"The President never lied to me about WMDs. As far as I am concerned, it was more of a wink and a nod. "
---
Bush didn't lie. PERIOD. There were WMD, just because we haven't found them, does NOT negate all previous evidence.
===
This is from Clinton's speech in February 1998.
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/17/transcripts/clinton.iraq/ 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. "
===
Does anyone really believe that all Iraq's WMD were destroyed? If they had been he wouldn't have chased out the inspectors, would he?
Bush didn't lie. PERIOD. There were WMD, just because we haven't found them, does NOT negate all previous evidence. I have no doubt that you are probably right and finding them would certainly be the icing on the cake, but it was never about WMDs. It was about fighting terrorism by deposing a little man with a big army and placing the geographical center of the Middle East under the control of the American military.
Bush knows this, I know this and the majority of Americans know this. The whole WMD issue was just a selling point to the rest of the world and to the nitwits here at home.
Bush couldn't have said, "We are going to annex Iraq in order to place a huge military in the region to better crush future tererorist organizations." He'd have looked like Hitler.
As it is, half the world thinks he is Hitler reincarnated and if WMDs are found, these people will believe they were planted. But the American majority supports what was done in Iraq and I support it as well and this is all that matters to me.