Who thought Iraq had WMD? Most everybody

Townhall ^ | May 25, 2006 | Larry Elder

[Caleb1411]

As Memorial Day approaches, 51 percent of Americans, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, think the commander in chief "deliberately misled" us about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. "Deliberately misled"? Once again, let's go to the videotape:

Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, February 1998: "Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."

Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, February 1998: "He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has 10 times since 1983."

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, October 2003: "When [former President Bill] Clinton was here recently he told me was absolutely convinced, given his years in the White House and the access to privileged information which he had, that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction until the end of the Saddam regime."

French President Jacques Chirac, February 2003: "There is a problem -- the probable possession of weapons of mass destruction by an uncontrollable country, Iraq. The international community is right . . . in having decided Iraq should be disarmed."

President Bill Clinton, December 1998: "Other countries possess weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. With Saddam, there is one big difference: He has used them, not once, but repeatedly -- unleashing chemical weapons against Iranian troops during a decade-long war, not only against soldiers, but against civilians; firing Scud missiles at the citizens of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. Not only against a foreign enemy, but even against his own people, gassing Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq. . . . I have no doubt today that, left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will use these terrible weapons again. . . . "

Clinton, July 2003: " . . . [I]t is incontestable that on the day I left office, there were unaccounted for stocks of biological and chemical weapons. We might have destroyed them in '98. We tried to, but we sure as heck didn't know it because we never got to go back there."

Gen. Wesley Clark, September 2002, testimony before the House Armed Services Committee: "There's no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat. . . . Yes, he has chemical and biological weapons. . . . He is, as far as we know, actively pursuing nuclear capabilities, though he doesn't have nuclear warheads yet. If he were to acquire nuclear weapons, I think our friends in the region would face greatly increased risks, as would we."

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean [D], September 2002: "There's no question that Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States and to our allies."

Dean, February 2003: "I agree with President Bush -- he has said that Saddam Hussein is evil. And he is. [Hussein] is a vicious dictator and a documented deceiver. He has invaded his neighbors, used chemical arms, and failed to account for all the chemical and biological weapons he had before the Gulf War. He has murdered dissidents and refused to comply with his obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions. And he has tried to build a nuclear bomb. Anyone who believes in the importance of limiting the spread of weapons of mass killing, the value of democracy and the centrality of human rights must agree that Saddam Hussein is a menace. The world would be a better place if he were in a different place other than the seat of power in Baghdad or any other country."

Dean, March 2003: "[Iraq] is automatically an imminent threat to the countries that surround it because of the possession of these weapons."

Robert Einhorn, Clinton assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation, March 2002: "How close is the peril of Iraqi WMD? Today, or at most within a few months, Iraq could launch missile attacks with chemical or biological weapons against its neighbors (albeit attacks that would be ragged, inaccurate and limited in size). Within four or five years it could have the capability to threaten most of the Middle East and parts of Europe with missiles armed with nuclear weapons containing fissile material produced indigenously -- and to threaten U.S. territory with such weapons delivered by nonconventional means, such as commercial shipping containers. If it managed to get its hands on sufficient quantities of already produced fissile material, these threats could arrive much sooner."

Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and others, in a letter to President Bush, December 2001: "There is no doubt that . . . Saddam Hussein has invigorated his weapons programs. . . . In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., December 1998: "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology, which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., ranking minority Intelligence Committee member, October 2002: "There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years."

Any questions?

[rhombus]

We didn't find actual Zyclon D in many of the concentration camps in Germany, but we knew they used it through the evidence, such as the bodies, empty canisters, and witnesses. What is the difference between that and the WMDs in Iraq?

A Democratic president versus a Republican president?

[chaosagent]

Bookmarked

[P-40]

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/declassdocs/cia/19970409/970409_cia_762668_762668_01.html

If you want to wade through a bunch of raw information used in the investigation of Gulf War Syndrome, the above link is interesting. Saddam owned some serious stuff...and he picked some odd places to keep it.

[Christian4Bush]

We didn't find actual Zyclon D in many of the concentration camps in Germany, but we knew they used it through the evidence, such as the bodies, empty canisters, and witnesses. What is the difference between that and the WMDs in Iraq?

George Bush wasn't in office then.

/s, I think...

[Allegra]

Thank you for your kind wishes.

Yes, we hope they're either lost forever or that the good guys find them.

We've had to prepare for that remotely possible incident and I'm telling you there's no way I'm putting on one of those chemical/biological suits during the summer around this place. LOL

[griswold3]

John Kerry called them "massive weapons of individual destruction".
If you cannot defeat an enemy militarily, you could do it morally. What better damage to do to an enemy than to take away its credibility?
UN inspectors: Saddam shipped out WMD before war and after



SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, June 11, 2004
The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.

The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program.

The briefing contained satellite photographs that demonstrated the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war. Council members were shown photographs of a ballistic missile site outside Baghdad in May 2003, and then saw a satellite image of the same location in February 2004, in which facilities had disappeared.

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UNMOVIC acting executive chairman Demetrius Perricos told the council on June 9 that "the only controls at the borders are for the weight of the scrap metal, and to check whether there are any explosive or radioactive materials within the scrap," Middle East Newsline reported.
"It's being exported," Perricos said after the briefing. "It's being traded out. And there is a large variety of scrap metal from very new to very old, and slowly, it seems the country is depleted of metal."

"The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks," Perricos told the council. Perricos also reported that inspectors found Iraqi WMD and missile components shipped abroad that still contained UN inspection tags.

He said the Iraqi facilities were dismantled and sent both to Europe and around the Middle East. at the rate of about 1,000 tons of metal a month. Destionations included Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey.

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Tuesday, August 26, 2003 : Report: U.S suspects Iraqi WMD in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley

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The Baghdad missile site contained a range of WMD and dual-use components, UN officials said. They included missile components, reactor vessel and fermenters – the latter required for the production of chemical and biological warheads.
"It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for," Ewen Buchanan, Perricos's spokesman, said. "You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter. You can also use it to breed anthrax."

The UNMOVIC report said Iraqi missiles were dismantled and exported to such countries as Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey. In the Dutch city of Rotterdam, an SA-2 surface-to-air missile, one of at least 12, was discovered in a junk yard, replete with UN tags. In Jordan, UN inspectors found 20 SA-2 engines as well as components for solid-fuel for missiles.

"The problem for us is that we don't know what may have passed through these yards and other yards elsewhere," Buchanan said. "We can't really assess the significance and don't know the full extent of activity that could be going on there or with others of Iraq's neighbors."

UN inspectors have assessed that the SA-2 and the short-range Al Samoud surface-to-surface missile were shipped abroad by agents of the Saddam regime. Buchanan said UNMOVIC plans to inspect other sites, including in Turkey.

In April, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohammed El Baradei said material from Iraqi nuclear facilities were being smuggled out of the country.

[sport]

More than a few Kurds amd Iranis would, if dead people could talk, say that they did. And they were not bashful about using them, either.

[Bommer]

I STILL think they had 'em. They're out there somewhere.

give it up! If you can't find it, then it never existed! Like Jimmy Hoffa never existed! And Natalie Holloway never existed!

[Allegra]

Then my silver lighter that looks like a cowboy boot that I got at the Houston Rodeo never existed!

[Dazedcat]

You forgot to include those two Brokeback Senate poster boys for the Democratic party at that time, Tommy Daschle and Dickie Gephardt issuing a joint statement back in '98 how Saadam had WMD's and was a threat to the world.

Nice list though........

[SevenMinusOne]

The WH and RNC inability to take on this false charge is simply mind boggling.

They ask our soldiers to give 24/7 in some of the most rugged conditions imaginable...yet they can't keep any intensity levels up for a mere 20 hours a week in continuously setting the record straight about Iraq and the WOT.

The RNC is pathetic that it has never run ads simply showing what all others said regarding the WMDs along with stating the facts that we acted to removed Saddam from power for over a dozen reasons....the WMD equation was merely one of those reasons...and to a large extent the WMD equation has been dealt with. In that we know for certain now that Saddam and his Gov't will never posses WMDs again.

[spinestein]

And from the 1998 State of the Union Show by President Clinton....




[Together, we also must also confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals seeking to acquire them. Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons -- and the missiles to deliver them. The United Nations weapons inspectors have done a truly remarkable job, finding and destroying more of Iraq's arsenal than was destroyed during the entire Gulf War. Now Saddam Hussein wants to stop them from completing their mission.

I know I speak for everyone in this chamber, Republicans and Democrats, when I say to Saddam Hussein: You cannot defy the will of the world. (Applause.) And when I say to him: You have used weapons of mass destruction before; we are determined to deny you the capacity to use them again. (Applause.)]


http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/state1998.shtml

[spinestein]

And this from the State of the Union Show 1999 by President Bill Clinton...


[For nearly a decade, Iraq has defied its obligations to destroy its weapons of terror and the missiles to deliver them. America will continue to contain Saddam -- and we will work for the day when Iraq has a government worthy of its people.
Last month, in our action over Iraq, our troops were superb. Their mission was so flawlessly executed that we risk taking for granted the bravery and skill it required. Captain Jeff Taliaferro, a 10 year veteran of the Air Force, flew a B-1B bomber over Iraq as we attacked Saddam's war machine. He is here with us tonight. Let us honor him and all the 33,000 men and women of Desert Fox.
...
We are the heirs of a legacy of bravery represented by millions of veterans. America's defenders today stand ready at a moment's notice to go where comforts are few and dangers are many, doing what needs to be done as no one else can. They always come through for America. We must come through for them.]


http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/P/bc42/speeches/sup99wjc.htm

[girlangler]

They are in Syria, at least the WMD that haven't been provided to Iran and other terrorists.

Can anybody here remember the incident, shortly after we went into Iraq, where some chemical/WMD engineers from (I think) Syria, Libya, N. Korea were traveling on a train and were hit with a missle? The report said an American missle, but then it was dropped and never spoken of again.

I have been trying to find that, but I have a different computer than I had when that happened. I believe this was connected to the WMD from Iraq.

[EQAndyBuzz]

"Better that they be lost forever than found by and used by the bad guys. Politics be damned, there are lives at stake. Perhaps this is what the President meant when he mentioned using political capital. "

My thoughts exactly. We have the best satellite intel in the world and could track anything. Powell showed it to the UN in as much as identifying the licence plates of the trucks moving the crap out.

How did we lose hundreds of trucks that left Iraq for Syria? That still hasn't been answered yet.

[Allegra]

They are in Syria...

Some of 'em are in Iraq.

No joke.

[april15Bendovr]

Saddam's WMD
have been found

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38213

[MWS]

Bump.

This needs to be repeated again and again and announced from the rooftops. There are people in this country that are operating with a dangerous agenda, and it's not just the terrorists. These people will say what is expedient at one moment and then say the exact opposite when it serves their purposes. They are going to end up getting many good Americans KILLED, all for the sake of their little political games.

Where I come from that's called treason, and we have harsh punishments for that sort of thing... or we used to, anyway.

[spinestein]

And just for laughs, this is from the State of the Union Show 1997 by President Clinton....


[Just a few days before my second Inauguration, one of country's best known pastors, Reverend Robert Schuller, suggested that I read Isaiah 58:12. Here's what it says: "Thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in." I placed my hand on that verse when I took the oath of office, on behalf of all Americans. For no matter what our differences -- in our faiths, our backgrounds, our politics -- we must all be repairers of the breach.]

http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/P/bc42/speeches/sud97wjc.htm




If this was said by a Republican, it seems likely we'd be told that the president was only killing Muslims in Iraq on behalf of a Christian crusade.

[SevenMinusOne]

The WH and RNC have done a terrible job at addressing these complete false charges over the WMD issue - The RNC is pathetic it terms of standing up and running ads which set the record straight (be it on Iraq, WMDs, the economy, gas prices, etc, etc).