Posted on 06/11/2003 10:38:21 AM PDT by Wolfstar
The international Left and its willing media shills have their spin machine in high gear these days about WMD. They already are busy trying to revise recent history and shape it's telling to their ends. The Left is attempting to plant a false memory in the public mind — one that says Iraq never had WMD (or, alternatively, didn't have WMD for some unspecified pre-war period), and that President Bush and PM Blair knew this, but lied about it in order to go to war.
Not only is that claim breathtaking in its mendacity, double-dealing, and shameless, cynical attempt to destroy the reputations of two brave leaders, but it's extremely dangerous from a number of perspectives. So to help counter the Left's ugly revisionism, join me in going back just nine months:
On September 12, 2002, just one year and one day after the worst foreign attack on U.S. soil in the nation's history, President George W. Bush presented to the United Nations General Assembly his concerns for the security of the country and people he is sworn to protect. He appealed to the UN for help in dealing, once and for all, with one of the most dangerous, vicious dictators of the post-WWII period. In doing so, he laid out a COMPREHENSIVE SUMMARY CASE against Hussein, and a LIST OF DEMANDS Hussein must take in order to avoid being removed by force. (Only one demand dealt with WMD, by the way.) [BEGIN EXERPT]
And our greatest fear is that terrorists will find a shortcut to their mad ambitions when an outlaw regime supplies them with the technologies to kill on a massive scale.
[SNIP]
Twelve years ago, Iraq invaded Kuwait...And the regime's forces were poised to continue their march to seize other countries.
[SNIP]
To suspend hostilities, to spare himself, Iraq's dictator accepted a series of commitments. The terms were clear, to him and to all. And he agreed to prove he is complying with every one of those obligations.
He has proven instead only his contempt for the United Nations, and for all his pledges. By breaking every pledge — by his deceptions, and by his cruelties — Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself.
In 1991, Security Council Resolution 688 demanded that the Iraqi regime cease at once the repression of its own people, including the systematic repression of minorities...This demand goes ignored.
Last year, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights found that Iraq continues to commit extremely grave violations of human rights, and that the regime's repression is all pervasive. Tens of thousands of political opponents and ordinary citizens have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary execution, and torture by beating and burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation, and rape. Wives are tortured in front of their husbands, children in the presence of their parents — and all of these horrors concealed from the world by the apparatus of a totalitarian state.
[Ed. Note: Above proven true post-war.]
In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolutions 686 and 687, demanded that Iraq return all prisoners from Kuwait and other lands. Iraq's regime agreed. It broke its promise. Last year the Secretary General's high-level coordinator for this issue reported that Kuwaiti, Saudi, Indian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Bahraini, and Omani nationals remain unaccounted for — more than 600 people. One American pilot is among them.
[Ed. Note: Not only is the search still on for WMD, but for some trace of what happened to all these people.]
In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolution 687, demanded that Iraq renounce all involvement with terrorism, and permit no terrorist organizations to operate in Iraq. Iraq's regime agreed. It broke this promise. In violation of Security Council Resolution 1373, Iraq continues to shelter and support terrorist organizations that direct violence against Iran, Israel, and Western governments. Iraqi dissidents abroad are targeted for murder. In 1993, Iraq attempted to assassinate the Emir of Kuwait and a former American President. Iraq's government openly praised the attacks of September the 11th. And al Qaeda terrorists escaped from Afghanistan and are known to be in Iraq.
[Ed. Note: Above proven true pre- and post-war.]
In 1991, the Iraqi regime agreed to destroy and stop developing all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, and to prove to the world it has done so by complying with rigorous inspections. Iraq has broken every aspect of this fundamental pledge.
From 1991 to 1995, the Iraqi regime said it had no biological weapons. After a senior official in its weapons program defected and exposed this lie, the regime admitted to producing tens of thousands of liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents for use with Scud warheads, aerial bombs, and aircraft spray tanks. U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has produced two to four times the amount of biological agents it declared, and has failed to account for more than three metric tons of material that could be used to produce biological weapons. Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.
United Nations' inspections...revealed that Iraq likely maintains stockpiles of VX, mustard and other chemical agents, and that the regime is rebuilding and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical weapons.
[Ed. Note: So, will the President’s critics simply ignore what the UN and the Iraqi regime, itself, were saying?]
[SNIP]
Today, Iraq continues to withhold important information about its nuclear program — weapons design, procurement logs, experiment data, an accounting of nuclear materials and documentation of foreign assistance. Iraq employs capable nuclear scientists and technicians. It retains physical infrastructure needed to build a nuclear weapon. Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year. And Iraq's state-controlled media has reported numerous meetings between Saddam Hussein and his nuclear scientists, leaving little doubt about his continued appetite for these weapons.
[Ed. Note: Above proven true pre- and post-war. In fact, UN inspectors are back in Iraq right now trying to account for all the material, some of which was looted.]
Iraq also possesses a force of Scud-type missiles with ranges beyond the 150 kilometers permitted by the U.N. Work at testing and production facilities shows that Iraq is building more long-range missiles that it can use to inflict mass death throughout the region.
[Ed. Note: Above proven true post-war.]
[SNIP]
1991, Iraq promised U.N. inspectors immediate...unrestricted access to verify Iraq's commitment to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles. Iraq broke this promise, spending seven years deceiving, evading, and harassing U.N. inspectors before ceasing cooperation entirely.
[SNIP]
As we meet today, it's been almost four years since the last U.N. inspectors set foot in Iraq, four years for the Iraqi regime to plan, and to build, and to test behind the cloak of secrecy.
We know that Saddam Hussein pursued weapons of mass murder even when inspectors were in his country. Are we to assume that he stopped when they left? The history, the logic, and the facts lead to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not take.
Delegates to the General Assembly...The first time we may be completely certain he has a nuclear weapon is when, God forbid, he uses one. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent that day from coming.
[Ed. Note: The above three paragraphs summarize the factors and risks the President had to weigh in the post-9/11 world, in light of 12 years of history with Iraq.]
The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N. demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?
[SNIP; Jump to demands Hussein must meet in order to avoid war.]
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionally forswear, disclose, and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction, long-range missiles, and all related material.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all support for terrorism and act to suppress it, as all states are required to do by U.N. Security Council resolutions.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilian population, including Shi'a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans, and others, again as required by Security Council resolutions.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who are deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with international efforts to resolve these issues, as required by Security Council resolutions.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program. It will accept U.N. administration of funds from that program, to ensure that the money is used fairly and promptly for the benefit of the Iraqi people.
If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and accountability in Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United Nations helping to build a government that represents all Iraqis — a government based on respect for human rights, economic liberty, and internationally supervised elections.
[SNIP; END EXERPT]
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MadIvan, pinging you in support of your PM.
Dennis Prager had an Iraqi Christian, just recently returned from that country, on his radio program this morning.
According to him, the only TV the Iraqi populace receives is from Iran, propoganda 24/7.
Our forces gave their lives for this?
Somebody had better start getting smart, quick, or we're going to lose.
God help us.
Borrowing another's pedigree kind of destroys the credibility of the post, doncha think?
The first three paragraphs are Wolfstar's own. At the end of the third, he says "[Begin Excerpt]". Then excerpts of the President's remarks follow, SNIPPED in places, with Wolfstar's editorial comments.
Yes, it could have been put together a bit better, but it's obvious that he tried, and that he didn't intend to pass off his remarks as the President's. If you'll check the link to the website, you'll see that the remarks that Wolfstar posted are the President's. (I didn't read them all, but the one or two that I was looking for were there.)
As for my own interspersed commentary, it is clearly marked with [Ed. note:].
So, while I do welcome constructive criticism, with all due respect, yours may be well-meant, but is mistaken.
Uh, MadIvan apparently hasn't been on FR since May 20. Which is worrisome. It's quite a long time.
My points are these: The President summarized several reasons for removing Hussein, presented Hussein (and the UN) with a 5-point ultimatium, and then waited about six months to see if matters could be respoved peacefully. When he finally acted to remove Hussein, the President was acting on United States policy as established jointly by both the Congressional and Executive branches of our government.
I don't want those essential points to be lost in a spasm of nitpicking over what is or is not a "vanity," and whether or not I made the correct decision in putting GWB's name down as "author."
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