Posted on 01/26/2004 7:35:58 AM PST by prairiebreeze
WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Iraqi weapons inspector David Kay said he blames U.S. intelligence for telling President George W. Bush that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction prior to going to war last spring.
Kay, who was appointed by the Bush administration to look for chemical and biological weapons in Iraq, concluded on Friday that there were no stockpiles of weapons.
Some of the Democrat presidential candidates used this news from Kay to lambaste Bush as well as Vice President Dick Cheney.
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), the new front-runner for the Democrat nomination for president, said that Bush, Cheney and others in the administration have to be "held accountable" for alleging there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
On CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Kerry called for immediate Congressional hearings and a full investigation into the intelligence that was used as justification for going to war with Iraq.
"They ought to be held accountable for using the weapons of mass destruction argument," Kerry asserted. "Dick Cheney and others in the administration misled the American people with respect to the true status of the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
Although Kerry said he did not know if Bush was specifically involved in the alleged intelligence failure, he said the investigation would reveal who is at fault during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday."
"I don't know the answer to that, but we ought to know the answer to that in America," Kerry stated.
However, Kerry remarked that although Bush may not be at fault "without adequate evidence," he is certain that Cheney bears the burden for saying that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
"I know the vice president either misspoke or misled the American people," Kerry accused Cheney on Fox.
Kerry even opined that the Bush administration purposefully lied to the American people to justify going to war with Iraq.
"It confirms what I have said for a long period of time, that we were misled -- misled not only in the intelligence, but misled in the way that the president took us to war," Kerry expressed. "I think there's been an enormous amount of exaggeration, stretching, deception."
Another Democrat presidential candidate, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), said on Sunday that he believes an investigation is needed.
"We have a responsibility to have an independent commission that gets to the bottom of this," Edwards exclaimed to reporters during a campaign stop in New Hampshire.
Faltering Democrat presidential candidate retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark told NBC on Sunday that he believes the Bush administration even forced intelligence officials to contrive evidence to justify their reasons for going to war with Iraq.
"I think what this administration has done is play politics with intelligence and really lean on the intelligence community to come up with the answers they've sought," Clark charged the Bush administration.
Nevertheless, the only Democrat presidential candidate that supported the war, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), says the Kay report does not prove verifiably that Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction.
"The fact that David Kay now says they weren't there doesn't say [Iraq] never had them," Lieberman said on CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday. "It says for some reason they're not there now."
He added, "We ought to ask for a full-scale investigation of exactly why our intelligence community said otherwise."
Kay resigned on Friday saying that he does not "think they existed," referring to the weapons of mass destruction.
"The fact that we found so far the weapons do not exist -- we've got to deal with that difference and understand why," Kay expressed on Sunday.
Yet, Kay said on National Public Radio on Sunday that he does not believe Bush has to justify his position to the American people since he was relying on intelligence information provided to him.
"It's an issue of the capabilities of one's intelligence service to collect valid, truthful information," Kay stated.
Kay said, "The intelligence community owes the president, rather than the president owing the American people" an apology.
He continued, "It is not a political gotcha issue. It is a serious issue of how you could come to the conclusion that is not matched by the future."
Kay predicted last year that he would find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Even still, he concluded on Sunday that Saddam Hussein had "a large number of WMD program-related activities" that would have continued had the U.S. not gone to war with Iraq.
"There were scientists and engineers working on developing weapons or weapons concepts that they had not moved into actual production," Kay revealed.
The White House said on Sunday that they believe weapons will still be found in Iraq.
Kay says he would like to write a book on weapons intelligence as a result of his work in Iraq.
Prairie
How soon will a dem play that tune> How soon will a dem candidate play it or will they?
OOC, why do Democrats hate Cheney so much? It's like they've painted a horrible picture of him for no reason, and now the average Joe is under the impression that he's some sort of criminal. Am I missing something?
If The Bush Administration Lied About WMD, So Did These People (Updated)
"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." -- From a letter signed by Joe Lieberman, Dianne Feinstein, Barbara A. Milulski, Tom Daschle, & John Kerry among others on October 9, 1998
"I will be voting to give the president of the United States the authority to use force - if necessary - to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." -- John F. Kerry, Oct 2002
My dream...is Cheney steps down for health reasons and Rudy Giuliani steps in as the VP candidate.
Bush/Giuliani2004, Giuliani/Rice2008, Giuliani/Rice2012, and so on!
President Giuliani??
H*LL NO!
It will be, or it will be President Hildabeast!
Pay me now, or pay me later.
HELLO ... I guess Kerry missed that part huh??
Oh BTW ... Did Kerry ever call Clinton a liar and call for an investigation when Clinton attacked Iraq ???
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