Quote of the week...

[igloo]

Quote of the week...

"I strongly supported the war in Iraq. I was privileged to be the Democratic cosponsor, with the senator from Virginia, of the authorizing resolution, which received overwhelming bipartisan support. As I follow the debates about prewar intelligence, I have no regrets about having sponsored and supported that resolution because of all the other reasons we had in our national-security interest to remove Saddam Hussein from power -- a brutal, murdering dictator, an aggressive invader of his neighbors, a supporter of terrorism, a hater of the United States of America. He was, for us, a ticking time bomb that, if we did not remove him, I am convinced would have blown up, metaphorically speaking, in America's face. ... The questions raised about prewar intelligence are not irrelevant, they are not unimportant, but they are nowhere near as important and relevant as how we successfully complete our mission in Iraq and protect the 150,000 men and women in uniform who are fighting for us there."

--Senator (and Gore's 2000 VP candidate) Joseph Lieberman on the Senate floor Tuesday (Kudos to you for taking the high road, Senator Lieberman.)

[barraquilla]

nice to see a politician with the balls to publicly stand by their decision.

so many are backtracking, its sickening.

[igloo]

TWO-FACED WAR LIES

THE EDITORS

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November 20, 2005 -- DEMOCRATS are on the attack over the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. They're now claiming that Saddam Hussein was not a serious threat to America — and that President Bush intentionally misled the nation in making his case for war.

Yet, before the invasion, many of these critics warned of the dangers Saddam posed. Many backed the Iraqi Liberation Act of 1998, which set regime-change in Iraq as official U.S. policy. And they called for forceful action to stem the threat, even voting to authorize Bush to topple Saddam by force.

Below are comparisons of what the critics said before the invasion, and after. — THE EDITORS

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (W. Va.)

Ranking Member,

Intelligence Committee

Before: "There was unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years. We also should remember that we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction . . .

"Saddam's existing biological and chemical weapons capabilities pose a very real threat to America now . . . He is working to develop delivery systems like missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles that could bring these deadly weapons against U.S. forces and U.S. facilities in the Middle East." (Oct. 10, 2002)

After: Investigators should compare all intelligence agency statements with what President Bush said about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to see "whether intelligence analysis was manipulated, shaped or exaggerated . . . We owe the American people a full and honest accountability of the intelligence that was used to make the case." (Nov. 4, 2005)

"You know, it was not the Congress that sent 135,000 or 150,000 troops to Iraq." (Nov. 13, 2005)

Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.)

Minority Leader

Before: "Saddam Hussein is an evil dictator who presents a serious threat to international peace and security. Under Saddam's rule, Iraq has engaged in far-reaching human-rights abuses, been a state sponsor of terrorism and had has long sought to obtain and develop weapons of mass destruction." (Oct. 2, 2002)

After: "The administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq, and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions." (Nov. 1, 2005)

Bill Clinton

Former President

Before: "Earlier today, I ordered America's armed forces to strike military and security targets in Iraq . . . Their mission is to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and its military capacity to threaten its neighbors . . . If we fail to respond today, Saddam and all those who would follow in his footsteps will be emboldened tomorrow." (Dec. 17, 1998)

After: The Iraq war "was a big mistake. The American government made several errors . . . one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country." (Nov. 15, 2005)

Howard Dean

Chairman, Democratic

National Committee

Before: "There's no question Saddam Hussein is a threat to the United States and to our allies." (Sept. 29, 2002)

After: "Iraq was not a threat to us. As frightful and dreadful as Saddam Hussein is, or was, it was not OK for the United States to attack a country that was not a threat to us . . . We've taken our eye off the ball because of the president's obsession with Iraq." (May 22, 2003)

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.)

House Minority Leader

Before: "Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology, which is a threat to countries in the region, and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process . . . As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations." (Dec. 16, 1998)

"Yes, he has chemical weapons. Yes, he has biological weapons. He is trying to get nuclear weapons." (Oct. 10, 2002)

After: "This war has been a grotesque mistake that has diminished our reputation in the world and has not made America safer." (Sept. 25, 2004)

"Speaking specifically to Iraq, we have a situation where — without adequate evidence — we put our young people in harm's way." (May 20, 2004)

Sen. Joe Biden (Del.)

Ranking Member,

Foreign Relations Committee

Before: "It is clear that he has a residual of chemical weapons and biological weapons . . . We know he continues to attempt to gain access to additional capability, including nuclear capability . . . I think he has anthrax . . . He does have the capacity, as all terrorist-related operations do, of smuggling stuff into the United States and doing something terrible. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world, and this is a guy who is in every way possible seeking weapons of mass destruction." (Aug. 4, 2002)

After: "The vice president, I believe, flat lied. The president didn't lie, he misled . . . Eighty percent of the intelligence community said no, 20 percent said yes . . . [The president] led you to believe and everyone else to believe that the entire [intelligence] community agreed on that. He led you to believe . . . and the American people to believe there was a consensus. There was no consensus." (Nov. 16, 2005)

Sen. Ted Kennedy (Mass.)

Before: "We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction . . . There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious danger, that he is a tyrant and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed." (Sept. 27, 2002)

After: "War in Iraq was a war of choice, not a war of necessity. It was a product they [members of the Bush administration] were methodically rolling out. There was no imminent threat, no immediate national security imperative and no compelling reason for war." (Jan. 14, 2004)

Sen. John Kerry (Mass.)

"I will be voting to give the president of the United States the authority to use force if necessary to disarm Saddam, because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." (Oct. 9, 2002)

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator leading an impressive regime. He presents a particularly grievous threat, because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation. And now he's miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction." (Jan. 23, 2003)

"If you don't believe . . . Saddam Hussein is a threat with nuclear weapons, then you shouldn't vote for me." (Jan. 31, 2003)

After: "It's the wrong war, in the wrong place at the wrong time." (Sept. 6, 2004)

"The country and the Congress were misled into war. It is deeply troubling that the Republicans in Washington are so afraid to share the truth with the American people. Clearly it will require an independent, outside investigation to get to the bottom of this." (Nov. 1, 2005)

Al Gore

Former Vice President

Before: "If you allow someone like Saddam Hussein to get nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, chemical weapons, biological weapons, how many people is he going to kill with such weapons? He has already demonstrated a willingness to use such weapons . . . Iraq does pose a serious threat to the stability of the Persian Gulf, and we should organize an international coalition to eliminate his access to weapons of mass destruction." (Dec. 16, 1998)

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country . . . 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." (Sept. 23, 2002)

After: "Too many of our soldiers are paying the highest price for the strategic miscalculations, serious misjudgments and historic mistakes that have put them and our nation in harm's way . . . On the nuclear issue, of course, it turned out that those documents were actually forged by somebody. As for the cheering Iraqi crowds we anticipated, unfortunately, that didn't pan out either, so now our troops are in an ugly and dangerous situation . . . In other words, when you put it all together, it was just one mistaken impression after another. Lots of them." (Aug. 7, 2003)

Sen. Robert Byrd (W. Va.)

Before: "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 weapons." (Oct. 3, 2002)

After: "Before they [u.S. troops] could realize their dreams, they were called into battle by their commander in chief, a battle that we now know was predicated on faulty intelligence and wildly exaggerated claims of looming danger." (April 7, 2004 )

[igloo]

Did Saddam Hussein Account for the VX known to have been Produced? No. How about the 600 Tons of VX Precursors UNSCOM believed Iraq had Imported? No. Did it Matter? Yes. Just Ask Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen

Iraq admitted in 1995 that it had produced nearly four tons of VX, but UN inspectors believed Saddam had imported 600 tons of VX precursors -- enough to produce 200 tons of the nerve agent.

VX was clearly important to the regime. According to UNMOVIC’s March 6, 2003 report,

n a top secret letter, written in 1987 by the Director-General of Al Muthanna [a large chemical weapons production and storage facility near Baghdad] to senior government officials, the importance of the agent to Iraq was recognized. In the letter, VX was compared to a nuclear weapon: “two tons carried by an aircraft compare with a medium nuclear bomb of 20 kilotons.†The letter continued that its possession “…ushers us into the [field] of armament of advanced countries.â€

Post-Gulf War, Iraq failed to disclose its VX program to UN inspectors. Then, Iraqi officials denied they had successfully weaponized the nerve agent for military use. But UNSCOM's October 1998 report on Iraq’s VX program declared:

The existence of VX degradation products conflicts with Iraq's declarations that the unilaterally destroyed special warheads had never been filled with any chemical warfare agents. The findings by all three laboratories of chemicals known to be degradation products of decontamination compounds also do not support Iraq's declarations that those warhead containers had only been in contact with alcohols.

Chief UN inspector Hans Blix told to the Security Council in January 2003 that there were “indications that the [VX] agent was weaponised.†He stated:

Iraq has declared that it only produced VX on a pilot scale, just a few tonnes and that the quality was poor and the product unstable. Consequently, it was said that the agent was never weaponised. Iraq said that the small quantity of agent remaining after the Gulf War was unilaterally destroyed in the summer of 1991.

UNMOVIC, however, has information that conflicts with this account. There are indications that Iraq had worked on the problem of purity and stabilization and that more had been achieved than has been declared….There are also indications that the agent was weaponised.

And the September 2004 Duelfer report concluded:

Iraq had not adequately addressed VX production and weaponization activities—a point on which Iraq’s denials were contradicted by UNSCOM findings. ISG investigations into Iraq’s work with VX reveals that Iraq did weaponize VX in 1988, and dropped 3 aerial bombs filled with VX on Iran. The bombs, originally declared to be part of a storage stability trial, were in fact dropped on an undisclosed Iranian location in 1988.

In February 2003, Iraq made a proposal that it claimed would prove it had unilaterally destroyed its VX in 1991. But UNMOVIC's May 30, 2003 report stated that Iraq's proposal “would not address all of the unresolved issues†regarding VX.

UNMOVIC pointed out to Iraq that the primary concern with regard to VX was not simply the quantity unilaterally destroyed in 1991 but rather the retention of precursors, know-how and the extent of the development of the program in 1990. Therefore, Iraq’s sampling and quantification effort, even if successful, would not address all of the unresolved issues identified by UNMOVIC.

But why would the unaccounted for VX precursors matter? What's the big deal?

UNMOVIC's March 6, 2003 report judged that:

Iraq’s VX programme included extensive efforts in a number of areas such as synthetic routes, stabilizers, and binary munitions. Given Iraq’s history of concealment with respect to its VX programme it cannot be excluded that it has retained some capability with regard to VX....

The major remaining issue relating to Iraq’s production capability is the fact that there are significant discrepancies in the accounting for all the key precursors... required to produce VX. A few other chemicals are required to produce VX... these are however readily available [to Iraq].

According to the September 2002 International Institute for Strategic Studies report,

Iraq could have retained stable precursors for a few hundred tonnes of sarin and cyclosarin and a similar amount of VX. Weaponisation of any retained material would not pose a significant obstacle.

Assessing the production of new CW agent and precursors depends on determining the degree to which Iraq will have chosen to mobilise its civilian chemical industry to produce these capabilities. Without inspectors present, Iraq would not find it difficult to build on pre 1991 stocks and produce and weaponise fresh agent....

Our net assessment of the current situation is that:

Iraq has probably retained a few hundred tonnes of mustard and precursors for a few hundred tonnes of sarin/cyclosarin and perhaps similar amounts of VX from pre-1991 stocks.

It is capable of resuming CW production on short notice (months) from existing civilian facilities. It could have produced hundreds of tonnes of agent (mustard and nerve agents) since 1998. In these circumstances, it is not possible accurately to estimate present stocks.

Evidently, Clinton Defense Secretary William Cohen was very worried about Saddam's VX program.

One drop [of VX nerve agent] on your finger will produce death in a matter of just a few moments. Now the UN believes that Saddam may have produced as much as 200 tons of VX, and this would, of course, be theoretically enough to kill every man, woman and child on the face of the earth.

Cohen then recalled Iraq's use of poison gas and the sarin attack in Tokyo. He warned that “we face a clear and present danger today,†and reminded people that the “terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in New York had in mind the destruction and deaths of some 250,000 people that they were determined to kill.†A week before these comments Cohen said on ABC's This Week that Saddam may have enough VX to kill "millions, millions, if it were properly dispersed and through aerosol mechanisms."

[siceone]

I would vote for lieberman

q

[siceone]

I would vote for lieberman

q

[drlogic]

Quote of the week...

"I strongly supported the war in Iraq. I was privileged to be the Democratic cosponsor, with the senator from Virginia, of the authorizing resolution, which received overwhelming bipartisan support. As I follow the debates about prewar intelligence, I have no regrets about having sponsored and supported that resolution because of all the other reasons we had in our national-security interest to remove Saddam Hussein from power -- a brutal, murdering dictator, an aggressive invader of his neighbors, a supporter of terrorism, a hater of the United States of America. He was, for us, a ticking time bomb that, if we did not remove him, I am convinced would have blown up, metaphorically speaking, in America's face. ... The questions raised about prewar intelligence are not irrelevant, they are not unimportant, but they are nowhere near as important and relevant as how we successfully complete our mission in Iraq and protect the 150,000 men and women in uniform who are fighting for us there."

--Senator (and Gore's 2000 VP candidate) Joseph Lieberman on the Senate floor Tuesday (Kudos to you for taking the high road, Senator Lieberman.)

Again, common sense from a dying breed in the Dem camp. I like Joe, but his party quickly let him know how they felt about him during his last run for Prez. They wanted Dean, remember? Until he snapped on camera!