U.S. ends search for WMD

[KipWellsFan]

courtesy cnn.com

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. inspectors have ended their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in recent weeks, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN.

 

The search ended almost two years after President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq, citing concerns that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction and may have hidden weapons stockpiles.

 

Members of the Iraq Survey Group were continuing to examine hundreds of documents and would investigate any new leads, the official said.

 

Charles A. Duelfer, who headed the Iraq Survey Group's search for WMD in Iraq, has returned to Iraq and is working on his final report, the official said.

 

In October, Duelfer released a preliminary report finding that in March 2003 -- the United States invaded Iraq on March 19 of that year -- Saddam did not have any WMD stockpiles and had not started any program to produce them.

 

The Iraq Survey Group report said that Iraq's WMD program was essentially destroyed in 1991 and Saddam ended the country's nuclear program after the 1991 Gulf War.

 

The report found that Iraq worked hard to cheat on United Nations-imposed sanctions and retain the capability to resume production of weapons of mass destruction at some time in the future. (Full story)

 

"[saddam] wanted to end sanctions while preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction when sanctions were lifted," a summary of the report said.

 

Many of the military and intelligence personnel, who had been assigned to the weapons search, are now working on counterinsurgency matters, the official said.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/12/wmd.search/index.html

 

What a f***ing surprise. I remember before the invasion one of my high school teachers said that it was stupid to believe that there were weapons of mass destruction and I didn't believe him. But I guess I also fell for it too. :banghead

[mreye]

There's a lot of questions that need to be answered. The validity of our intelligence. Why Saddam would go to the brink of war, and ultimately war for a weapons system the he "never" had.

 

It's a big mess that I don't think we'll ever get all the answers to.

[Kid Gleason]

There's a lot of questions that need to be answered. The validity of our intelligence. Why Saddam would go to the brink of war, and ultimately war for a weapons system the he "never" had.

 

It's a big mess that I don't think we'll ever get all the answers to.

 

But Saddam always said he never had them. He just wouldn't buckle under the "let us in to look around" type of BS, probably for reasons of...ummm...I don't know, hating us and not believing in the UN. The UN doesn't exist if you don't want it to exist, is how he sees it I am sure.

 

I for one am really shocked that there were no WMD and that Bush lied to us about it.

[mreye]

But Saddam always said he never had them. He just wouldn't buckle under the "let us in to look around" type of BS, probably for reasons of...ummm...I don't know, hating us and not believing in the UN. The UN doesn't exist if you don't want it to exist, is how he sees it I am sure.

 

I for one am really shocked that there were no WMD and that Bush lied to us about it.

He's the one that agreed to let the UN in after the Gulf War. He had no ground to stand on.

[southsider2k5]

He's the one that agreed to let the UN in after the Gulf War. He had no ground to stand on.

 

Plus there was a real easy way to not draw attention to his cache in the first place... don't use them on Iranis or Kurds in the first place.

[mreye]

Plus there was a real easy way to not draw attention to his cache in the first place... don't use them on Iranis or Kurds in the first place.

Amen.

 

I also know a way to avoid war with the US. Don't advocate killing Americans abroad. Don't pay suicide bombers in Iran and Israel. Don't bury people in mass graves. Don't vilote 17 UN Security Council Resolutions. Seems simple.

[LowerCaseRepublican]

There's a lot of questions that need to be answered. The validity of our intelligence. Why Saddam would go to the brink of war, and ultimately war for a weapons system the he "never" had.

 

It's a big mess that I don't think we'll ever get all the answers to.

 

MrEye, one of the leading guys that gave us a lot of intel from the "dissident" group in Iraq that we used to justify the war (especially Ahmed Chalabi who spearheaded all of it) were linked to an Iranian spy organization (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1224916,00.html) (http://archive.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2004/05/27/chalabi/index_np.html)

 

I'm sure Iran has a vested interest in seeing us f*** up Iraq. Then when you add in the Israeli spy link that got found in the Pentagon (http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=4178), there's another country's interest in getting us into a war. Plus, when you add in that all the major player policy makers in the executive branch have been advocating the removal of Hussein since the mid 1990s for the purpose of controlling oil resources in region. So, they'd be overzealous to have that as an excuse to do what they want.

 

And if we're getting on board about flouting the UN, http://www.jatonyc.org/UNresolutions.html -- from Jews Against the Occupation that discusses plenty of UN resolutions that Israel has rejected/hasn't honored. In doing research for my paper on the 1967 war aftermath, I found tons of stories of IDF soldiers that forcibly expelled people from their homes for no reason except Ben-Gurion didn't want Arabs in Israel, beatings, etc. If the US is going to put on the hat of "world policeman", they could begin this one by stopping the billions in aid to Israel.

[Rex Kickass]

There's a lot of questions that need to be answered. The validity of our intelligence. Why Saddam would go to the brink of war, and ultimately war for a weapons system the he "never" had.

 

It's a big mess that I don't think we'll ever get all the answers to.

 

It's pretty simple actually. Saddam insisted on playing this brinkmanship game, like North Korea does. Unfortunately, North Korea is a lot better at playing the game. He viewed the possibility of WMD in Iraq as a buffer against an Iranian state that he viewed as aggressive towards him (and if you look at the genesis of the Iran-Iraq war you can understand why) and felt threatened (rather needlessly when looked at rationally) by Israel. He also, most likely, thought that the idea of having WMDs would be an effective bargaining chip with the US in exchange to lessen the grip of the US embargo around Iraq or to avoid invasion. He also needed the spectre of WMDs to quell a possible uprising from the Shia or the Kurds. Having used gas once against his own people, he never needed to do it again, he just needed the illusion of being able to do so.

 

It was never important for Saddam Hussein to have WMD, it was only ever important for him to seem like he did.

[KipWellsFan]

I'd also like to add that today polls for approving of the war in Iraq dropped to only 50%. When will it only be at 25%? Or will it be saved by this election that's going to be a massacre? God this whole thing is so f***ed up!

[Texsox]

Iraq is in a corner of the globe that is very dangerous to be weak. Bluffing and lying is all part of the life of a dictator. Contrast that to Canada, who doesn't care how they look, they have Nuke_Cleveland protecting their butts also.

 

So they aren't in Iraq!? Let's pick another country and start shooting, overthrow the government, and install democracy. We can keep doing that throughout the world until everyone has a freely elected democratic government.

 

Seriously Iraq was not a 10-1 underdog to have WMD. If a bookie started taking bets, not having WMD would have paid long odds. As anti-war as I was, I felt it was better than 50-50 that we were going to find something. I am slightly surprised, and a bit proud, that we didn't Mark Furman a bloody glove.

[DBAHO]

Well our Prime Minister's in trouble.

[EvilJester99]

Of course it was bulls***...Dubya needed an excuse to go finish what his old man didn't have the balls to do in the 1st place....

[KipWellsFan]

Contrast that to Canada, who doesn't care how they look, they have Nuke_Cleveland protecting their butts also.

 

 

Huh?

[soxman352000]

Of course it was bulls***...Dubya needed an excuse to go finish what his old man didn't have the balls to do in the 1st place....

I'm a republican, I like George Bush, but I have to agree with you. We went to war for false reasons. Saddam was a threat but I think we could have delt with him in other ways.

[EvilJester99]

Well my thought is on it. Bush should have kept after Bin Laden...isn't he the one who harmed our country more than Saddam? Didn't Bin Laden pose more of a threat?? Yet he had to rush right into going after Saddam and not finish what he should have in Afganistan...Truely myself I highly doubt catching Bin Laden was all that high on Dubya's list anyway but thats just me being a conspircy nut...hehe

[YASNY]

The world is going to continue to revolve around the Middle East for foreseeable future. The Middle East and the oil from there. Considering Iraq's proximity to Isreal, the instability of the House of Saud and the ever increasing upsurge in violence from the funamentalist Islamists, the U.S. needed to establish a foothold in the region to protect the interests of the U.S. Iraq will give us a staging area in the event of troubli in Isreal, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, etc.

 

I'm not justifying the Iraq War by saying that. I am stating that I believe those were the main reasons Bush and Co. got us involved over there.

[Texsox]

Huh?

 

Iraq is surrounded by rogue nations that wouldn't mind encroaching on borders and attacking Iraq. Canada is surrounded by US who will come to their aid if anyone attacks. If Iraq said, yep, we got nothing, proved it, some other Middle Eastern country would be licking their chops and looking to move in.

[Texsox]

The world is going to continue to revolve around the Middle East for foreseeable future.  The Middle East and the oil from there.  Considering Iraq's proximity to Isreal, the instability of the House of Saud and the ever increasing upsurge in violence from the funamentalist Islamists, the U.S. needed to establish a foothold in the region to protect the interests of the U.S.  Iraq will give us a staging area in the event of troubli in Isreal, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, etc.

 

I'm not justifying the Iraq War by saying that.  I am stating that I believe those were the main reasons Bush and Co. got us involved over there.

 

You are correct. As soon as we no longer need oil, we will see hell on earth as all the world's super powers pull out of the region and start selling weapons to the highest bidders. Hell we'll sell to country A, then sell the antidote to Country B, then a better weapon to country C, until they are all gone.

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

You are correct. As soon as we no longer need oil, we will see hell on earth as all the world's super powers pull out of the region and start selling weapons to the highest bidders. Hell we'll sell to country A, then sell the antidote to Country B, then a better weapon to country C, until they are all gone.

 

By that logic you could say that the SUV next door is helping to preserve world peace.

 

[NUKE_CLEVELAND]

Of course it was bulls***...Dubya needed an excuse to go finish what his old man didn't have the balls to do in the 1st place....

 

 

I agree with you totally on this one. We had an open road to Baghdad, solid international backing and about 3 times the troop strength in theater that we have now. I was 13 years old at the time and was watching General Powell doing his little briefing on CNN showing on the map where our forces were and that there was nothing in front of us and thought to myself....."So what's the holdup? Finish it."

[Texsox]

By that logic you could say that the SUV next door is helping to preserve world peace.

 

 

Not world peace, just a corner of it.

[Texsox]

I agree with you totally on this one.  We had an open road to Baghdad, solid international backing and about 3 times the troop strength in theater that we have now.  I was 13 years old at the time and was watching General Powell doing his little briefing on CNN showing on the map where our forces were and that there was nothing in front of us and thought to myself....."So what's the holdup?  Finish it."

 

Not solid international backing. Bush Sr. had a mandate from the UN that reached to the border, not all the way to Baghdad. That is the biggest difference between the two Bush approaches.

 

Sr. followed the UN resolutions to the letter. Dubya used Iraq's failure to follow UN resolutions as justification to attack Iraq, while simultaneously not following the UN direction of not invading. One was in 100%, the other just used the UN for what he wanted.

 

Either way it was great fun and we will reap the benefits for years to come.

[KipWellsFan]

Canada is surrounded by US who will come to their aid if anyone attacks.

 

You've got to be kidding nobody cares about Canada and no one in Canada is scared of being invaded. The only country that would ever invade is the U.S. due to their disappearing ressources. ie water

 

There is such a fundamental difference in between how the majority of Canadians think and how the majority of Americans think.

[Texsox]

You've got to be kidding nobody cares about Canada and no one in Canada is scared of being invaded.  The only country that would ever invade is the U.S. due to their disappearing ressources.  ie water

 

There is such a fundamental difference in between how the majority of Canadians think and how the majority of Americans think.

 

Of developed nations, Canada has one of the smallest standing militaries and spends the least for national defense. Why is that?

[YASNY]

You've got to be kidding nobody cares about Canada and no one in Canada is scared of being invaded.  The only country that would ever invade is the U.S. due to their disappearing ressources.  ie water

 

There is such a fundamental difference in between how the majority of Canadians think and how the majority of Americans think.

 

America would be up in arms if Canada got invaded. At least, that's the way I feel. But then, the more tell us about Canadiens feel about the US, the less I like you guys.