[Reagan Man]

Here's a few cuts from PresBush`s last three speeches leading up to the start of the war in Iraq. WMD were the major reason for going to war with Saddam. Period.

"The dictator of Iraq and his weapons of mass destruction are a threat to the security of free nations. He is a danger to his neighbors. He's a sponsor of terrorism. He's an obstacle to progress in the Middle East. For decades he has been the cruel, cruel oppressor of the Iraq people."

--- PresBush 3-16-2003, Azores Portugal

"My fellow citizens, events in Iraq have now reached the final days of decision. For more than a decade, the United States and other nations have pursued patient and honorable efforts to disarm the Iraqi regime without war. That regime pledged to reveal and destroy all its weapons of mass destruction as a condition for ending the Persian Gulf War in 1991."

"The danger is clear: using chemical, biological or, one day, nuclear weapons, obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other."

--- PresBush 3-17-2003, Address to the Nation

"My fellow citizens, at this hour, American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger."

--- PresBush 3-19-2003, Address to the Nation

[TigersEye]

You are quite right. WMDs were central to the administration's reasoning for invading Iraq. You have pointed out quite well that WMDs were found. The quantities and types you cite as being found may not be as much as expected but they are not insignificant. (I'm sure from your tenor that you agree and I'm not making a counter-point.) You also illustrate that, while WMDs were a central issue, WMDs did not constitute a lone or overshadowing issue. They were central to a much larger picture of thouroughly roguish and malevolent behavior on Saddam's part. Behavior that carried the weight of a nation with many millions of people and a large standing army. A nation that occupies a central location in a region of great worldwide economic importance and powerful cultural influences. Cultural influences that extend to over 1.3 billion people in the world and promulgates a hostile, exclusionary and aggressive view of superiority over every other culture it encounters.

I suspect there are more WMDs yet to be found in Iraq and a good deal of material that was secreted out of Iraq. I know that there was more found than you have listed. I have read accounts of it on FR taken from major news services. I'm sure you have too. Thank you for bringing me back to center on this. It is easy to forget the original point when you take the defensive against propaganda. (ie Moore/Sheehy/Kennedy/Murtha)