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Originally Posted by rdorman
Sada, Master of the Obvious. Nothing more would please me more then for Iraqis to solve their problems.
I do not believe now, nor did I then, that Iraq had 'large' caches of WMD's before the war. I would be surprised if large amounts of recent vintage even exist. But, I do know that there where some basic facts before the war:
- Iraq did have WMDs
- Iraq did have dozens of active weapons programs and was attempting to acquire the materials and technology to create more WMD’s
- Weapons and materials where 'moved' out of Iraq and into other countries
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Sure, the NGIC says it could be harmful or lethal. That is standard government CYA. Insect repellent can be lethal as well, but that does not make it a WMD. Those 25 year old munitions were no longer capable of doing what defines a WMD, and they were, therefore, no threat to us.
I'm sure items were taken from Iraq unofficially, but nothing in any of those reports say that any actual WMD were taken. They do say that it is possible the WMD related items MAY have been taken. It DOES mean that we also now have to keep a close eye on other countries where these items may have ended up.
In answer to your points:
Yes, Iraq did have WMD back in the 80s and probably into the 90s. In 2001 it was useless and of no threat to us.
Yes, Iraq did have many weapons programs. Most countries do. Some of his were in violation of UN resolutions. It is a good thing to have the inspectors finding and destroying weapons systems that were in violation. As far as current WMD, there is no indication from the inspectors that he had any. He had some tools to make some elements of WMD, but was not able to put the whole package together. He could have made a dirty bomb - just about any country can if they really want to. But there was also no indication that he did that either.
Yes, some weapons and materials may have been moved out of Iraq, None of the weapons were WMD, and the WMD related material may have been moved as scrap, or even incomplete. It does make our job a bit harder to locate any of the functioning bits, or materials.
Bush Jr is probably the only President who actually didn't have to invade. Hussein would have called the bluff on just about anybody else that I can think of, and they would have been forced to go in just to prove that they would. I doubt Clinton would have even done that. This is why Bush was the perfect guy to force Hussein into UN compliance. Bush was like the rabid dog just itching to go get him, and that scared Hussein like nobody else could. That is what forced Hussein into compliance. As long as Hussein stayed scared of Bush we had no need to invade.
Steve