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WATCH: Iowa GOP Senate Candidate Still Believes There Were Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq
Mother Jones ^ | May 12, 2014 | Patrick Caldwell, DC Bureau Reporter

Posted on 05/12/2014 6:06:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

War veteran Joni Ernst claims to have vague, secret knowledge that contradicts every public report.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

Iowa state senator and US Senate candidate Joni Ernst captured national attention when her campaign's first TV ad featured the candidate talking about castrating hogs (a subsequent ad featured Ernst at a gun range, implying that she'd shoot Obamacare to bits). But if the Sarah Palin-approved Republican wants to enter national politics, she may need to brush up on some of her facts. Ernst still thinks Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction when the US invaded Iraq, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary.

On Friday, Ernst sat down with the Des Moines Register's editorial board for a wide-ranging interview. Ernst served in the Iraq War in 2003, "running convoys through Kuwait and into southern Iraq" according to her campaign website. She defended that war during the interview, saying that the intelligence at the time offered compelling reason to displace Saddam. "Obviously the president thought there was actionable intelligence, she said, "so as an Iraqi War veteran I stand beside that and I'll stand beside every other soldier I served with in believing we were on a clearly defined mission to go into Iraq." (Her response in the video above starts at the 23:20 mark.)

Why is Ernst so willing to support Bush's decision to invade? She hints that she has inside knowledge that there were, indeed, still weapons of mass destruction when the war began. "We don't know that there were weapons on the ground when we went in," she said, "however, I do have reason to believe there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." When a Register reporter quizzed her on what information she has, Ernst said "my husband served in Saudi Arabia as the Army Central Command sergeant major for a year and that's a hot-button topic in that area."

Of course, US troops never managed to find any such weapons after the invasion. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld have all conceded that the initial intelligence was flawed.

When asked for clarification, a spokesperson for Ernst's campaign narrowly walked back her comments over e-mail: "Her point was that we know for a fact that Iraq had chemical weapons in the past, and had even used them. We also know none were found while our troops were on the ground, despite the intelligence at the time. What happened to those weapons she doesn't know."

Ernst currently holds a slight lead in the polls in advance of the June 3 primary. If she managed to win the general election—Democrat Bruce Braley is the front-runner for the open seat—Ernst would be the first woman elected to federal office from Iowa.


TOPICS: Iowa; Campaign News; Issues; Parties; U.S. Senate
KEYWORDS: 2014; gop; iowa; iraq; joniernst; palin; wmd; wot
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Translation: Eight years of beating up on President Bush and defending Mr. Obama goes down the drain if she's right.
1 posted on 05/12/2014 6:06:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The left keeps on saying there were no WMD’s in Iraq..so I have a simple question for leftists..where did Assad get those same weapons that he has been using on his own people..did they come out of his butt?


2 posted on 05/12/2014 6:07:41 PM PDT by Sarah Barracuda
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It’s not a great comment to make on the campaign trail, even though she couched it well. Though, there is some element of truth to this. Wasn’t there a well-evidenced theory about them being moved? I think Niger was involved, or maybe Assad. Also, if WMDs include chemo-weapons we know he had those at one point.

Ernst seems like a good candidate and she’d be a vast improvement upon the gargoyle she’s trying to replace. Let’s hope she beats Braley

(P.S - to the Karl Rove shills on their way, don’t bother making fools out of yourselves again)


3 posted on 05/12/2014 6:09:59 PM PDT by Viennacon
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Where do these shepherdless sheep think Assad’s WMD’s came from? Sheesh.


4 posted on 05/12/2014 6:10:22 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
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To: Sarah Barracuda
The left keeps on saying there were no WMD’s in Iraq..so I have a simple question for leftists..where did Assad get those same weapons that he has been using on his own people..did they come out of his butt?

Of course they did. Just ignore all the plane flights and truck convoys moving from Iraq to Syria before the invasion. They were delivering aspirin, yeah that's the ticket.

5 posted on 05/12/2014 6:11:18 PM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

They believed the WMDs when Clinton was President.....http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp


6 posted on 05/12/2014 6:13:54 PM PDT by csmusaret (Will remove Obama-Biden bumperstickers for $10)
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To: Viennacon
Bruce Braley: the “condescending, elitist turd,” as described by the editor of the Albia, IA., newspaper.
7 posted on 05/12/2014 6:16:48 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Rip it out by the roots.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Bush Cheney and Rove all said they were wrong, and despite the plain facts they said there were no WMDs in Iraq. Anyone who cares to try to explain this historic fiasco is welcome to try. We all saw the pictures of the Russian truck convoys heading toward Syria and the artillery shells we found.
8 posted on 05/12/2014 6:17:27 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Russians came in to move the weapons into Syria before the war.

MoJo knows this, as do most hard-core totalitarian American communists.


9 posted on 05/12/2014 6:17:51 PM PDT by WhistlingPastTheGraveyard (The greatest trick the Soviets ever pulled was convincing the world they didn't exist.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe because there were WMD’s in Iraq. Get over it lefties, you are retarded and liars.


10 posted on 05/12/2014 6:18:07 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Conservatives are all that's left to defend the Constitution. Dems hate it, and Repubs don't care.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
WMDs Found in Iraq

Deadly chemicals are found dumped in river

Evidence of WMDs in Iraq - Annonymous Freeper in Iraq

Cyanide Salt Block Found in Iraq

MSNBC - Cyanide & Mustard Agents Found in Euphrates River

EUPHRATES 'POISONED'

NBC Forces Out Bob Arnot Who Delivered Upbeat Stories from Iraq(Arnot Charges Bias)

-PJ

11 posted on 05/12/2014 6:20:09 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (If you are the Posterity of We the People, then you are a Natural Born Citizen.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Of course there were. What’d they gas the Kurds with? Nitrous oxide?


12 posted on 05/12/2014 6:20:17 PM PDT by SgtHooper (This is my tag!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I agree with her. I believe they were taken to Syria. I remember there being news or information of large convoys going out of Iraq in the middle of the night for quite some time prior to the war.


13 posted on 05/12/2014 6:23:52 PM PDT by Parmy
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To: Mastador1
Of course they did. Just ignore all the plane flights and truck convoys moving from Iraq to Syria before the invasion.

That's what I have thought up to and including now. I don't know why Bush et al capitulated.

To a person out of (now) 72 comments, they were denigrating and snickering at her on the Quad City Times.

Ernst: I have reason to believe Iraq had WMD

14 posted on 05/12/2014 6:23:56 PM PDT by Aliska
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To: csmusaret

As did England, Germany, France, etc. They were there. We found stuff that W decided just not to inform the public of. Probabaly a smart move. Don’t let our enemies know what we know.

What did get in the press was uranium (enriched I don’t know), Sarin going to Syria and used in an failed attack in Lebanon, lots of mobile labs and processing centers, other places gutted. Basically the report that coward Colin Powell showed at the UN and now whines about.

But the reality and bottom line was Iraq had continued to violate the cease-fire agreement and after 9/11 it was time to quit being a pussy about it like Clinton.

I’m getting more than fed up with bystanders whining that some candidate shouldn’t have a logical and intelligent debate because the morons have bought the lies. Those folks carry white flags.


15 posted on 05/12/2014 6:24:32 PM PDT by Fledermaus (Conservatives are all that's left to defend the Constitution. Dems hate it, and Repubs don't care.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

With leftists yesterday is what they say it is, and tomorrow will be wonderful.

But today they will do their damned best to make everybody suffer, equally of course, for the children of course, except the ones they demand Planned Parenthood slaughter.

Yes, the glorious left, where would we be without them.


16 posted on 05/12/2014 6:25:54 PM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: smoothsailing

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jan/11/iraq

Things that make you say hmmmmmm


17 posted on 05/12/2014 6:28:19 PM PDT by Bidimus1
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I heard it on the radio, Israeli forces said they detected weapons being moved out. They are no dummies, I believe they were right too!


18 posted on 05/12/2014 6:29:02 PM PDT by chicagolady (Mexican Elite say: EXPORT Poverty and Let the the Stupid AmericanTaxpayer foot the bill !)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Mass destruction? Life yes, property no. Sooner it would be weapons of mass killing.

And there were lots of that stuff found there. They simply dumped it or took it out of country.

I asked my neighbor down the road, since he was one of those deniers, of how easy he thought it would be to hide one quart of liquid/something in a city.


19 posted on 05/12/2014 6:35:45 PM PDT by crz
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Yo, MoJo ho-writer, did you know Iraq used WMD repeatedly against Iran in their protracted war...
... and that Iraq used WMD repeatedly against the Kurds in Iraq...
... and that WMD were found in Iraq, but only those not trucked to Syria in the 18 months between the accusation that they still had WMD and the beginning of the actual inspections???

You might actually already know all that, but what's the use of being a liberal if you can't lie, cheat, and steal, eh?

20 posted on 05/12/2014 6:36:39 PM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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