There were 53 WMDs found in Iraq and referred to in the Duelfer (Iraq Survey Group) Report issued last September.
Below is a map of Iraqi locations where WMDs were found. This is a map from the Duelfer Report as published on the CIA web site.
I understand that the Dems and their willing accomplices of the liberal media want to ignore these findings.
It is beyond me why President Bush and the administration have let themselves be put on the defensive over false assertions that no WMDs were found in Iraq.
President Bush, with his administration backing this line, should say, pointing to the below map:
The WMDs found in Iraq at the locations on this map were direct threats to America and all civilized countries. These weapons, kept in Iraq as Saddam continued to violate its ceasefire with us and 17 UN resolutions, required strong action by us.
The brave American and coalition forces took that strong action, liberating Iraq from a ruthless, mass-murdering dictator who had kept that country in bondage for decades.
Although it's true that the chemical WMDs found in Iraq were apparently made prior to 1991 and there were not as many WMDs as we, our allies, and our intelligence agencies believed, these weapons could easily have been used to murder innocent Americans in a terrorist attack.
Five (5) Americans were murdered, 13 others were infected, and major disruptions of our Congress and Postal Service resulted from a relatively small amount of anthrax mailed by an as-yet-unknown person or persons.
I don't think that the American people wanted Saddam to get away with flouting the ceasefire and the UN resolutions, keeping his WMDs, and continuing to pose a threat. We've found more WMDs in Iraq than were involved in the anthrax attacks. I wasn't about to trust that Saddam would not use the WMDs and would not transfer the WMDs to his terrorist allies.
Below is Figure 5, on page 30 of volume 3 (click here to go directly to map on CIA web site). You can click here to go to the index of the report.
The President has spoken up about these things before.
It isn't THAT important because existing WMDs were only a part of why we went in. It wasn't the only manor reasons.
The defied sanctions and in the last year shot nearly 300 times at planes patrolling the no-fly zone.
Saddam had a history of allowing terrorists in.
He had camps there for them to be trained before and was financing homicide bombers in Israel and elsewhere up to $25,000 an attack.
He was using oil money to finance terror.
Scientists who escaped claimed he had is weapons scientist and technology on standby to start right up if sanctions were lifted.
He was pursuing a nuke before, and scientist came forward with parts and records showing he had interests to start on that again right away also if sanctions were lifted.
We also found over 230 mass graves.
Tens of thousands of tapes of executions.
Rape and torture rooms were all over.
We can go on and on and on.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/chap5.html
Saddam never abandoned his intentions to resume a CW effort when sanctions were lifted and conditions were judged favorable:
Saddam and many Iraqis regarded CW as a proven weapon against an enemy’s superior numerical strength, a weapon that had saved the nation at least once already—during the Iran-Iraq war—and contributed to deterring the Coalition in 1991 from advancing to Baghdad. (reason enough for me).
While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991. There are no credible indications that Baghdad resumed production of chemical munitions thereafter, a policy ISG attributes to Baghdad’s desire to see sanctions lifted, or rendered ineffectual, or its fear of force against it should WMD be discovered.