About Those Iraqi WMD ...
After the double take, you might ask yourself: why is this momentous information being shared with the American public by a US Senator and Representative ... and not Rumsfeld or Bush? Perhaps it's because the Senate has been debating a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq? Or maybe Santorum's tough re-election race, where he is running 18 points behind?
Oh, and who declassified the classified document this time?
In a nutshell: a. Some (forgotten) shells, artifacts of the Iraq-Iran war, were found buried near the Iran border, and b. In 2004, other shells were found that were no longer active. According to the Washington Post, "intelligence officials reaffirmed that the shells were old and were not the suspected weapons of mass destruction sought in Iraq after the 2003 invasion."
In 2003, we knew that Iraq had had weapons of all stripes: the assertion for war was that Iraq was weapons-ready, as well as the vivid picture painted by these words: "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
That didn't stop FOX from blaring: Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq, despite official White House downplaying of the report. Or for Hannity & Colmes to spend most of their hour devoted to the report. From the website: "This says weapons have been discovered, more weapons exist and they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq," according to Hoekstra, chair, House Intelligence Committee.
Asked why the Bush administration, if it had known about the information since April or earlier, didn't advertise it, Hoekstra conjectured that the president has been forward-looking and concentrating on the development of a secure government in Iraq.We know that Americans increasingly pick a news source that reflects their worldview, something more important to Republicans than Democrats. This type of reporting does not contribute to understanding of issues. Instead, it drives a larger wedge between an already deeply divided American people. Finally, it is representative of the rhetoric that led most Americans to believe that Saddam Hussein, not Saudia Arabia, was linked to 9-11.
Offering the official administration response to FOX News, a senior Defense Department official pointed out that the chemical weapons were not in useable conditions.
"This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991," the official said, adding the munitions "are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war."
Shame on grandstanding Congressmen. Shame on the White House for tacitly allowing the grandstanding. Shame on FOX. And shame on the conservative blogosphere for more mob frothing.
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Comments
ALL libs are in denial about this new report!It prooves all libs do not know what they are talking about.LOSERS!!!
I’ve always liked the information I could obtain from About.com. But, now, after reading this horrid anti Santorum piece regarding the released information about finding WMDs, I will NEVER, EVER use this website again. Rick Santorum is my Senator…WMDs were found.
3 saran shells killed 5,000 Kurds. Now we find they’ve found 500 and it’s not news????? How jaundiced can these journalists get!
WMD’s were found! They have Russian, Chinese, French fingerprints all over them. Can you guess why Bush doesn’t publicize?
First tie and last I have looked at this blog.
These shells were old?? What does that have to do with anything? Sadaam declared he had WMD and part of the cease-fire agreement from the first Persian Gulf War was to demonstrate their destruction. He obfuscated for 12 years and the president finally called him on it.
We couldn’t find WMD initially, but now that they’ve been found the liberals are saying that the shells were old. Very funny. Old or new, they were there and now we’ve found them.
“We know that Americans increasingly pick a news source that reflects their worldview, something more important to Republicans than Democrats.”
That wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that FOX news is the only news source not under liberal control?
Someone above already made the best point here:
“3 saran shells killed 5,000 Kurds. Now we find they’ve found 500 and it’s not news?????”
Amen brother.
Could this article possibly BE more biased? Only a portion of this document has even been declassified. I’d love to see the rest and Rick Santorum hints that there is much more in the document that remains classified.
What’s dividing us is the simplistic mis-information (i.e. Bush lied, people died nonsense) along with the more clever Democratic Legerdemain
Whenever a Republicans expose the Democratic lies, they are accused of causing division.
You say this is old news. When was this ever headlined on CBS or ABC? Dan Blather dropped this like a hot potato.
To quote Ted Kennedy, “there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein’s regime is a serious danger, that he is a tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed”
Teddy’s Speech at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies September 27, 2002
http://kennedy.senate.gov/~kennedy/statements/02/09/2002927718.html
“This type of reporting does not contribute to understanding of issues.”
Is she trying to justify suppressing this information. If it wasn’t for FOX, we would’ve never heard about this. It’s scary how these people are willing to manipulate the news rather then just report it. Propaganda and sosialism are a dangerous combination. Please people, use heads. WMD’s were found. This is not a reason to start bashing the war again.
Ta-taa About.com. Too dang one sided for my tastes… and I don’t like Bush!
Okey, how can people not critically think about this. YES, there were shells found that have chemical weapons. But, if Hussein really wanted to use them, wouldn’t he store them in an easier to use location? Secondly, from what the reports are saying, it sounds like the material has degraded to the point of not being usable. So we found there were WMDs on Iraqi soil, but couldn’t be used. Our invasion had the belief that Hussein had USABLE WMDs. So why isn’t Bush talking about this? He realizes it doesn’t help any case for the war.
Am I in denial? No. Am I a Lib, does it matter? Is Santorum trying to use this to gain points in the polls? I bet since he is behind by a large amount right now. This may not be a reponse particularly about the article, but at those who don’t think that everyone has a motive for what they say, both liberals, conservatives, and those who just want the truth.
OK, first of all all the weapons identified in the report pre-date the 1991 Gulf War. Based on the location, they may be leftovers from the Iran-Iraq War.
Now about the age. Chemical weapons, like all chemical compounds, decay if not properly stored. Buried forgotten in a bunker is not proper storage. Weapons like mustard gas have a very short shelf life.
Finally, these are battlefield weapons. Designed to be fired from artillery pieces or on a short-range missile. Not WMD by anyone’s definition. Even the Pentagon and the US intelligence commmunity agrees with this.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13480264/
Well, let’s see. It was Democrats, I believe, that once said they believed that Sadaam had WMD. Bush said that they had found the WMD (in 2003). They hadn’t. He lied (or was misled). Condi Rice said, that she didn’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud. It wasn’t going to be. Rumsfeld said he knew where the WMD were. He was lying (or was misled).
Fortunately, I have a memory, and am not being misled by this corny, transparent election year stunt.
Ms. Gill, you’re absolutely right. This “story” is much ado about nothing, and I’m glad someone is saying so. Deteriorating nerve gas is not a weapon of mass destruction, and it’s not what the hullabaloo in 2003 was all about. The fact that Hussein had such chemicals pre-1991 is something we all knew.
There’s a reason that Bush and Rumsfeld weren’t the ones doing the crowing when this report was declassified. There wasn’t any real news in it.
It may well be that someday we find evidence that the Bush administration was right about Iraqi WMD. But this isn’t it.
Thank you for telling it like it is, Kathy. Obviously, many visitors find it more difficult to believe the U.S. Department of Defense than a Republican Senator who is failing in his race for re-election. It is such a shame when political bias gets in the way of understanding reality…regardless of which party it comes from.
Bill Lamb