About Those Iraqi WMD ...

The conservative blogosphere is abuzz with the news that Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) announced that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq.

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of the Iraq-Iran war, were found buried near the Iran border, and b. In 2004, other shells were found that were no longer active.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.

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."

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.

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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