[Kaslin]

I did a search and did not find it posted

[The Raven]

The Dems are once again wrong. They need something to lie about, however....so here it is. Amazing when the Liar in Chief was in office - they didin't seem to worry about these things.

[BADROTOFINGER]

Hmmm. It would seem to me that by all of the gloom and doom and massive demonstration predicted by the left, that it was the DEMOCRATS who 'hyped' the Iraq threat. More leftist hypocrisy...JFK

[SoCar]

This deserves a huge BARF alert!! Nobody, not even the French, questioned this before the war. The disagreement centered on whether we should allow more inspections or not. These people are truly disgusting. I do not appreciate Biden, Rockefeller, or any RAT calling MY President a liar. That's what they really mean when they say "hype". If the intelligence was wrong (and I doubt that), it was intelligence they all believed.

[E=MC²]

...or may have had faulty intelligence on its alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Hey, demonrats, just who was it that cut funding and shackled and hobbled US intelligence over and over the past 20 years beginning with Senator church???

[Defender2]

DimocommiecRATS....LLLLllllOOOOooooSSSSssssEEEEeeeeRRRRrrrrSSSSssss....LOSERS!!!!:-(

[Agricola]

Should anyone be surprised by this? We have a partisan system for just such purposes. The GOP rightly called for many investigations of Clinton and members of his administration when they suspected something may be fishy. The Democrats do the same. It is called politics.

The Democrats have a particular nasty habit of using investigations when none are merited. But in this case I too would like to see one. This war was sold on the idea that WMD's in Iraq were an immediate threat to the USA. That they have not been found to date is distressing considering the administration was talking about tons of WMD's. Were they destroyed before the war? Why didn't Sadaam use them during the war? Their use could have slowed our offensive for weeks if not several months. Were they given to AQ or other terrorist forces when Sadaam knew he was going to be invaded no matter what he did? Was our intelligence faulty or was it "masauged" for a particular result? Over a hundred Americans were killed in this war and more are going to be killed in the coming weeks, months and years in Iraq. This nation, like it or not, is going to have to commit billions to rebuild Iraq and maintain it's security for some time. I would like an answer to these questions. I don't think they should be dismissed as mere "Bush bashing" even if that is the motive of the Democrats.

And as an aside- to use the discovery of mass graves of Shia from the uprising we encouraged and then abandoned in 91' (as some have hinted) as justification for the current war is truly shameless and disgusting.

[FairOpinion]

More Clinton statements on Iraq & WMD:

Text Of Clinton Statement On Iraq
Text of President Clinton's address to Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pentagon staff:

February 17, 1998

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/17/transcripts/clinton.iraq/

EXCERPT:

And I want them to understand what we must do to protect the national interest, and indeed the interest of all freedom-loving people in the world.

Remember, as a condition of the cease-fire after the Gulf War, the United Nations demanded not the United States the United Nations demanded, and Saddam Hussein agreed to declare within 15 days this is way back in 1991 within 15 days his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them, to make a total declaration. That's what he promised to do.

The United Nations set up a special commission of highly trained international experts called UNSCOM, to make sure that Iraq made good on that commitment. We had every good reason to insist that Iraq disarm. Saddam had built up a terrible arsenal, and he had used it not once, but many times, in a decade-long war with Iran, he used chemical weapons, against combatants, against civilians, against a foreign adversary, and even against his own people.

And during the Gulf War, Saddam launched Scuds against Saudi Arabia, Israel and Bahrain.

Now, instead of playing by the very rules he agreed to at the end of the Gulf War, Saddam has spent the better part of the past decade trying to cheat on this solemn commitment. Consider just some of the facts:

Iraq repeatedly made false declarations about the weapons that it had left in its possession after the Gulf War. When UNSCOM would then uncover evidence that gave lie to those declarations, Iraq would simply amend the reports.

For example, Iraq revised its nuclear declarations four times within just 14 months and it has submitted six different biological warfare declarations, each of which has been rejected by UNSCOM.

In 1995, Hussein Kamal, Saddam's son-in-law, and the chief organizer of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, defected to Jordan. He revealed that Iraq was continuing to conceal weapons and missiles and the capacity to build many more.

Then and only then did Iraq admit to developing numbers of weapons in significant quantities and weapon stocks. Previously, it had vehemently denied the very thing it just simply admitted once Saddam Hussein's son-in-law defected to Jordan and told the truth. Now listen to this, what did it admit?

It admitted, among other things, an offensive biological warfare capability notably 5,000 gallons of botulinum, which causes botulism; 2,000 gallons of anthrax; 25 biological-filled Scud warheads; and 157 aerial bombs.

And I might say UNSCOM inspectors believe that Iraq has actually greatly understated its production.

Despite Iraq's deceptions, UNSCOM has nevertheless done a remarkable job. Its inspectors the eyes and ears of the civilized world have uncovered and destroyed more weapons of mass destruction capacity than was destroyed during the Gulf War.

This includes nearly 40,000 chemical weapons, more than 100,000 gallons of chemical weapons agents, 48 operational missiles, 30 warheads specifically fitted for chemical and biological weapons, and a massive biological weapons facility at Al Hakam equipped to produce anthrax and other deadly agents.

The UNSCOM inspectors believe that Iraq still has stockpiles of chemical and biological munitions, a small force of Scud-type missiles, and the capacity to restart quickly its production program and build many, many more weapons.

[FairOpinion]

Again, the Democrats want people to believe that either Bush deliberately lied about Iraq's WMD, and/or that our and other countries intel services make things up, rather than that Saddam hid his WMD, after all he had plenty of time.

The question really boils down to: "Do you believe Bush or Saddam?"

And the Democrats are united in believing and protecting Saddam, over the US.

[follow the money]

Democrats the party of Socialism,Joe Biden of Delaware one world U.N guy

[follow the money]

US Department of State
International Information Programs

Washington File
_________________________________

21 May 2003

Senate Panel Authorizes Millennium Challenge Account
(But votes not to have a separate governing body) (710)
Kathryn McConnell
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- A Senate panel May 21 adopted a bill to establish a
supplemental U.S. foreign aid account but stripped it of a Bush
administration provision that would have required it to be managed by
a new corporation governed by a board of directors.

The Foreign Relations Committee also approved a bill authorizing
appropriations for a package of foreign aid programs and the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID) for the fiscal year
beginning October 1 (FY04), adding an amendment offered by Senator
Christopher Dodd, a Democrat, that would add Caribbean countries to a
list of African countries targeted for assistance by the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Senators Chuck Hagel, a Republican, and Joe Biden, a Democrat,
sponsored the amendment making the proposed foreign aid Millennium
Challenge Account (MCA) the sole responsibility of the secretary of
state. They said a new bureaucracy, the proposed Millennium Challenge
Corporation, would weaken the State Department's ability to
effectively manage foreign aid.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation would undercut the secretary's
"power and leverage" with foreign aid and development assistance,
Hagel said.

The MCA is a major Bush administration proposal that would
dramatically increase available U.S. foreign aid funds and channel the
additional money to countries that adopt market-based policies, govern
justly and invest in their own populations.

The senators specifically opposed the administration's proposed
inclusion of the secretary of the Treasury and director of the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) on the corporation's board. "OMB, in
particular, does not have the expertise or experience to make foreign
policy," Hagel said.

The committee also approved an amendment offered by Democrat Jon
Corzine that would set aside 10 percent of MCA funds for assistance to
"bridge countries," or countries that are close to, but do not fully
meet, the fund's criteria for aid.

Both bills now go to the full Senate for debate. The House of
Representatives also must approve its own versions of the MCA and
foreign aid authorization bills. Final versions of both bills must be
passed by the House and Senate before being sent to the president for
signature or veto.

The committee voted to reduce by $300 million to $1,000 million
funding for the MCA in FY04, saying that the program needed time to
become established and effectively distribute its funds. The panel
also voted to cut $31 million from the administration's requested $731
million to fight drugs in the Andean region.

The committee approved two new funds requested by the administration
-- the Complex Foreign Contingencies Fund and a Famine Fund. It also
approved authorization of a $15 million Radiological Terrorism Threat
Reduction Act and a Global Pathogen Surveillance Act.

The Complex Foreign Contingencies Fund would support peace and
humanitarian intervention operations to prevent or respond to foreign
territorial disputes, armed ethnic and civil conflicts, and acts of
ethnic cleansing, mass killing or genocide.

The Radiological Terrorism Threat Reduction Act would authorize the
secretary of State to provide contributions and technical assistance
to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to deal with the
threat of radioactive materials being dispersed by conventional
explosives, or "dirty bombs."

The foreign aid measure includes the authorization of appropriated
funds for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts in and
around Iraq.

It would authorize continued funding for programs focusing on
strengthening and preserving democratic institutions and processes,
and conflict resolution in transition countries.

The measure includes the authorization of an additional $70 million
over the administration's request for the Freedom Support Act to aid
countries of the former Soviet Union and a $40 million increase in
funding for Eastern European and Baltic states under the Support for
East European Democracy (SEED) Act.

The measure authorizes increased funding of international military
training, peacekeeping, nonproliferation, anti-terrorism and demining
programs. Peacekeeping would get a $6 million increase over the
administration's request and nonproliferation, anti-terrorism and
demining would get a $100 million increase.

The bill would authorize funding for the Inter-American Foundation,
African Development Foundation and the Asian Development Fund.

The bill would make permanent a provision that foreign aid can be
provided through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as well as
through government bodies.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)

[Let's Roll]

Yeah, they didn't think the threat of a dangerous Iraq was hyped in 1998 when Klintoon was the one promoting it. They all signed off on it then. Are we supposed to believe that Iraq has mellowed in the last 4-5 years?

[RichInOC]

Ah, goody, two more idiots just volunteered to fly to Iraq and help search for the stuff...without protective gear, naturally. Why bother wearing all that hot, bulky crap if you're so sure you don't actually need it?

[Redleg Duke]

This is all the RATS have.

[BigWaveBetty]

So the much smarter than the Bush Administration, UNMOVIC was duped too? Funny how dims have forgotten all this:

According to UNMOVIC's paper on unresolved disarmament issues (6 March 2003):

"The Sulphur Mustard contained in artillery shells that had been stored for over 12 years, had been found by UNMOVIC to be still of high purity. It is possible that viable Mustard filled artillery shells and aerial bombs still remain in Iraq."

Iraq deployed three biological agents in weapons in 1991.

Anthrax spores have a half life of decades, Aflatoxin at least ten years. Smallpox, a suspected agent within its arsenal, has a shelf life of decades.

Iraq has yet to provide a credible account of its biological weapons programme nor has it demonstrated that the programme has been terminated.

As with chemical weapons Iraq has the knowledge and expertise to produce weapons at short notice.

Before July 1995, Iraq had denied having any offensive biological weapons programme and admitted only to having conducted a military research programme. More at link