Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD (30 September 2004 )

CIA ^ | 30 September 2004

[baystaterebel]

Transmittal Letter

Introduction. Iraq has endured decades of collapsing hopes and accumulating tragedy. It is numbing to consider the waste of so much human and resource potential. Saddam’s ambitions conflicted with the region and the international community. True to his name, he too often chose confrontation over cooperation. Ultimately these decisions led to total collapse.

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were an integral element in the range of tools Saddam drew upon to advance his ambitions. WMD was not an end in itself. Therefore, to examine meaningfully WMD in Iraq means examining the leadership of Iraq concomitantly.

The Iraq experience with WMD stretches over 30 years and three wars. Thousands of victims died on battlefields, and civilians have been gassed in domestic terror campaigns. War and sanctions have ground civil society down to rudimentary levels. The most talented of Iraq have faced excruciating dilemmas—to comply with the Regime’s directions or risk careers, their lives, and the lives of loved ones. Chronic, systemic fear on the part of the best and the brightest was a feature of the intellectual elite.

[ravingnutter]

Hey troll, educate yourself:

W-M-D...Documents FOUND: Will the MEDIA Rush to PRINT?

On that same thread (post #19):

Links between Iraq and Al Qaeda

Now go back to DU like a good boy and tell your friends the bad news.

[ravingnutter]

Make sure you have plenty of tissues for your tears:

N.Y. Times: Iraq Had WMD 'Stockpiles' in 2003

[justa-hairyape]

Similarly, during Desert Storm, Saddam believed WMD had deterred Coalition Forces from pressing their attack beyond the goal of freeing Kuwait.

Interesting. Was the deterrent Saddam's use of WMD or was the deterrent Saddam's threat to use WMD ? His actual use of WMD was the only logical reason to stop the M1 tanks on the road to Baghdad. We later learned that their really was nothing of a conventional nature within Iraq that could stop our tanks. And we now know that even if coalition partners such as the French would have pulled out of the coalition, who cares ? The way things are going in France right now, the French may not even have a country in 10 years.

[ravingnutter]

"So, when the Clinton administration wants to justify its strike on al Shifa," this official tells me, "it's okay to use an Iraq-al Qaeda connection. But now that the Bush administration and George Tenet talk about links, it's suddenly not believable?"

Weekly Standard

More at the link, including verification of the links by Bill Richardson, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh.

[AHerald]

Marking for later reading.

[r-q-tek86]

ping