Given that Saddam had used WMD multiple times, anyone with at least two functioning brain cells knew he had them. The question was, after the inspectors left in 1998, did Saddam unilaterally disarm? Our intelligence agencies believed he hadn't and concluded he would use the absence of inspectors to rearm.
CIA National Intelligence Estimate.
This poll indicates most Democrats believe:
- All the world's intelligence agencies were wrong. The Iraqi army generals were wrong. Saddam, who forfeited his throne was wrong.
- The President knew they were all wrong. To lie, he had to knowingly tell us something that was false. One question: How would he know they were all wrong?
- Knowing there were no stockpiles of WMD, he chose to use their existence as a major justification for the war.
If number 2 is true, the President is smarter than everyone else. If number 3 is true, he's dumber than a post. Contending both attributes exist in the same person at the same time is reductio ad absurdam.