U.S. officially ends Iraq WMD search

[lotrfan55345]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4169107.stm

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles9/Bush-Mission-Accomplished.jpg

You know, I thought we stopped searching a long time ago. Will we ever hear an apology from Mr. Bush for being wrong about the WMD? I do not think so.

[MetalMilitia]

"Recognizing the threat Iraq?s non-compliance with Council resolutions and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles poses to international peace and security,"

" Deploring the fact that Iraq has not provided an accurate, full, final, and complete disclosure, as required by resolution 687 (1991), of all aspects of its programmes to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles with a range greater than one hundred and fifty kilometres, and of all holdings of such weapons, their components and production facilities and locations, as well as all other nuclear programmes, including any which it claims are for purposes not related to nuclear-weapons-usable material,"

"Deploring further that Iraq repeatedly obstructed immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted access to sites designated by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), failed to cooperate fully and unconditionally with UNSCOM and IAEA weapons inspectors, as required by resolution 687 (1991), and ultimately ceased all cooperation with UNSCOM and the IAEA in 1998,"

" Deploring the absence, since December 1998, in Iraq of international monitoring, inspection, and verification, as required by relevant resolutions, of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, in spite of the Council?s repeated demands that Iraq provide immediate, unconditional, and unrestricted access to the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), established in resolution 1284 (1999) as the successor organization to UNSCOM, and the IAEA, and regretting the consequent prolonging of the crisis in the region and the suffering of the Iraqi people,"

Good 'ol 1441.

[dutchie]

I have heard on the news there is a growing portion - a little majority even - of the US public that believes this war was started for all the wrong reasons, lies even. At the same time a majority of Americans believe that GWB is doing a good job in Iraq.

I'll never understand the way the American mind works. :dork:

[MetalMilitia]

Hit yourself in the head repeatedly with a hammer, then turn on CNN and beleive it all... and there you have the average American.

I know how much everyone loves polls.

New Gallup Poll Finds 50% of Public Saying Invasion of Iraq a Mistake
NEW YORK A new Gallup poll released this morning finds Americans tilting against the war in Iraq, with 50% now saying it was a mistake to send U.S. troops into Iraq, while 48% say it was not. These results show a slight increase since mid-November in the percentage saying it was a mistake.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000750298

Think what you want about the drum up to the war. The polls lie - and only now do they begin to tilt to show the truth. Amazing how the media (US) coulod devote all that time to saying "what are the weapons", "how many do they have", what would be the effect if they attacked New York"... and as we all know - they promoted the US governments "scare" tactics. I refer you to the "you dont want the smoking gun to come in the form of a mushroom cloud". Anyone remember this?

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/dc_from_monument.jpg
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/protestphotos.html

It's never been a popular war, but the media always took the side of the administration, pushing what we now know to be LIES. Where is the credibility in the US media, ya think FOX or CNN will issue an apology for misleading America? you think GWB will apologize for his lies (you can call it "bad intelligence") in his SOTU and repeted statements about WMD's?

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39968000/jpg/_39968847_bbc203bodyoval.jpg

I think we all remember this - At a black-tie dinner for journalists, Mr Bush narrated a slide show poking fun at himself and other members of his administration. One pictured Mr Bush looking under a piece of furniture in the Oval Office, at which the president remarked: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere." After another one, showing him scouring the corner of a room, Mr Bush said: "No, no weapons over there," he said. And as a third picture, this time showing him leaning over, appeared on the screen the president was heard to say: "Maybe under here?"

Well I'm not Laughing. Families of those serving in Iraq aren't laughing. The thousands of dead civilians certainly aren't laughing.

Ignoring the fact that the war is still raging well past a year after it was declared "mission accomplished", there ARE no WMDs, there is no evidence that Iraq had anything to do with 9-11, and the torture scandal (and other widespread abuse) has made the United States the most despised nation on Earth. How do we pay back the world? We elect (thank you Diebold) Bush for a second term.

Smooth.

[Dhanishta]

Hit yourself in the head repeatedly with a hammer, then turn on CNN and beleive it all... and there you have the average American. MM.


Well the whole goddamn political business is just one big wank!!! I wonder if the american population can see it for what it is...... Everyone loves their neat little picket fences but god help the poor Iraqis and the rest of us. What about looking for weapons of mass destruction in America? Im sure they could find a few million or two......

[dutchie]

Hit yourself in the head repeatedly with a hammer, then turn on CNN and beleive it all... and there you have the average American.

Ignoring the fact that the war is still raging well past a year after it was declared "mission accomplished", there ARE no WMDs, there is no evidence that Iraq had anything to do with 9-11, and the torture scandal (and other widespread abuse) has made the United States the most despised nation on Earth. How do we pay back the world? We elect (thank you Diebold) Bush for a second term.

Smooth.
Good post, Matt. It's mindbaffling to see there are STILL people defending this outrage here on AO.

[substand]

Whats mindbaffling to me is how little people seem to understand of the reasons for the war, or their ingnorance of the reasons and all the events surrounding it.

Things like this bother me in particular:


What about looking for weapons of mass destruction in America? Im sure they could find a few million or two......

but the media always took the side of the administration, pushing what we now know to be LIES.

there ARE no WMDs, there is no evidence that Iraq had anything to do with 9-11, and the torture scandal (and other widespread abuse) has made the United States the most despised nation on Earth.


People seem to forget (purposely or not, i don't know) all of the facts surrounding the lead up, as if Bush and Blair cooked this whole thing up over a couple of beers. As if no other intelligence agency beleived the probability of WMD was high. NO ONE, not even those nations intelligence agencies who were against the war disputed the allegations of WMD, except Saddam and co. All evidence pointed to his having them, and his stonewalling after readmitting inspectors only pointed further in that manner. People also seem to (again, purposefully or not, I don't know) forget that he did in fact have illegal weapons and items and things needed for WMD programs that he was not allowed to have, and that he would have to declare and show how the civilian side of "dual use" items was working (ie, not have any secret uranium). How much did we hear about the 2 tons of uranium found? Nada. Not to mention he's just an all around bad guy. I think now, as I thought then, that we didn't need to make the case for WMD, and the war was justified without it. No one alleged 9/11 ties, only that since he had been known to support terrorism and there was a high probability he had WMD that he might work with terrorists and give them WMD. And the "prisoner abuse scandal" has little to nothing to do with "making america the most hated."

[lotrfan55345]

People act that way since they are too dumb/lazy to watch other than FOX news or whatnot.

These are REAL people that I've PERSONALLY heard and saw saying these statements:

"If John Kerry would have won, he'll make us go to school on Saturdays"
"If John Kerry won, he would ban the bible."
"If John Kerry won, he would make us marry guys."
"If John Kerry won, the TERRORISTS from 'that place' would nuke America"
"If John Kerry won, he will make hunting illigal"
"If John Kerry is going to take all of our guns so then we can't defend ourselves from the TERRORISTS."
"John Kerry is the anti-christ!"
"John Kerry is a homo."
"John Kerry is a wimp for 'droping out'"
"My pastor says that all democrats support the devil."
"My pastor says George W Bush is a saint"
"[reference to ME looking kid] Is your dad a terrorist?"
"[reference to ME looking kid] Are you a muslim?! Are you a TALIBAN supporter?!"
"[reference to girl w/ headscarf] That kid wears that head thing I think shes a TERRORIST!"
"[reference to some kid w/ the last name Hussein] omg I hate that guy, hes Saddams son or something, he probably has a bomb in his backpack!"

[MetalMilitia]

Sam, even the c0cksuckers on CNN's crossfire admit the MEDIA may have helped the drum up to war. They should all apologize for their coverage. Bush should apologize for using bad intelligence.

You can say whatever you want about the other reasons... Who's been right since 2003 about the lack of WMDs? I believe it was me.

[Strife]

WMD = U.S.' use of military in Iraq. Hypocrites.

[Emerald_Dragon]

> NO ONE, not even those nations intelligence agencies who were against the war
>disputed the allegations of WMD

how would they know? they didn't sell any to Iraq...that I'm aware of.
Ricin? Anyone?

and those nations did speak up against the war and American intentions.
But hey, they had found ways around the "oil for food" program since SH was willing to sell oil to them, and not the U.S., so of course we'll spin it in our favor, and take what we can't buy.


> All evidence pointed to his having them,

err, that's because naysayers were offed (eg, John Kokal, David Kelly), bleak testimony/analysis of the costs/commitments for war were replaced (Shinseki), others who had more cautious views of what Iraq/SH had, were quietly ignored, discredited, deemed not newsworthy etc. (eg. Karen Kwiatkowski).

the drums of war were beating and the cooler heads were dismissed. even Powell and Rice's reversals of position were downplayed and ignored. howbout that farce in the UN by Powell presenting a 10-year old assessment of Iraq's military capabilities? no wonder no one in the UN listened, they knew otherwise.

The only evidence for NBC WMDs was hearsay, Daddy W's sayso, and Rumsfeld's handshake with SH. ohh, and our media broadcasting it over and over that Iraq had them and wasn't accounting for them. nevermind that they were likely neutralized in GW1 to prevent their usage against the coalition of 1991. and could SH have acquired some post '91? not likely, according to Powell/Rice in 2001. Which was why we invaded. Something we're unlikely to do with NK.

[dutchie]

It's an old - and admittedly even lame joke...

GWB was so sure there were WMD in Iraq because daddy showed him the receipts...

If there WERE that many WMD in Iraq, where the hell are they NOW?? Isn't the CIA clever enough to infiltrate into Syrian intel? They've pulled off heavier stunts in the past..

[MetalMilitia]

Look everybody, we've found WMDRPAs!
This Tuesday during his State of the Union Address, 1,028 days after the war in Iraq was officially launched (and 986 days after we "accomplished our mission"), President Bush finally announced the primary reason for declaring war on Iraq. No, it wasn't weapons of mass destruction, that search was offically called off on Wednesday. No, it wasn't Iraq'a ties to 9/11 (there weren't any). And no, it wasn't because Iraq was supporting Al Queda (they weren't). And it wasn't even "Operation Iraqi Freedom", that was just a catchy slogan that the Administration spoon fed the media and the American public. (Faulking Truth to Karl Rove: helluva job on that one.)

But now, none of that matters, because now we know the real reason Americans are dying in Iraq, now we know the real reason over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed, now we know the real reason we started "Vietnam - The Sequel". No, iraq didn't have WMDs, and in fact, according to chief U.N. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, not only did Iraq not possess any weapons of mass destruction, THEY HAD NOT MADE ANY SINCE 1991.

But who cares? According to Bush, they might not have had WMDs, but they had "weapons-of-mass-destruction-related program activities". That's right, we declared war on Iraq because they had WMDRPAs. And they might not have possessed REAL WMDs, but as Bush said in October, Saddam Hussein "retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies", which leads us nicely into reason number two for the Iraqi Quagmire...I mean the Iraqi War....no wait, I mean the "Iraqi Peace Mission" (God, I love that one, it's so....so peaceful sounding).

Reason Number Two? Saddam Hussein IS the Weapon of Mass Destruction, or SHITWMD. See, don't you feel stupid for ever doubting our President? And you thought we were just an occupying military force that aggressively invaded a country that had committed no act of aggression towards us whatsoever.

http://www.faulkingtruth.com/blog/

[substand]

This Tuesday during his State of the Union Address, 1,028 days after the war in Iraq was officially launched (and 986 days after we "accomplished our mission")

Ain't that the faulking truth. 1028 days. which planet does this guy live on?