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We told you so.
Final U.S. inspection report expected to undercut key Bush rationale for war
Undercutting the Bush's administration's rationale for invading Iraq, the final report of the chief U.S. arms inspector concludes that Saddam Hussein did not vigorously pursue a program to develop weapons of mass destruction after international inspectors left Baghdad in 1998, according to lawmakers and others briefed on the report.
In drafts, weapons hunter Charles Duelfer concluded that Saddam's Iraq had no stockpiles of the banned weapons but said he found signs of idle programs that Saddam could have revived if international attention had waned.
"It appears that he did not vigorously pursue those programs after the inspectors left," a Bush administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in advance of the report's release.
So, no WMD. No WMD programs. No links with al-Qaeda. No links with terrorism directed at the US.
We were lied to, and over a thousand American troops have died because of those lies.
Undercutting the Bush's administration's rationale for invading Iraq, the final report of the chief U.S. arms inspector concludes that Saddam Hussein did not vigorously pursue a program to develop weapons of mass destruction after international inspectors left Baghdad in 1998, according to lawmakers and others briefed on the report.
In drafts, weapons hunter Charles Duelfer concluded that Saddam's Iraq had no stockpiles of the banned weapons but said he found signs of idle programs that Saddam could have revived if international attention had waned.
"It appears that he did not vigorously pursue those programs after the inspectors left," a Bush administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in advance of the report's release.
So, no WMD. No WMD programs. No links with al-Qaeda. No links with terrorism directed at the US.
We were lied to, and over a thousand American troops have died because of those lies.
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Here's my question for the floor
The best guess I've seen in print was that he wished to retain the benefits of being belived to have NBC capabilities. He wished to retain the ability to intimidate his neighbors by not having his capabilities disproved.
This worked for a while. Hell, he had the Clinton administration publicly stating he had these capabilities. But this is a clear violation of the ceasefire conditions of 1991.
I don't know why the NBC issue was such a big part of the administration's plan for selling this war. Maybe it was one of the few issues that can be reduced to a 10 second sound byte to get processed by Joe Sixpack, the Average American Voter. But the simple fact is that Saddam Hussein did not voluntarily observe a single one of the ceasefire conditions that were the price of permitting his regime to stay in power 12 years ago when the 101st could have driven into Baghdad without seeing more resistance than could be offered by a flock of sheep.
I've done my time downrange, and lost friends to fedayeen and to accidents. Such is life--and we all knew the risks when we signed that piece of paper. But I honestly believe that hte world as a whole and Iraq in particular are better off with Saddam Hussein behind bars rather than in power.
But realistically, the question that is truly relevant, at least for those of us whose interest in Iraq is practical rather than ideological, is not whether the war was a good idea. That became a moot point when 3rd ID LDed back in MAR 2003.
The real issue is whether we will do what needs to be done to finish the job, or whether we will cut and run and leave Iraq to a 5(+) sided civil war.
Re: Here's my question for the floor
Re: Here's my question for the floor