"Sadly, the underlying issue is lost on the general populace, who have show willingness to accept what ever rationale of the day that Bush offers for being in Iraq."
I don't get why folks who oppose Bush & Saddam's removal have
to change the parameters of the debate when the available
evidence fails to support their POV. Why not search for the
truth, accept it & debate your positions from there?
**Duelfer Report = Iraq Survey Group**
Duelfer Report: Saddam Planned to Restart WMD Programs
Message 20611962
No one could read even a small portion of the report and conclude that "Iraq had no WMDs" is a fair summary of its contents.
Message 20615946
SADDAM Hussein believed that the United Nations system was so corrupt that it would protect his dictatorship from American aggression and allow him to complete quickly his quest for weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Message 20619450
The Report That Nails Saddam
Message 20622263
Duelfer also reported that Saddam asked subordinates how long it would take to develop chemical weapons once sanctions ended.
Message 20623841
Kay stated, "I must say I actually think Iraq -
what we learned during the inspections - made Iraq a more
dangerous place potentially than in fact we thought it was
even before the war".....
dev.siliconinvestor.com
The head of the U.S. team conducting the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq announced on Thursday that his group has uncovered at least ten more artillery shells filled with banned chemical weapons and is finding new WMD evidence "almost every day."
Message 20273691
Kay says some Iraq weapons in Syria: report
Message 19729605
Saddam agents on Syria border helped move banned materials
Message 20420930
Iraq Hid Nuclear Program Intending On Rebuilding It
Message 20565683
Evidence Iraq Had Deal To Buy Uranium From Congo: Butler Report
dev.siliconinvestor.com
Message 20315956
Wilson now says Iraq DID seek uranium from Niger, Africa
Message 20081121
Uh huh, It's always been about "stockpiles" of WMD's &
absolutely nothing else........
Message 20911765
Saddam Funded Terrorists - Duelfer Report
dev.siliconinvestor.com
Inspections + Verification
Message 20620056
Duelfer Report: Saddam Bribed Jacques Chirac To Veto War
Message 20611925
DAVID KAY: In my judgment, based on the work that has been
done to this point of the Iraq Survey Group, and in fact,
that I reported to you in October, Iraq was in clear
violation of the terms of [U.N.] Resolution 1441.
Resolution 1441 required that Iraq report all of its
activities -- one last chance to come clean about what it
had.
We have discovered hundreds of cases, based on both
documents, physical evidence and the testimony of Iraqis,
of activities that were prohibited under the initial U.N.
Resolution 687 and that should have been reported under
1441, with Iraqi testimony that not only did they not tell
the U.N. about this, they were instructed not to do it and
they hid material.....
....the unparalleled looting and destruction, a lot of which
was directly intentional, designed by the security services
to cover the tracks of the Iraq WMD program and their other
programs as well....
Message 19757713
David Kay: ".......All I can say is if you read the total body of intelligence in the last 12 to 15 years that flowed on Iraq, I quite frankly think it would be hard to come to a conclusion other than Iraq was a gathering, serious threat to the world with regard to WMD."
In fact, David Kay just last fall said that the Iraq Survey Group, quote, "discovered sufficient evidence to date to conclude that the Iraqi regime was committed to delivery system improvements that would have, if Operation Iraqi Freedom had not occurred, dramatically breached U.N. restrictions placed on Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War."
We have also found that Iraq had plans and advanced design work for a liquid-propellant missile with ranges of up to 1,000 kilometers; activity that Iraq did not report to the U.N. and which could have placed large portions of the Middle East in jeopardy.
We have confirmed that Iraq had new work under way on prohibited solid-propellant missiles that were also concealed from the United Nations.
Significantly, the Iraq Survey Group has also confirmed prewar intelligence that Iraq was in secret negotiations with North Korea to obtain some of its most dangerous missile technology.
Message 19774077
DAVID KAY: I think Iraq was a dangerous place becoming more
dangerous, because, in fact, what we observe is that the
regime itself was coming apart. It was descending into
worse the part of moral depravity and corruption. Saddam
was isolated in a fantasy land capable of wreaking
tremendous harm and terror on his individual citizens, but
corruption, money gain was the root cause.
At the same time that we know there were terrorist groups
in state still seeking WMD capability. Iraq, although I
found no weapons, had tremendous capabilities in this
area. A marketplace phenomena was about to occur, if it
did not occur; sellers meeting buyers. And I think that
would have been very dangerous if the war had not
intervened.....
....Iraq remained a very dangerous place in terms of WMD
capabilities, even though we found no large stockpiles of
weapons.....
Message 19757678
Last fall the Iraqi Survey Group uncovered, quote, "significant information, including research and development of biological weapons, applicable organisms, the involvement of the Iraqi intelligence service in possible biological weapons activities and deliberate concealment activities."
All of this suggests that Iraq, after 1996, further compartmentalized its program and focused on maintaining smaller covert capabilities that could be activated quickly to surge the production of biological weapons agents.
The Iraq Survey Group found a network of laboratories and safe houses controlled by Iraqi intelligence and security services that contained equipment for chemical and biological research and a prison laboratory complex possibly used in human testing for biological weapons agents that were not declared to the United Nations.....
.......Before I leave the biological weapons story, an important fact that you must consider: For years the U.N. searched unsuccessfully for Saddam's biological weapons program. His son-in-law, Hussein Kamil, who controlled the hidden program, defected and only then was the world able to confirm that Iraq indeed had an active and dangerous biological weapons program.
Message 19774132
Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, said,
"a threat remains that chemical weapons could be used against
U.S. and coalition forces, noting information from earlier
this year that Iraqi scientists had linked up with foreign
terrorists in Iraq. A series of raids beginning last March,
Duelfer said, prevented the problem from 'becoming a major
threat."
and....
""Hussein's government retained data and personnel
knowledgeable about weapons, and used funds from the Oil for
Food relief program to upgrade his chemical industry so that
weapons materials could be produced once sanctions ended."
Message 20616191
David Kay: ".......Iraq was in clear and material violation of 1441. They maintained programs and activities, and they certainly had the intentions at a point to resume their program. So there was a lot they wanted to hide because it showed what they were doing that was illegal. I hope we find even more evidence of that."
"The world is far safer with the disappearance and removal of Saddam Hussein"
"I think the world is far safer with the disappearance and the removal of Saddam Hussein. I have said I actually think this may be one of those cases where it was even more dangerous than we thought. I think when we have the complete record you're going to discover that after 1998 it became a regime that was totally corrupt. Individuals were out for their own protection. And in a world where we know others are seeking WMD, the likelihood at some point in the future of a seller and a buyer meeting up would have made that a far more dangerous country than even we anticipated with what may turn out not to be a fully accurate estimate."....
Senator McCain: "So the point is, if he were in power today, there is no doubt that he would harbor ambitions for the development and use of weapons of mass destruction. Is there any doubt in your mind?"
David Kay: "There's absolutely no doubt. And I think I've said that, Senator."....
Senator Clinton: "I think that rightly does raise questions that we should be examining about whether or not the U.N. inspection process pursuant to 1441 might not also have worked without the loss of life that we have confronted both among our own young men and women, as well as Iraqis."
David Kay: "Well, Senator Clinton, let me just add to that. We have had a number of Iraqis who have come forward and said, 'We did not tell the U.N. about what we were hiding, nor would we have told the U.N. because we would run the risk of our own' --
I think we have learned things that no U.N. inspector would have ever learned given the terror regime of Saddam and the tremendous personal consequences that scientists had to run by speaking the truth." That's not to say, and it's not incompatible with the fact that inspections accomplish a great deal in holding a program down. And that's where the surprise is. In holding the program down, in keeping it from break out, I think the record is better than we would have anticipated. I don't think the record is necessarily better than we thought with regard to getting the final truth, because of the power of the terrorist state that Saddam Hussein had."
Message 19757747
RUMSFELD: It's a difficult task.
Think: It took us 10 months to find Saddam Hussein. The
reality is that the hole he was found hiding in was large
enough to hold enough biological weapons to kill thousands
of human beings. Our people had gone past that farm
several times; had no idea he was there.
And unlike Saddam Hussein, such objects once buried can
stay buried. In a country the size of California, the
chances of inspectors finding something buried in the
ground without their being led to it by people
knowledgeable about where it was is minimal.
Message 19771164
Text of UN Resolution 687 AKA "The Gulf War Cease Fire Agreement.
dalebroux.com
UN Resolution 1441
un.int |
