The way I read this is, "the incompetent Bush Administration" put documents on the internet telling people how to make a nuclear bomb. I think that's the point the slimes is trying to make. I don't think this is a good thing.
Of course NYTimes wants to make it a bad thing, but in fact it proves that Saddam was a threat.
If he had detailed plans which could build a bomb in a year, he could sell them or give them to terrorists, or build his own bomb as soon as sanctions are lifted.
The administration probably shouldn't have been so open, although the democrats are on record calling for everything to be declassified.
But in order for the NYTimes to claim the Bush administration put us at risk, they have to acknowledge that Saddam had knowledge that put us at risk.
If we don't let them, we can win the spin on this story.
Bush did a good thing by heading into Iraq.
Someone else did a bad thing by posting the documents.
But, but it's impossible, cause IRAQ had no plans to make a nuclear bomb, so it can't be!
a. NYT has just confirmed that Saddam had viable WMD tech in his possession right to the end (he wasn't supposed to have it)
b. NYT is lamely spinning this as a story of U.S. ineptitude, but to buy their very shaky premise, you'd have to agree that such technology was "safer" in the hands of Saddam
c. NYT staff is out drinking or in bed right now - - - but the Pajama Media is just getting to work - - - too bad, NYT!
If you read the entire NYTimes article you'll find that the documents were posted at the behest of Congressional GOP leaders to prove that Iraq was indeed still trying to create a nuclear weapon which, of course, Iraq, the Times, Hans Blix, the UN, etc. all said Saddam Hussein was not doing. This story is clearly a liberal spin job and we are led to believe that the only documents on the website were these that are helpful to Iran. Of course, these documents would be helpful to any entity but the Times says helpful to Iran because there's more bang for the liberal buck that way.
Trust me when I tell you this pre-election surprise is a flat-out bust. The Times knows it and that's why they waited until Friday to run it.
see what I wrote at post #6...
"The way I read this is, "the incompetent Bush Administration" put documents on the internet telling people how to make a nuclear bomb."
That's what the slimes is trying to say ... but what they are REALLY admitting is that there are documents that show
Saddam Hussein and his minions knew how to make a nuclear bomb, or were a good part of the way there.
WHY WOULDN'T IRAQ THEMSELVES BE ONE OF THOSE DANGEROS STATES IF SADDAM WAS LEFT IN POWER?
"I think that's the point the slimes is trying to make. I don't think this is a good thing."
The people this info would have helped most is the Iraqis themselves...
NY Times:
"A senior American intelligence official who deals routinely with atomic issues said the documents showed “where the Iraqis failed and how to get around the failures.” The documents, he added, could perhaps help Iran or other nations making a serious effort to develop nuclear arms, but probably not terrorists or poorly equipped states. The official, who requested anonymity because of his agency’s rules against public comment, called the papers “a road map that helps you get from point A to point B, but only if you already have a car.”"
Dude. Any half way competent engineer can figure out how to build a crude, but very deadly and destructive nuke in a few hours via public libraries, or today, the Internet. To put it bluntly, building a nuke is not "rocket science."
The basic knowledge hasn't been "secret" since the 1950s. Understand even a little about physics, and it is not all that complex. The only hard part is getting the materials necessary. That is also very expensive which is why nukes have been the sole property of nation-states and not the stuff of the Unibomber or Timothy McVeigh.
It's also why we have a thing called non-proliferation. It's not the knowledge. It's the materials.
Remember the wiretap story and the terror finance tracking story? Those were supposed to nail the Administration, but the public saw through them. That will happen again. There's no way that there was anything in these documents that helped Iran get a bomb they haven't even developed yet, and probably nothing that isn't on the Internet already.
What's so wierd is that this is coming out now four days before election day. /sarc
The author makes a very valid counterpoint that, weapon or no weapon, to have such detailed plans was to have the ability to hand such information over to other hate-America countries/entities.
This will not play any better than anything else already tried. This certainly will not hurt GOP turnout so this is obviously to inspire more Dem voters. It won't.
This may be the opening play by the left to switch from the current Bush-Lied-People-Died to a more palpable and watered-down version of We-Won't Screw-The Pooch-Like-The-Pubbies for 2008. It's easier to blame incompetence than to prove malfeasance.
We are the less-silent majority. With academia, news, entertainment all skewed to the left we keep alot of our opinions to ourselves. It is just more often than not worth the energy to deal with their emotionally-charged and intellectually-bankrupt positions. So the Dems get over-represented in polls creating false hopes that cannot be fullfilled and crashing down they come.
Remember that embryonic stemcell research is not the only issue the Dems that is based on false hope; affirmative action, minimum wage, United nations, taxes, etc all are Dem positions that are applied in a manner that guarantees not only the status quo but can often make worse the very ill the solution was supposed to solve.
Democrats - The Party Of False Hopes
I see it that way too. It will be bad. I let my good nature blind me to the NYT's bad intentions. This is a dirty trick. If it was dangerous for the website to have exposed so much, I'm sure it was earlier than a few days before a big election. THIS is bad.
Luckily, the voters will decide that Dems are better than Reps on national security and put into the office the people least likely to do anything about Iran./sarc