Kay Plans to Leave Search for Iraqi Arms

Washington Post ^ | 12/18/2003 | Dana Priest and Walter Pincus

[JohnGalt]

Kay Plans to Leave Search for Iraqi Arms Members of Survey Group He Heads Being Diverted to Fight Against Insurgents By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, December 18, 2003; Page A42

David Kay, the head of the U.S. effort to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has told administration officials he plans to leave before the Iraq Survey Group's work is completed and could depart before February, U.S. military and intelligence officials said.

The move comes as more of Kay's staff has been diverted from the weapons hunt to help search for Iraqi insurgents, and at a time when expectations remain low that any weaponry will be discovered.

Kay requested the change for personal and family reasons, officials said. When he accepted the job in June, they said, he expected to quickly find the expansive evidence that the administration had claimed as its primary reason for going to war. Rather, Kay's preliminary report in October said the group had so far discovered only that Iraq was working to acquire chemical and biological weapons, had missile programs under various stages of development and possessed only a rudimentary nuclear program.

[JohnGalt]

Ken Starr redux?

[AppyPappy]

Saddam may be singing as we speak. It won't be good for the inspectors I suspect.

Scott Ritter.....white courtesy phone.

[NavyCaptain]

Hey everyone wants to go home and move on! I don't begrudge the guy that opportunity. But, we need to replace him with anothewr who has the same "burning desire" he had when he started! We will find the WMD! Things take time, but it will happen!

[JohnGalt]

Kay made a living in the '90s collecting speaking fees where he talked about how dangerous Iraq was. He is going to sneak out of town before people fully understand what a phony he is.

Spend more time with the family? LOL, Mssr. Kay.

We can be happy that we removed a bad man and thus were able to end an often cruel sanction regime for the Iraqi people who can now try to forge some semblance of a country.

But there were no WMDs.

[Coop]

But there were no WMDs.

My brain is tingling. I wonder why? Oh, perhaps because this statement is so mind-numbingly ridiculous.

Tell that to the folks with family members/friends at Halabja.

[JohnGalt]

LOL

You are so late Eighties...


Perhaps you agee, then, that giving David Kay a $500 million budget to find WMDs was a waste of money?

[Coop]

You are so late Eighties...

And the Halbja victims are still dead. From WMDs that don't exist.

[JohnGalt]

That is the silliest argument I have heard from the WMD Dead Enders.

Can't you be slightly more creative? I mean Iraq was an ally in 1988.

[familyofman]

"...Kay's preliminary report in October said the group had so far discovered only that Iraq was working to acquire chemical and biological weapons, had missile programs under various stages of development and possessed only a rudimentary nuclear program."

But, but - we knew exactly where those pesky WMDs were before the invasion. They must have gone down the rabbit hole sometime between 1/2003 and now.

[JohnGalt]

How much do you think Kay took home for his 6 month Iraq tour?

I demand a refund.

[familyofman]

"How much do you think Kay took home for his 6 month Iraq tour? "

Too much, probably priced like the gas bought by Halliburton for our troops. But then again who knows how much a snipe hunt will cost.

[Coop]

That is the silliest argument I have heard from the WMD Dead Enders. Can't you be slightly more creative? I mean Iraq was an ally in 1988.

Really? Even more silly than saying Hussein had no WMDs? Halabja, countless UNSC resolutions, inspection teams, and missile violations make your "no WMDs" statement silly, while your uninformed sarcasm doesn't make my old, inconvenient "Halabja" statement silly.

Haven't found the weapons yet? You're right.

And just last week I was saying we haven't found Hussein yet.

Hussein was given several extra months by presumed friends of yours (Chiraq et al) to prepare his personal hiding places. Now, you don't suppose he might have been preparing other hiding places for - oh, I don't know - aircraft and other weaponry, do you?

Oh, that's right. We destroyed Iraq's air force in 1991. That is SO yesterday! :-D

[Republican Wildcat]

we knew exactly where those pesky WMDs were before the invasion.

Please cite a source for the above assertion. Thanks.

[JohnGalt]

Rummy on March 30 fits the description of what familyofman was spoofing, but I included a few others:

Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.

George Bush March 18, 2003

We are asked to accept Saddam decided to destroy those weapons. I say that such a claim is palpably absurd.

Tony Blair, Prime Minister 18 March, 2003

Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.

Ari Fleisher March 21, 2003

There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.

Gen. Tommy Franks March 22, 2003

I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.

Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board , March 23, 2003

One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites.

Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark March 22, 2003

We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.

Donald Rumsfeld March 30, 2003



Saddam's removal is necessary to eradicate the threat from his weapons of mass destruction

Jack Straw,
Foreign Secretary 2 April, 2003

Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find -- and there will be plenty.

Neocon scholar Robert Kagan April 9, 2003

I think you have always heard, and you continue to hear from officials, a measure of high confidence that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be found.

Ari Fleischer April 10, 2003

[JohnGalt]

WMD Dead Ender, indeed.

[mr.pink]

I demand a refund.

See, that's where you paleos need to think more creatively.

You should demand a taste, not a refund. ;o)

The "spend more time with the family" thingy is always good for a chuckle, and I can think of a few more folks who's families could benefit from extended quality time.

[Coop]

Yes, a fine, detailed response to my Post #12. I bet I can find Hussein threads prior to 12/14 where you're calling folks believing Hussein was still in Iraq similar names.

I was hoping for something more along the lines of your previous post. You know, facts, quotes, that sort of thing.

[familyofman]

How about the presentation made by Sec Powell at the UN Security Council - which included photographic and other evidence. Rummy's comments about the WMDs being to the north, west... of Bahgdad, and don't forget VP Cheney & his comments regarding the certainty of the pesky little WMDs.

Are you saying that no officials in DC made statements concerning the existence of WMDs? If so, you had your head in the sand in the months leading up to the invasion & all the months since then when the existence of WMDs have been made (don't forget T. Blair).

[Republican Wildcat]

I see little to substantiate the claim that it was known exactly where they were hidden.

Moreover there's little room for doubt he had ongoing programs. If there were little/no stockpiles of weapons that had actually been produced yet when we got there and took him out, the timing is all the better. Unfortunately, since he has used them before, to say he didn't have any is a foolish argument. That causes me great concern. If they aren't in Iraq, that means they are somewhere else. Who has them?

[Thermalseeker]

Mansoor Ijaz, Fox News contributor, reported a couple of days ago that the coalition has one of Saddam's nuclear scientists in custody. This scientist claims that Iraq's enriched uranium was smuggled out by he and other scientists just prior to the start of the war. The uranium supposedly went to Syria, Yemen and Iran. Ijaz says the scientist, along with his wife and children have all contracted a particular type of cancer that is related to exposure to enriched uranium. Ijaz says that now that Saddam is in custody he expects many more of Saddam's scientists to come forward.

Not saying this is true, but Ijaz has been nuts on with everything else he's reported so far.....