had used to produce chemical and biological weapons....
....Saddam Hussein has chosen to build and keep these weapons despite international sanctions, U.N. demands, and isolation from the civilized world.....
....Terror cells and outlaw regimes building weapons of mass destruction are different faces of the same evil.....
....The Iraqi regime bugged hotel rooms and offices of inspectors to find where they were going next; they forged documents, destroyed evidence, and developed mobile weapons facilities to keep a step ahead of inspectors.....
....The world has tried limited military strikes to destroy Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities -- only to see them openly rebuilt, while the regime again denies they even exist.....
....After eleven years during which we have tried containment, sanctions, inspections, even selected military action, the end result is that Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biological weapons and is increasing his capabilities to make more.....
whitehouse.gov
President Delivers "State of the Union"
....From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities.....
....From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves.....
....Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass destruction....
....The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm.....
....Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.....
whitehouse.gov
Remarks to the United Nations Security Council
Secretary Colin L. Powell
....The facts and Iraqis' behavior, Iraq's behavior, demonstrate that Saddam Hussein and his regime have made no effort, no effort, to disarm, as required by the international community. Indeed, the facts and Iraq's behavior show that Saddam Hussein and his regime are concealing their efforts to produce more weapons of mass destruction.
....Orders were issued to Iraq's security organizations, as well as to Saddam Hussein's own office, to hide all correspondence with the Organization of Military Industrialization. This is the organization that oversees Iraq's weapons of mass destruction activities.....
....We know that Iraqi government officials, members of the ruling Ba'ath Party and scientists have hidden prohibited items in their homes. Other key files from military and scientific establishments have been placed in cars that are being driven around the countryside by Iraqi intelligence agents to avoid detection.....
....Our sources tell us that in some cases the hard drives of computers at Iraqi weapons facilities were replaced.....
....One of the most worrisome things that emerges from the thick intelligence file we have on Iraq's biological weapons is the existence of mobile production facilities used to make biological agents.....
....The Iraqi regime has also developed ways to disperse lethal biological agents widely, indiscriminately into the water supply, into the air.....
....There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more. And he has the ability to dispense these lethal poisons and diseases in ways that can cause massive death and destruction.....
....We know that Iraq has embedded key portions of its illicit chemical weapons infrastructure within its legitimate civilian industry. To all outward appearances, even to experts, the infrastructure looks like an ordinary civilian operation. Illicit and legitimate production can go on simultaneously or on a dime. This dual-use infrastructure can turn from clandestine to commercial and then back again.....
....Call it ingenious or evil genius, but the Iraqis deliberately designed their chemical weapons programs to be inspected. It is infrastructure with a built in alibi.
Under the guise of dual-use infrastructure, Iraq has undertaken an effort to reconstitute facilities that were closely associated with its past program to develop and produce chemical weapons. For example, Iraq has rebuilt key portions of the Tareq State Establishment. Tareq includes facilities designed specifically for Iraq's chemical weapons program and employs key figures from past programs.
....To support its deadly biological and chemical weapons programs, Iraq procures needed items from around the world using an extensive clandestine network. That's the production end of Saddam's chemical weapons business.....
state.gov
Here's all the evidence gathered as of Oct 2002, on those
illegal WMD Programs necessary to justify his
removal. Don't worry, there will be even more evidence in
the future....
STATEMENT BY DAVID KAY ON THE INTERIM PROGRESS REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE IRAQ SURVEY GROUP (ISG)
fas.org
Powell Says Kay Report Confirms Iraq Defied U.N. Res. 1441
usinfo.state.gov
Iraqi Mobile Biological Warfare Agent Production Plants
odci.gov |
