posted at 06:40:04 AM by Dominion

Tue, Oct 07 2003

I got some more email from the Bush/Cheney camp, this time assuring me that David Kay had found loads of evidence that Saddam was as big a threat as George W. Bush claimed he was. But was he? Just what does the Kay report reveal about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction?

Well we don't know. We don't know because the White House is not going to release the Kay report till only Jesus knows when. But we do have David's declassified report to Congress.

But first, here is the email I got:

New Report Discloses Dozens of Weapons of Mass Destruction Program Activities in Iraq

According to the Wall Street Journal a new report shows that Saddam Hussein had "dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002." The Wall Street Journal makes note of the findings to rebut other media reports that say the latest inspections by U.S. inspector, David Kay have unearthed no new information in his short, three month search.

The revelations about Hussein's weapons of terror include a prison laboratory complex "possibly used in human testing of BW agents" in addition to strains of biological organisms that could be used as weapons, reports the Journal. The assignment has also served to spotlight Saddam's success in deceiving the United Nations and the world as to the state of his weapons programs.

The Wall Street Journal concludes by saying, "Even if no stockpiles are ever found, the Kay report provides ample proof of Saddam's WMD threat and how much safer the world is with him out of power."

Ah the very essence of lowered expectations. You can't help but notice that we have gone from "Saddam's weapons of mass destruction are a clear and present danger to the US" to "Well Saddam had big, really big, huge when you think about it...plans".

What struck me as funny is that Bush/Cheney did not rely on David's testimony, but a report in the Wall Street Journal. The email does not link to the actual article and I did not bother to look it up, I can read propaganda anytime. But you would have thought they would have linked directly to Dave's testimony. Perhaps this is why they did not:

Multiple sources with varied access and reliability have told ISG that Iraq did not have a large, ongoing, centrally controlled CW program after 1991. Information found to date suggests that Iraq's large-scale capability to develop, produce, and fill new CW munitions was reduced - if not entirely destroyed - during Operations Desert Storm and Desert Fox, 13 years of UN sanctions and UN inspections. We are carefully examining dual-use, commercial chemical facilities to determine whether these were used or planned as alternative production sites.

We have also acquired information related to Iraq's CW doctrine and Iraq's war plans for OIF, but we have not yet found evidence to confirm pre-war reporting that Iraqi military units were prepared to use CW against Coalition forces. Our efforts to collect and exploit intelligence on Iraq's chemical weapons program have thus far yielded little reliable information on post-1991 CW stocks and CW agent production, although we continue to receive and follow leads related to such stocks. We have multiple reports that Iraq retained CW munitions made prior to 1991, possibly including mustard - a long-lasting chemical agent - but we have to date been unable to locate any such munitions.

and:

Despite evidence of Saddam's continued ambition to acquire nuclear weapons, to date we have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material.

Over and over again we are told that Kay's team has been told of Saddam's continued interest in developing WMDs but found scant evidence that any serious weapon's building was going on.

Now let's contrast this with some of the Bush/Cheney comments before the war:

"The issue is that he's developing and has biological weapons," - Vice President Dick Cheney on Late Edition (CNN) March 24, 2002.

"Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies and against us." - Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Aug. 26, 2002.

"We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons - the very weapons the dictator tells the world he does not have." - Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003.

"Iraq also possesses a force of Scud-type missiles with ranges beyond the 150 kilometers permitted by the U.N." - President George W. Bush to the United Nations on Sept. 12, 2002.

"Iraq employs capable nuclear scientists and technicians. It retains physical infrastructure needed to build a nuclear weapon. Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year. And Iraq's state-controlled media has reported numerous meetings between Saddam Hussein and his nuclear scientists, leaving little doubt about his continued appetite for these weapons." - Ibid.

Hell I could go on and on. It was not programs that Bush/Cheney were warning us about, it was full blown weapons that were a direct threat.