[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Very Useful article.

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Related item:

Pesticides, Precursors, and Petulance (Iraq’s WMDs)

[Iowa Granny]

Interesting reading.

[the Real fifi]

great piece but previously posted.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Any thoughts on this?

[jungleboy]

Sounds like a deliberate failure by ISG in regards to CJTF-7.
Lots of questions in this piece.

[Just mythoughts]

Good post.

This brings to mind that question that Hillry asked Dr. Kay when he appeared before Congress.

Why did you leave your job?.......I wondered then why this was Hillry's question and still wonder why.

[Ramius]

I would agree that it is *way* premature to make any judgements of WMD stockpiles and programs in Iraq.

That the programs were intact and functional is even admitted in the Kay report.

I have a question for these folk that I haven't seen much on yet: If there really *are* stockpiles of VX gas, Mustard gas, whatever gas, and whatever bio agents being found in the various hundreds of munitions depots around Iraq... and the mere task of locating and destroying the agents is something that will take many months or years...

Would we actually want to admit it? No... we wouldn't. The last thing we'd want is for the various Al Queda types to have a que to get in there and go prospecting for agents before we had a chance to locate and destroy all of them.

Would Bush fall on his sword over WMD in Iraq instead of spilling the beans on a critical op like this? Yes, I believe he would.

[lilylangtree]

Good info. Thanks for the post.

[GraniteStateConservative]

In his recent testimony, Dr. Kay pronounced that there are no large stockpiles of WMD. This is a pretty bold assertion considering that actual surveys of sites we were familiar with were haphazard and uncoordinated. Also, according to his own interim report published in October of 2003, the ISG had not even searched 120 of the 130 known ammo storage points, much less any underground sites. In addition to these known sites, “neighborhood” arms caches are discovered all the time in Iraq. It is entirely possible that WMD stockpiles were moved out of Iraq, or that they were dispersed in Baghdad neighborhoods and throughout Iraq. All of this may even have been accomplished while the unfocused search operations were ongoing.

What I've read indicates that not only have we not found stockpiles, but there is no evidence to suggest that they had them-- no paperwork, no witnesses, etc. That includes these theories. There is no evidence to support these theories. Now, that still doesn't mean they aren't there or were there, but moved, but the statements Kay have made are stronger assertions than just saying we haven't found them. He doesn't expect to find them. It would shock him to find them because he's seen nothing to suggest they were there.

[dixiechick2000]

Very nice article. I like this Hanson guy.

[Richard Axtell]

For political reasons, the Democrats and other opponents of the war have seized on Kay's statements, distorted and/or exaggerated his conclusions, and used them to attack Bush and his doctrine. This article gives us a glimpse into what may have been an inadequately managed WMD search. Perhaps Kay after all is not the ultimate authority on the existence of stockpiles of WMDs in Iraq. Kay showed none of the arrogance and partisanship of Dick Clarke, but he may not be much more effective in long run. Clarke magnified his mistakes and miscalculations with his shear petulance and transparent mendacity. Kay may have just been a well meaning man, or technocrat, in beyond his depth. He gave up too soon and too easily, perhaps aware that the task was beyond his organizational capacity. So, perhaps the game is yet afoot, Watson, eh?

[justshutupandtakeit]

Thanks for posting this. I will have to read it carefully later.