Bush may be sitting on Iraqi WMD evidence, FOX analyst says

"If the United States and its allies never find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, then do you think the war against Iraq will have been worth the loss of American life and other costs of attacking Iraq, or not??"

Not
Worth It

Don't
Know

I just told you. The POTUS and the Congress.

Nice...well done.

I was frustrated with that response. It's not an issue to ignore, in my mind, but the prevailing attitude on this site seems to be one of "If Bush says it, it must be so." That's an awfully shortsighet attitude.

No, all you did was tell me it was their policy, which makes you the source. Can you cite a specific act of Congress, or PDD, or Executive Order, stating that this is the policy of the US?

I'd been saying this for the last two months.

I take it you were against ending the war in Iraq?

The President needs a referendum to remain in office past January 20, 2005.....

Uh... No he doesn't. If he were elected by referendum, he would be the first US President to be put in office that way. The popular election doesn't count for squat- never has. The legislatures of the 50 States elect the President.

I don't believe you speak for most people. You talk about majorities and "most Americans". I don't believe you speak for them nor do you have any special knowledge about what "most Americans" want or think. I simply reject that across the board.

You can talk about what you believe, you can speculate about what most Americans believe.

Where's the general clamor for war in either case??

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but we've already gone into Iraq. The "clamour for war" has already come and gone. This is like the dems still chanting "Gore got more!". You know what we say to that? "Get over it". We're in Iraq now. It was the right thing to do. We're in. Gotta finish this mission now.

I was listening to Batchalor and Alexander,(radio host at WABC-NYC), they have an interesting theory regarding the weapons. I wish I could remember all the details regarding geography, but the gist of it is that the weapons are buried in one of the valleys in Syria. They also mentioned that this desert valley is being protected by Syrian troops.

If all this information is true, the Syrians may be guarding the weapons for the Americans until US forces can take control of them.

Yeah I know break out the tin-foil, but still interesting.

The polls generally suggest otherwise. Prewar support was contingent on the WMDs and postwar support has appeared contingent on the WMDs (though it's early yet).

Blatently false. Poll after poll have suggested that 2/3rds of the country believe the War in Iraq was justified even if we never find WMDs.

You are also wrong with respect to Congress. People tend to believe that their OWN congressperson is someone worthy of respect, and that the others are the bad ones. Therefore it depends on which party one's Congressional representation is a member of. With a Republican run Congress, most people believe that Republicans are NOT the party of political calculation.

Can you cite a specific act of Congress, or PDD, or Executive Order, stating that this is the policy of the US?

You keep asking him for a source for his statement, but when AntiGuv says (in post #120):

It has been our policy since 1980 that regime change in Iran must happen, and our policy since 1959 that regime change in Cuba must happen.

Your only response is "Nice...well done.

Seems inconsistent.

The "awfully shortsighet" prevailing attitude for Saturday July 12th 2003 is: 'If Bush says it, it must be so.'

Tomorrow's special is: 'If the media says it, it must be so', served with a side of 'If polling data says it, it must be so.'

So if I told you we began fighting Saddam in 1990, would I be the source of that info or what?

Apparently AntiGuv doesn't need a source.

Yeah, I was talking about the war in Iraq, not Iran or Cuba, which is what antiguv was talking about. We aren't at war in Iran or Cuba (which was his point, by the way). So my question to you remains.

The Bush administration may already have hard evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction

Well duhh!!!

bttt

CBS News Poll. July 8-9, 2003. N=753 adults nationwide. MoE ± 4 (total sample).
						.
"Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation with Iraq?"
		Approve	Disap- prove	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	7/03	58	32	10
	5/03	72	20	8
	3/26-27/03	69	27	4
	3/24/03	71	24	5
	3/23/03	75	22	3
	3/22/03	72	23	5
	3/20-21/03	69	25	6
	3/15-16/03	55	41	4
	3/7-9/03	51	42	7
	3/4-5/03	54	39	7
	2/24-25/03	52	44	4
	2/10-12/03	53	42	5
						.
"Do you think removing Saddam Hussein from power was worth the loss of American life and other costs of attacking Iraq, or not?" Form A (N=341)
		Worth It	Not Worth It	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	7/03	54	37	9
	6/03	62	31	7
						.
"Do you think the end result of the war with Iraq was worth the loss of American life and other costs of attacking Iraq, or not?" Form B (N=412)
		Worth It	Not Worth It	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	7/03	45	45	10
						.
"Which comes closer to your opinion: Iraq was a threat to the United States that required immediate military action, or Iraq was a threat that could have been contained, or Iraq was not a threat to the United States at all?" Form C (N=384)
		Required Immediate Action	Could Have Been Contained	Was Not a Threat	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%
	7/03	43	43	9	5
	6/03	53	35	10	2
						.
"Looking back, do you think that Iraq's Saddam Hussein represented a major threat to the U.S., a minor threat, or was Saddam Hussein not a threat to the U.S.?" Form D (N=369)
		Major Threat	Minor Threat	Not a Threat	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%
	7/03	56	28	12	4
						.
"How would you say things are going for the U.S. in its efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq? Would you say things are going very well, somewhat well, somewhat badly, or very badly?"
		Very Well	Somewhat Well	Somewhat Badly	Very Badly	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%	%
	7/03	6	54	25	11	4
	5/03	11	61	19	5	4
						.
"Which do you think the Iraqi people are feeling right now: grateful to the United States for getting rid of Saddam Hussein, or resentful of the United States for being in Iraq right now?"
		Grateful	Resentful	Both (vol.)	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%
	7/03	34	37	20	9
	5/03	46	31	20	3
						.
"From what you have seen or heard, is the United States in control of events taking place in Iraq, or are the events in Iraq out of U.S. control?"
		In Control	Out of Control	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	7/03	45	41	14
	4/03	71	20	9
						.
"How long do you think the United States troops will have to remain in Iraq: for less than a year, one to two years, two to five years, or will U.S. troops have to stay in Iraq for longer than five years?"
		Less Than 1 Year	1 to 2 Years	2 to 5 Years	More Than 5 Years	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%	%
	7/03	13	31	31	18	7
						.
"If the United States and its allies never find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, then do you think the war against Iraq will have been worth the loss of American life and other costs of attacking Iraq, or not??"
		Worth It	Not Worth It	Don't Know
		%	%	%
	7/03	46	46	8
	5/03	56	38	6
						.
"Thinking back now to the weeks before the war with Iraq, do you think the Bush Administration overestimated the number of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, underestimated the number of weapons of mass destruction, or accurately estimated the number of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?"
		Over- estimated	Under- estimated	Accurately estimated	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%
	7/03	56	11	19	14
	6/03	44	14	28	14
						.
"When presenting what they knew about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before the war, do you think the members of the Bush Administration were telling everything they knew, most of what they knew, hiding important elements of what they knew, or mostly lying?"
		Telling Everything	Telling Most	Hiding Important Elements	Mostly Lying	Don't Know
		%	%	%	%	%
	7/03	4	32	45	11	8

Note in particular:

If you expect to be taken seriously, I would suggest you site a better source than CBS News.

You would be if I did not already know it to be true. Which I do, so the net effect of your telling me we were fighting Saddam in 1990 is one of redundancy.

However, I am not aware of any official policy calling for regime change in Iraq, that has been in place since 1990. Which is why I asked for a source.

Blatently false. Poll after poll have suggested that 2/3rds of the country believe the War in Iraq was justified even if we never find WMDs.

Those figures are sure to dip the longer we have to stay in Iraq and the more casualties we sustain. Nothing's been set in stone yet. Ten years from now, we'll either look back on Iraqi Freedom either as one of our nation's finest accomplishments or an unfortunate folly, or more likely, something in between. Such long-term speculation is meaningless at this point. Sheesh, it's been only 3 months.

But pure common sense would dictate that Bush reveals the evidence of WMD sooner rather than later. To wait until election year sounds like a silly game if you ask me.