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Report:US Lacked Evidence OF Weapons....
Charlotte Observer ^ | June 7, 2003 | Dana Priest and Walter Pincus

Posted on 06/07/2003 8:46:05 AM PDT by Seti 1

Edited on 06/07/2003 8:54:36 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

WASHINGTON - In the weeks last fall before critical votes in Congress and the United Nations on going to war in Iraq, senior administration officials expressed certainty in public that Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons, even though U.S. intelligence agencies said they had no direct evidence.

President Bush himself said in the Rose Garden on Sept. 26 that "the Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons. The Iraqi regime is building the facilities necessary to make more biological and chemical weapons."


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: iraqweapons; usintel; wmd
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1 posted on 06/07/2003 8:46:05 AM PDT by Seti 1
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To: Seti 1; Admin Moderator
As this originally ran in the Washington Post, it needs to be posted as an excerpt.
2 posted on 06/07/2003 8:51:13 AM PDT by dighton
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To: Seti 1
"We continue to have confidence in our statements about Iraq's possession of chemical and biological weapons," spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "We are patient and so are the American people."
Patient? No, not quite. It's a complete non-issue for me. Iraq had to be liberated; we liberated it. Done. If we find WMD, great. If not, even greater. Whatever is the case, Iraq is liberated.
3 posted on 06/07/2003 8:53:05 AM PDT by Asclepius (as above, so below)
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To: Seti 1
All Washingington post articles must be excerpted. Thank you.
4 posted on 06/07/2003 8:54:11 AM PDT by Admin Moderator
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To: dighton
Thanks.
5 posted on 06/07/2003 8:54:53 AM PDT by Admin Moderator
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To: Seti 1
1) the WMD intel came from Clinton admin
2) the WMD intel came from UN
3) the WMD intel is not yet fully exposed

Was Clinton admin lying?
Was UN lying?
Why have some imposed an artificial deadline on finding WMD?

6 posted on 06/07/2003 8:56:18 AM PDT by Principled
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To: Principled
What about all this stuff?

WARNING: Gathering WMD storm a crock. See what Clinton told nation in 1998...

The Guardian Fully Retracts BOTH Powell/Straw Story AND Wolfowitz "It's All About Oil" Story

CIA convinced truck-trailers held bioweapons labs ^

IRAQ: WMD source 'was senior Iraqi officer'

FAS (Fed Am Scientist) Report: Iraqi Precursor Chemicals Stored Separately for Weapon-side Mixing

THE ROAD ENDS FOR WMD ON WHEELS

Coalition forces enter possible WMD site

Initial tests suggest WMD "cocktail" found in Iraq (**Of special note--post #58, by Archy)

U.S. finds new evidence of Iraqi WMD (NBC training school, antidotes)

Chem-weapons lab believed discovered

BRITS' CHILLING CHEM-NUKE FIND

CAPTURED FOES FOUND WITH CHEM-WAR GEAR

EUPHRATES 'POISONED'

MSNBC - Cyanide & Mustard Agents Found in Euphrates River

Is the Activity at Al Qaim Related to Nuclear Efforts?

U.S. probing nuclear facility (Al Tuwaitha Follow Up)

Team Inspects suspected plutonium site (update by the journalist who broke original story, NEW info)

Underground Nuclear Facility Found in Iraq

Marines hold Iraqi nuclear site built by French

U.S. Marines Guard Secret Iraqi City with Very Hot Nuclear Radiation Levels

And from Freeper "HatSteel":

Terrorist devices, chemical weapons found in Iraq

Suspicious Iraqi Drums - UPDATE

Suspected bioweapons labs found

Searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Larry Elder

Iraq's Weapons and the Road to War

Iraqi Scientist Links Weapons to 'Dual Use' Facilities, White House Says

IRAQ: U.S. Analysts Link Iraq Labs to Germ Arms

Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert

Herald Sun: Soldiers find Iraqi chemical 'dump'

***Germany's leading role in arming Iraq

*Germany intercepts (30 tonnes) chemicals (may be used to make nerve gas) for N Korea

New DOD team to hunt for intel as well as weapons

***Chemical Weapons Programs

Capture of chemical expert could help U.S. weapons hunt in Iraq (Emad Husayn Abdulla al-Ani)

Belgium Finds Nerve Gas Ingredient in Letters

Banned missile programme found in Iraq

Administration to Announce 'Rollback' Strategy for WMD

Suspicious Iraqi Drums Preliminary Testing Suggests Chemical Agents; More Testing Needed

2 trailers deemed biological arms labs

***Table 2: Characteristics of Chemical Warfare Agents: Commercial Uses of Chemicals or Precursor Chemicals

******CENTAF IRAQ'S CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM


And I should add--

October 1998:Senate Democrats Signed Letter Urging Clinton To Attack Saddam Over WMDs, just posted today.

7 posted on 06/07/2003 8:58:21 AM PDT by MizSterious (Support whirled peas!)
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To: Principled
Clinton lying? Do you even need to ask? It looks like pro-war freepers played the role of sheeple on this issue.
8 posted on 06/07/2003 8:58:23 AM PDT by Captain Kirk
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To: MizSterious
Why are you wasting time on Free Republic? You need to get this valuable information to Dubya. He only seems to know about two measley labs. You, on the other hand, can give him thousands of examples of WMD. He needs your help!
9 posted on 06/07/2003 9:00:33 AM PDT by Captain Kirk
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To: Seti 1
I believe that Saddam Hussein secretly destroyed his banned weapons long ago and then refused to provide evidence verifying it, thusly subjecting his country to more than a decade of sanctions and billions of dollars of lost oil revenue because he secretly hates himself.

Owl_Eagle

”Guns Before Butter.”

10 posted on 06/07/2003 9:01:36 AM PDT by End Times Sentinel
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To: Captain Kirk
Don't you have some trolling to do somewhere else?
11 posted on 06/07/2003 9:04:22 AM PDT by MizSterious (Support whirled peas!)
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To: Captain Kirk
"Why are you wasting time on Free Republic? You need to get this valuable information to Dubya. He only seems to know about two measley labs. You, on the other hand, can give him thousands of examples of WMD. He needs your help!"

Miz Sterious is providing pertinent information to the subject matter. You provide only hyperbole and sarcasm. It is you who is wasting time and bandwidth on Free Republic.
12 posted on 06/07/2003 9:08:06 AM PDT by Search4Truth (When a man lies, he murders part of the world.)
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To: Captain Kirk
Why are you wasting time on Free Republic? You need to get this valuable information to Dubya.

No, Captain. It's the population that needs this information. It's currently being overlooked by the population in favor of liberal zealots in the media and liberal zealots running for president - both doing anything and everything to discredit Bush.

That should be clear.

13 posted on 06/07/2003 9:09:03 AM PDT by Principled
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To: Admin Moderator
All Washingington post articles must be excerpted.

And have the following disclaimer: "Anything resembling the truth in the Washington Post is purely coincidental."

14 posted on 06/07/2003 9:09:18 AM PDT by lowbridge (Rob: I have a five letter word: F-R-E-E-P. Freep. Jerry: Freep? What's that? -Dick Van Dyke Show)
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To: Principled
1) the WMD intel came from Clinton admin
2) the WMD intel came from UN
3) the WMD intel is not yet fully exposed

Was Clinton admin lying?
Was UN lying?
Why have some imposed an artificial deadline on finding WMD?


A beautiful summation.
I just had to repost it.

Also, on Wednesday, the LA Times ran a profile on a former chem/bio weapons guy
who'd worked for Saddam. Someone at the UN told the LA Times reporter that this
guy was "probably lying" when he denied that WMD existed in Iraq.

I think that's really under-reported: some UN operatives sound like Dubya and
Blair when it comes to Iraqi WMD.
15 posted on 06/07/2003 9:14:59 AM PDT by VOA
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To: VOA; Owl_Eagle
Don't forget about this tidbit from owl_eagle...

I believe that Saddam Hussein secretly destroyed his banned weapons long ago and then refused to provide evidence verifying it, thusly subjecting his country to more than a decade of sanctions and billions of dollars of lost oil revenue because he secretly hates himself.

I like that one!

16 posted on 06/07/2003 9:17:19 AM PDT by Principled
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To: Principled
Don't forget about this tidbit from owl_eagle...

As they used to say in country music circles when someone imitated the style
of one of the greats (like Chet Atkins):

...I think owl_eagle did a pretty good job of "mocking" Nancy Pelosi.

Actually, I wonder if Saddam/Iraq had truly destroyed their WMD...
but never wanted to reveal this fact because:
1. loss of face in Muslim/Arab world, looking impotent and subject to Western
amd infidel subjugation
and/or
2. Not wanting to let factions that detested him (Kurds, Iraqi Shias, Iran,
etc.) know that he was now toothless in terms of terror weapons (i.e.,
WMD he might use as "force multipliers").
17 posted on 06/07/2003 9:25:52 AM PDT by VOA
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To: VOA
Actually, I wonder if Saddam/Iraq had truly destroyed their WMD...
but never wanted to reveal this fact because:

1. loss of face in Muslim/Arab world, looking impotent and subject to Western and infidel subjugation
2. Not wanting to let factions that detested him (Kurds, Iraqi Shias, Iran, etc.) know that he was now toothless in terms of terror weapons...

I see these as reasons that he would NOT destroy his WMD. But if he did destroy them, these would be reasons not to tell. JMHO.

Still, I can't think of a reason that he'd get rid of them. Perhaps military leaders got rid of them instead of using them? Maybe they've been handed out to terrorist orgs?

Who knows, but it doesn't make sense for Saddam to just "get rid of them"...???

18 posted on 06/07/2003 9:32:52 AM PDT by Principled
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To: Principled
Who knows, but it doesn't make sense for Saddam to just "get rid of them"...???

I agree with you...I was just going "out on the edge" in speculation.
But never having been a megalomaniacal, genocidal, sadistic, murdering dictator with
a rapist son and a bank-robber son...
I admit I'm ill-equipped for that sort of mental experimentation!!!
19 posted on 06/07/2003 9:50:45 AM PDT by VOA
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To: VOA
It is also possible that he did indeed destroy, or largely destroy, his WOD stocks, but wanted to deny he ever had any in order to avoid any kind of monitoring that would obstruct his program when he started it up again. It doesn't really make sense but I guess it's a possibility.

I think that one- it's going to take time to find all the various hidden locations of weapons stocks and labs, and two- Saddam's programs may not have been as advanced as believed. I think a lot of the infrastructure of production may have been destroyed prior to our invasion, but somewhere the stocks of bio and chem weapons are buried in the sands of Iraq.

It WILL be bad for the U.S. if nothing more than two broken down trailers are found. I find it hard to believe that the administration is either that incompetent or that machiavellian

20 posted on 06/07/2003 10:13:32 AM PDT by SoCal Pubbie
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