I recently received the e-mail that blamed the WMD claims that led us to war and spent some time responding. I felt it deserved a bigger audience...
In 1998- Iraq had confirmed weapons of mass destruction. There was no question about it. During 1991-1998, UN inspectors supervised the destruction or accounted for 817 of 819 Russian-supplied SCUD missiles; 19 transporter/erector/ launchers (TELs); and 30 chemical/biological warheads. In 1999, Iraq was refusing to allow weapons inspectors back into Iraq. (During which time Madeleine Albright made her statement) I couldn’t say with certainty that Bush lied (it is distinctly possible that he and his administration put too much blind faith in the bad information they were being fed) about Iraq and the WMDs, nor do I believe that any of the quoted Democrats believed that they were lying when they made their statements in 2002 but I can say with utmost certainty, the CIA screwed up. The rest is all speculation.
In 2002, (during the same months that many made their statements quoted in the e-mail) - CIA reports stated that “Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions.” Leading to many of the statements made in 2002 by members of all parties. (75 senators approved the war with Iraq based on flawed reports) The findings were provided to members of congress to support the decision to go into Iraq. In fact the statement made by Sen Robert Byrd (in the forwarded e-mail) is almost a verbatim statement from this report.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd/Iraq_Oct_2002.htm#01
Other supporting reports for our going into Iraq was removed by the CIA from their website but then restored. The original web address was
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/iraqi_mobile_plants/index.html but later restored to web address
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraqi_mobile_plants/index.html this was the report that claimed, "Coalition forces have uncovered the strongest evidence to date that Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program" detailing the “mobile WMD units”. In October 2003 David Kay of the CIA states to the Senate select committee, “The report does not represent a final reckoning of Iraq's WMD programs, nor are we at the point where we are prepared to close the file on any of these programs… inspectors had to draw conclusions as to the status of Iraq's WMD program in the face of incomplete, and often false, data supplied by Iraq or data collected either by UN/IAEA inspectors operating within the severe constraints that Iraqi security and deception actions imposed or by national intelligence collection systems with their own inherent limitations.”
Not exactly the confident belief that they had them and we had to go in to stop them.
The senate intelligence report ( a bipartisan committee) issued on July 9th, 2004, concluded that the U.S. intelligence community overstated the threat Saddam posed to the U.S. and used less than credible information to justify the war in Iraq.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), (quoted in the referenced e-mail in 2002) then stated “"The fact is, the administration, at all levels and to some extent, us [Congress], used bad information to bolster its case for war, And we in Congress would not have authorized that war — we would not have authorized that war with 75 votes — if we knew what we know now." The White house did publicly admit that information stating Iraq tried to buy uranium was based on forged documents. And then Donald Rumsfeld said last July, “It was increased worries about terrorism, not new evidence of Iraqi preparations, that was the key reason for going to war” and that "The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new evidence of Iraq's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.”
Yet several key people, including President Bush, publicly referenced new evidence of WMDs. (Bush in his state of the union address, Colin Powell on the mobile transports,) Bush- "Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons." United Nations Address September 12, 2002,
"Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons." "We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have." Radio Address October 5, 2002,
"The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear scientists, a group he calls his "nuclear mujahideen" - his nuclear holy warriors. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past. Iraq has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment needed for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons." Cincinnati, Ohio Speech October 7, 2002
There is no way to know if Bush truly knew that he was referencing false information. However, if we are not to hold him responsible for due diligence then those whom he has placed in positions to represent him, need to be held accountable. Donald Rumsfeld makes a statement easily disputed that we did not go to war based on new threats. Yet, many statements made during that critical time elude exactly to that new threat.
Yes, I would like to know, who's lying??
