The WMD Blame Game
On an almost daily basis I am confronted with key board warriors and their allegations of “Bush lied! Bush lied!“
The fact of the matter is, for something to be a lie, the person has to know that the information he is giving is disingenuous. So, with that said, did the President know that the information was false? Or was the intelligence information handed out by experts to blame? And better yet, what about the person truly responsible? Saddam Hussein.
How many times have we been passed information from a reliable source only to turn around and deliver that information to others, fully believing in the credibility of an advisor? In such instances, did we deliberately lie?
Most of us are only as good as the information that is given to us. We all knew that Iraq had WMD’s because Saddam Hussein had used them before. In fact, the world as a whole believed that he still possessed such weapons.
The burden of proof was never upon us. All Saddam had to do was ascertain that he had destroyed the WMD’s he admitted to having. The war most likely wouldn’t have happened if Saddam Hussein had cooperated, which he wouldn’t. Yet, somehow, that shortfall, in the minds of some people, is the President’s fault.
Below are some quotes from many influential democrats pointing out the possibilities of WMDs in Iraq.
1. “Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime âÂ?¦ He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. And now he is miscalculating America’s response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destructionâÂ?¦ So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real.”
– Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003
2. “I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force- if necessary- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
– Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002
3. “We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.”
-Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002
4. “He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do.”
-Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002
5. “In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapon stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. 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.”
-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D NY) Oct 10, 2002
6. “The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weaponsâÂ?¦”
– Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002
7. “We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.”
– Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002
8. “We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
– Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
9. “Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
– Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
10. “We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them.”
– Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002
11. “We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq’s refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs.”
-Letter to President Clinton, signed by Carl Levin (D-MI), Tom Daschle (D-SD), John Kerry ( D – MA), and others Oct. 9, 1998
12. “He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983.”
– Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998
13. “If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.” –
– President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998
14. “One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
– President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
If the President ‘lied’ then so did these people, but I have yet to hear one accusation aimed towards any of them, which makes the indignation from the accusers seem biased and partisan.
What many people fail to acknowledge is that some WMDs have been found in Iraq:
1.77 metric tons of enriched uranium.
1,500 gallons of chemical weapons agents.
17 chemical warheads containing cyclosarin (a nerve agent five times more deadly than sarin gas).
Over 1,000 radioactive materials in powdered form meant for dispersal over populated areas.
Roadside bombs loaded with mustard and “conventional” sarin gas, assembled in binary chemical projectiles for maximum potency.
And there are others in small quantities not listed here.
Furthermore, according to sources there is a wide spread belief that more WMD’s haven’t been found because they were 1, moved to Syria, or 2, buried.
The legal case to go to war was unparalleled. In all, 17 UN resolutions were violated by Iraq. Defiance of any one of them was a legal reason to renew military action.
Saddam Hussein proved that he could not be bargained with and that he could not be trusted. He supported terrorism by giving money to Palestinian suicide bombers and if he still had WMD’s it would only be a matter of time before he used them again, or even gave them to a terror organization, which could then be used against innocent people.
Bill Clinton stated in 1998 that “Iraq wasn’t the only country that has developed WMD’s,” but with Saddam there was one big difference; he used them, and one horrific example was the chemical massacre of Kurds in Halabja, 1988, which killed 5,000 men, women, and children, and injured 10,000 more (to peruse photos do an image search for Halabja). There were also the chemical attacks against civilians in 40 Kurdish villages. Saddam also fired SCUD missiles at Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Iran. The international community had little doubt that Saddam Hussein would have used those weapons again and based with intelligence, and with Saddam’s track record of irrational behavior, there was no other way to drive him from power.
In closing, a brutal dictator having used WMD’s in the past and declaring that he still had them but wouldn’t obey resolutions or allow access to inspector’s, all the while holding a grudge against the United States, is something that should not be risked on the American people in a post 9-11 environment.
