Quote:
Originally posted by Superbelt
I remember the posting I was doing on other boards in the months leading up to the Iraq war. I remember the only thing anyone was talking about was WMD, WMD and Iraq's capacity to kill americans with it. Specifically with drone aircraft fitted with nuclear weapons. I spent many long hours trying to disprove to anyone that Iraq was bereft of any wmd.
Then magically the debate turned to humanitarian just days before the invasion. I think, and this imo, that Bush&co realized their argument was built on quicksand.
I remember day in and day out being bombarded with the horrors of wmd and what Saddam was going to do to us with them.
I don't remember seeing pictures of kurdish and iranian bodies.
I also recall congressmen who have since said that the only reason they voted to give Bush the authority to attack was information he gave them on Iraq's capability to attack us within 45 minutes.
back to the topic: I can't show you serial numbers. But if these weapons get into the proper inspectors hands, hopefully they will be able to verify if these are the same weapons or not. I just offered an explanation of why they were there, and in the condition they were in. The circumstantial evidence certainly points in that direction at this time. It's a much better argument than they were lying in wait, with the militarys knowledge of their existence.
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Disarmament (through either presenting the weapons themselves or supplying evidence of the destruction) of both conventional weapons and chemical/biologic weapons banned under the agreement that ended the first gulf war, compliance with UN resolutions, firing on our troops in the no-fly zone, using the helicopters we allowed them to use for necessary transportation to kill/intimidate Hussein opposition, supporting terrorist activity by paying money to suicide bombers. These are just some of the reasons given long before the intelligence of possible attempts to acquire wmds in Africa.
Just because all you remember (or that you focused more on that one) is the wmd argument or that the boards you frequented latched onto that aspect doesn't mean that was the only reason. Can I ask how you "know" Iraq is bereft of wmds? Seems you took on an impossible task by trying to prove the case. Certainly you could make a reasonable case that they don't have much ability to use them or that they're unlikely to have any after the efforts that were made to destroy them or the technology they have available and/or the viability of certain weapon types, but there's no way you could prove they don't/didn't have them.
Anyway...
Circumstantial evidence points to these being among the "lost" weapons? Not even close, there's no direct link between this cache and the "lost" weapons. Just because there are some unaccounted for it does not mean that these were not buried to be retrieved later. Further, there are far better ways to destroy dangerous weapons than to simply dig a hole and stick them in. Unless this "destruction" was meant to take a couple of decades through degradation, it's ridiculous.