Why We Went to War

The Weekly Standard ^ | 10/20/03 | Robert Kagan & William Kristol

[arete]

I heard all the empty and crap arguments before about Viet Nam and how if we didn't stop them there all the commies were going to be jumping out of closets and killing us in our sleep. Politicians do a great job of war and fear mongering. In Nam, it cost us 58,000 dead Americans. Then, as we do now, we had a runaway government. I had hoped that I would never in my life have to witness politicians killing off our young and scaring the public to stay in office. I was wrong but I hope and pray that the citizens of our great country will open their eyes soon and see this "evil-doer" war for what it really is. American kids don't need to die of political ambitions.

Richard W.

[visualops]

No, the terrorists didn't jump out of the closet and kill us in our beds.
They just waited til we got to work.

Thankfully some people are using their brains. Yours seem to have turned to mush.

[maica]

I heard all the empty and crap arguments before about Viet Nam and how if we didn't stop them there all the commies were going to be jumping out of closets and killing us in our sleep.

=====

Where did you hear this, arete? How old were you during the 60s?

[Joe_October]

...The funny thing is Bush never said "we have to go to war to find saddam's WMDs" ....

That rats are twisting his words for political benefit.

Rats lie.

[arete]

Where did you hear this, arete? How old were you during the 60s?

I was there and old enough to know that I wasn't about to let myself get killed in some 3rd world country for a bunch of lying weasel politicians sitting in Washington.

Richard W.

[Joy Angela]

re: Hillary telling the media that the Antrax attacks werre domestic, when now we know they weren't:

Maybe Hillary Rodham knows something the CIA/FBI
doesn't?

After all, she did serve as Co-President for 8 years.

She, as much as Bill Clinton, is responsible for
the lack of care that went into National Security
during the Clinton Terms!

[GOPJ]

bump

[sandlady]

bump

[SunkenCiv]

UNMOVIC Comes Clean on Saddam's WMD and It's Worried
JINSA ^ | June 14, 2004
Posted on 06/14/2004 3:23:53 PM PDT by Ooh-Ah
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1153467/posts

[SunkenCiv]

If The Bush Administration Lied About WMD,
So Did These People
compiled by John Hawkins

"The community of nations may see more and more of the very kind of threat Iraq poses now: a rogue state with weapons of mass destruction, ready to use them or provide them to terrorists. If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." -- Bill Clinton in 1998

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including Al Qaeda members, though there is apparently no evidence of his involvement in the terrible events of September 11, 2001. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. Should he succeed in that endeavor, he could alter the political and security landscape of the Middle East, which as we know all too well affects American security." -- Hillary Clinton, October 10, 2002

"Iraq does pose a serious threat to the stability of the Persian Gulf and we should organize an international coalition to eliminate his access to weapons of mass destruction. Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to completely deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." -- Al Gore, 2002

[many others]

Panel: Iraq Data Wasn't Hyped
by Ed Johnson, AP
9-11-03
[no link]

Prime Minister Tony Blair's government did not deliberately "sex up" a dossier on Iraqi weapons by including a disputed claim about chemical and biological weapons, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee ruled Thursday... A separate inquiry being led by Lord Hutton also is looking into the issue as it relates to the apparent suicide of arms expert David Kelly, who was named by officials as the possible source of a British Broadcasting Corp. report alleging the government exaggerated the threat from Iraq. The government denies the claims, which sparked a bitter feud between Blair's office and the British Broadcasting Corp. BBC reporter Andrew Gilligan subsequently said his source had blamed Blair's communications chief, Alastair Campbell, for insisting on including the claim. The Intelligence and Security Committee rejected those charges, and accepted the government's assertion that the Joint Intelligence Committee, which prepared the dossier, did not come under political pressure... The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, in a report issued July 7, also absolved the government and Campbell.

from the June 7 2003 issue, this next one has a reverse spin goin'. The subtitle is "If there were no weapons, why didn't Saddam let his scientists talk?" But the editorial talks mostly about the partisan harping on the supposedly faked evidence. Of course the evidence for Iraqi WMD is real.

A Question of Proof
editorial
New Scientist
[no link]

In November 2002, the Security Council told Iraq to provide such verification of face the consequences. Even if Iraq really did give up its weapons, where was the proof? It could have supplied documents, dug up destroyed armaments, and allowed scientists to talk.

Nuke program parts unearthed in Baghdad back yard
Mike Boettcher,
David Ensor,
and producer Maria Fleet

Experts said the documents and pieces Obeidi gave the United States were the critical information and parts to restart a nuclear weapons program, and would have saved Saddam's regime several years and as much as hundreds of millions of dollars for research. David Albright, who was a U.N. nuclear weapons inspector in Iraq in the 1990s, said inspectors "understood that Iraq probably hid centrifuge documents, may have had components, and so it is very important that those items be found." ...Obeidi said he felt unsafe in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion and that he was getting pressure from different corners of the country. He also said other Iraqi scientists were watching to see if he was safe after he cooperated with the U.S. government. Now that he and his family are safely out of Iraq, Obeidi said he believes other scientists would come forward with other components of Iraq's weapons program.

Saddam Had No WMD, But Was Importing Materials
Friday, September 17, 2004

According to people familiar with the 1,500-page report, the head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, will find that Saddam was importing banned materials, working on unmanned aerial vehicles in violation of U.N. agreements and maintaining a dual-use industrial sector that could produce weapons. Duelfer also says Iraq only had small research and development programs for chemical and biological weapons. As Duelfer puts the finishing touches on his report, he concludes Saddam had intentions of restarting weapons programs at some point, after suspicion and inspections from the international community waned.

And, of course:

Saddam's Bombmaker by Khidhir Hamza with Jeff Stein

[SunkenCiv]

Ed Koch: Why Bush Must Be Re-elected
Bloomberg Radio (via Newsmax.com) ^ | July 22, 2004 | Ed Koch
Posted on 07/23/2004 1:42:28 PM PDT by Tern
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/1177308/posts