White House promises 'smoking gun intelligence'

The Daily Telegraph ^ | January 16, 2003 | Toby Harnden

[MadIvan]

White House officials have reassured Republicans by signalling that America and Britain are prepared to release powerful intelligence evidence to cement the case for war against Iraq.

Andy Card, the White House chief of staff, and Karl Rove, President George W Bush's chief political strategist, have each indicated privately that the administration has proof that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Card received blunt warnings from conservative Republican senators last week that Mr Bush had to produce a much more concrete case for war if he hoped to keep public support.

Senator Kit Bond of Missouri said more information should be released and asked: "What is the connection between Iraq and al-Qa'eda?" According to sources at the private meeting, Mr Card is understood to have urged him: "Don't worry."

Mr Rove is believed to have used similar language during private briefings to politicians in Washington.

He strongly suggested that the Bush administration already possesses a piece of intelligence from the CIA or MI6 that would amount to the "smoking gun" critics are calling for.

[Calpublican]

Yes, don't forget it or we'll drop some "nucular" weapons on you.

[Calpublican]

Yes, don't forget it or we'll drop some "nucular" weapons on you.

[sarasmom]

Re # 238

I just had a flashback to the Carter years.

[justa-hairyape]

No. The Cold War is over. We won by breaking the MAD principal deadlock. Our win started when Kennedy took the Soviets to the brink over Cuba and culminated with Regan pressing on with a Star Wars type missile defense. We were the first society with nukes. We are still the only country ever to use em. We invented the MAD principal and we showed the world we have the ability to transcend the madness. Now Saddam has displayed some rather large cajones. I believe he will go down in history as the first state leader ever stupid enough to fire ballistic missiles at a country possessing nuclear weapons (scud missiles at Israel). But establishing yourself as the world greatest idiot, does not help you when you attempt to play ball in the big leagues. Saddam and his rag tag terrorists forces dont stand a chance playing poker with the pentagon and the CIA.

[El Gato]

I believe he will go down in history as the first state leader ever stupid enough to fire ballistic missiles at a country possessing nuclear weapons (scud missiles at Israel),

Since he's been there and done that his place in history is already assured. However, he's probably, no most certainly, dumb enough to do it again, only this time the US won't be pressuring the Israelies not to respond. IMHO, the Israelies won't go "Samson" on him unless he uses Nuke, Chemical or Biological warheads on the Scuds. Without 'em they are mostly just irritants anyway, unless they get extremely lucky as they did with the barracks full of reservists in Gulf War I. If he does use them, he and most of the population of Baghdad are toast, although "crispy critters" might be a more appropriate description.

[The Great Satan]

Saddam and his rag tag terrorists forces dont stand a chance playing poker with the pentagon and the CIA.

Really? Then how come he's still there, eighteen months after flattening the two tallest buildings in New York City on national TV in front of the whole world?

[capitan_refugio]

That makes sense. Thanks for the info.

[justa-hairyape]

How come he was still in power to commit the revenge act in the first place ? He should have been taken care of when we were first in Iraq over 10 years ago. He was left there due to poor geopolitical judgements and of course by the strings that were placed upon Bush senior. While Saddam sat and plotted for 10 years, our intelligence gathering capabilities were systematically being destroyed from within. It was a two pronged revenge attack. Rot away with operatives from within (mostly socialists anti-american sympathizers) whilst you plot the attack on the World Trade Center. The main problem of course with the plan was, Gore was supposed to be in power when the attack occurred. The Media tried to steal the election for him, remember ? Imagine where would would be with Gore as President right now. Probably asking our inner childs why we made these missunderstood islamic terrorists so mad at us. Within the past year the assets and the funding for our intelligence capabilities has been dramatically restored. We have a Texan as Commander in Chief who does not walk away from a fight. When the bombing starts, or just prior, look for massive raids within the US. I think it would also probably be prudent to ground all non-military air traffic within the US for the first week or two of the war.

[justa-hairyape]

The Israelis should get the Nobel Peace Prize for the restraint they showed whilst Saddam was launching scud missiles at them. IMHO - If I am sitting in Israel watching Scud Missiles flying toward the country, I would have assumed they carried WMD and would have launched a nuclear counter attack whilst the fires of the scuds were still burning. Do you think if North Korea and China launched a missile attack on the west coast of the US, we would wait a few weeks whilst the missiles were examined by someone named Hans Blinx to see if they contained WMD ? Heck no. We would nuke both countries ASAP.

[billhilly]

"Hmmm, resolutions to use violence are not mentioned in my copy of the Consitution, so I guess we are in new ground."

Check your kids hands for white out.#;^)

[The Great Satan]

How come he was still in power to commit the revenge act in the first place ?

Guess what? He had anthrax back then, too. That's the real reason why he survived the Gulf War, that's why he was in a position to hit us on 9/11/01, and that's why he's still in power today, a year after scoring a stunning blow against the most powerful nation in history.

[Maelstrom]

That's the guy.

It happened right after Bush said he gave the information to his critics in the Senate. The information was to link Al Qaeda and Saddam.

A week or two later, the information was deemed insufficient as it wasn't released publically in the US.

Of course, right now, the Ricin poisoners in the UK have ties to both.

[niman]

The powder in the letter to Daschle tells us he has cast-iron back-end security.

Looks like the cast iron is getting a bit rusty.

[niman]

THIS IS NEXT WE HAVE THIS ANTHRAX YOU CANNOT STOP US means?

I thought it was CAN NOT stop us. In any event, it clearly didn't mean much to the anthrax investigators, other than another mis-direct.

[niman]

as every tinhorn dictator in the world comes to understand that the US can be blackmailed simply by holding its civilian population hostage using a handful of dust.

Let's see how the real thing flys.

[niman]

The Amerithrax charade -- written by and starring Steve Hatfill -- was not retired: it lumbers on, ever more ludicrous, to this day.

Should we call him Morton K Ballard or Louis Mason?

[The Great Satan]

Getting desperate, Henry?

[niman]

Getting desperate, Henry?

With regard to what? Looks like the troops are lining up in Iraq. Should we expect another anthrax attack? If so, will it be the USAMRIID attack Ames stocks again?

[niman]

As you know, I have been away from the anthrax_fans board in awhile. What have I missed? Any new converts to your theory on the anthrax mailings?

[The Great Satan]

Any new converts to your theory on the anthrax mailings?

Pretty much everyone accepts my theory now, although Maurice keeps flipping back and forth. It's that liberal thing, you know?