“It has been a decade of screaming frustration having to endure the constant drumbeat of “Bush lied, people died” that is still a propaganda staple.”
Of course, the problem is that the most believable propagandist is President Bush himself, who has said on several occasions that our failure to find WMDs in Iraq is one of the biggest disappointments of his presidency. In November of 2010 he addressed this failure in his memoir, Decision Points. In discussing the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Bush notes, “That was a massive blow to our credibility—my credibility—that would shake the confidence of the American people.” He then adds: “No one was more shocked or angry than I was when we didn’t find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do.”
Interview The Times, November 10, 2010
64-year-old Bush told ‘The Times’ newspaper among his regrets were “flying a Mission Accomplished banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2003, the premature reduction of US troop numbers in Iraq after the invasion and, above all, the inaccurate information on WMD.”
He said: “The reality was that I had sent American troops into combat based in large part on intelligence that proved false.”
The Telegraph article is not the magic bullet to prove the existence of WMDs. The article itself says that WMDs were once made there. It does not say there are any WMDs there at present, or were there at the start of the Iraq war:
““17.09 Chemical weapons produced at the Al Muthanna facility, which Isis today seized, are believed to have included mustard gas, Sarin, Tabun, and VX.”
The article goes on to say, “17.05 The Chemical Weapons Convention, which Iraq joined in 2009, requires it to dispose of the material at Al Muthanna, even though it was declared unusable and “does not pose a significant security risk”
If the above is true, then I can see why Al Muthanna has not been cited before as proof of WMDs.
Nations lie. You seem to have a taste for those lies, forwarding them dutifully. The US has maintained a chemical weapons stockpile right through to this day, but we have lied saying we are compliant with the treaties. You appear to believe Saddam Hussain’s lies. Figures
Here’s the “magic bullet” that proves there were WMDs in Iraq at the time we invaded in 2003. These were WMDs that were sealed in bunkers under UN supervision prior to 1998. The bunkers had been breached and it was too dangerous for the Iraq survey group to enter them. So the lie of the left is exposed. Amazing how the media can re-write history.
From this report in 2007
https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/chap5_annxB.html
Stockpiles of chemical munitions are still stored there. The most dangerous ones have been declared to the UN and are sealed in bunkers. Although declared, the bunkers contents have yet to be confirmed. These areas of the compound pose a hazard to civilians and potential blackmarketers.
Numerous bunkers, including eleven cruciform shaped bunkers were exploited. Some of the bunkers were empty. Some of the bunkers contained large quantitiesof unfilled chemical munitions, conventional munitions, one-ton shipping containers, old disabled production equipment (presumed disabled under UNSCOM supervision), and other hazardous industrial chemicals. The bunkers were dual-use in storing both conventional and chemical munitions. Figure 12 is a typical side-view of a cruciform shaped bunker.
The contents of two of the cruciform bunkers bombed during Desert Storm showed severe damage. Due to the hazards associated with this location, the UN decided to seal the bunkers.
UNSCOM viewed the contents of the two bunkers; however an accurate inventory was not possible due to the hazards associated with that environment.
UNSCOM relied upon Iraqi accountability of the bunkers’ contents and assessed the amount of munitions declared to be realistic.
Military field testing equipment showed positive for possible CW agent in the cruciform bunkers that contained munitions and a storage bunker that contained bulk chemical storage containers. Note: this is not unusual given the munitions once stored there and the conditions in which they were stored post 1994.
Other news sources are saying the chemicals are old, degraded, and very dangerous to move, and thus not very useful to ISIS. Hope they move some and rue the day.