We went to war over THIS?

Dead and wounded Iraqis don't matter much if anything to most people, especially Americans. If no Americans had been killed or wounded there, Iraq would have been a footnote in the News.

pistoff wrote:

Dead and wounded Iraqis don't matter much if anything to most people, especially Americans. If no Americans had been killed or wounded there, Iraq would have been a footnote in the News.

You're American, and you obviously DO care. Maybe there's some more out there.

David Kay: Outgoing Inspector Says Iraq Likely Had No Banned Arms

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 25, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. intelligence agencies need to explain why their research indicated Iraq possessed banned weapons before the American-led invasion, says the outgoing top U.S. inspector, who now believes Saddam Hussein had no such arms.

"I don't think they exist,'' David Kay said Sunday. "The fact that we found so far the weapons do not exist -- we've got to deal with that difference and understand why.'' [..]

Kay said his predictions were not "coming back to haunt me in the sense that I am embarrassed. They are coming back to haunt me in the sense of 'Why could we all be so wrong?'''

The White House stuck by its assertions that illicit weapons will be found in Iraq but had no additional response on Sunday to Kay's remarks. [..]

"There were scientists and engineers working on developing weapons or weapons concepts that they had not moved into actual production,'' Kay said. "But in some areas, for example producing mustard gas, they knew all the answers, they had done it in the past, and it was a relatively simple thing to go from where they were to starting to produce it.''

The Iraqis had not decided to begin producing such weapons at the time of the invasion, he concluded. [..]

Kay's comments echoed those of dozens of Iraqi scientists who, in recent interviews with The Associated Press, claimed they had not seen or worked on weapons of mass destruction in years.

Only a handful of Iraqi scientists who worked in former bioweapons and missile programs remained in custody by the time Kay left Iraq in December. Some of the detained scientists have been held since April and Kay's conclusions were likely to raise their hopes for release.

A President, when faced with such overwhelming evidence (tapes of Saddam discussing his WMDs), should act. If the information he trusts, and other Presidents have trusted is wrong, who's fault is that?

Hans Blix, the former chief U.N. inspector whose work was heavily criticized by Kay and ended when the United States went to war with Iraq, said Sunday the United States should have known the intelligence was flawed last year when leads followed up by U.N. inspectors didn't produce any results.

"I was beginning to wonder what was going on,'' he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "Weren't they wondering too? If you find yourself on a train that's going in the wrong direction, its best to get off at the next stop.''

"And polls indicate that most Americans also don't seem to care whether the weapons are discovered or not."

I ran a Poll and it said that most Americans are ignorant and stupid.

If it can be proven that this Admin. knew that there were no WMDs, no nexus between Saddam and Al Q. and no immenent threat there may be a case of criminality. A few candidates are now calling for an investigation of just that. Blair should be investigated , as well.

Those that think that the reasons pounded to the American and Brits for invading Iraq are no longer relevant are wrong!

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Frank,

On exactly what do you base your hope ?

Many American voters don't have a clue and prefer it that way. Others may actually care but limit their source of information to FOX NEWS TV(enough said).


When you say "we have to have confidence in the overall structure of our system", doesn't that structure presuppose an interested and informed electorate ? And doesn't it require, at least to some degree, an unbiased media capable of reaching a majority of voters ?

I truly wished I shared you optimism ......... (sigh).

.

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I cannot remember a time when I was ever more willing and eager to be wrong. Believe me, I have tried to be optimistic, but that's just not how I'm feeling.

I am currently working for Dean (though I will work for anyone else running against Bush). I can easily dialogue with informed people, and they invariably do not support this administration, but I have sadly found that those who are not informed are simply not willing to listen. Or don't care.

Still, I will hang on - there's too much at stake not to.

.

Quote:

David Kay: Outgoing Inspector Says Iraq Likely Had No Banned Arms

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 25, 2004

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. intelligence agencies need to explain why their research indicated Iraq possessed banned weapons before the American-led invasion, says the outgoing top U.S. inspector, who now believes Saddam Hussein had no such arms.

"I don't think they exist,'' David Kay said Sunday. "The fact that we found so far the weapons do not exist -- we've got to deal with that difference and understand why.'' [..]

Kay said his predictions were not "coming back to haunt me in the sense that I am embarrassed. They are coming back to haunt me in the sense of 'Why could we all be so wrong?'''

The White House stuck by its assertions that illicit weapons will be found in Iraq but had no additional response on Sunday to Kay's remarks. [..]

"There were scientists and engineers working on developing weapons or weapons concepts that they had not moved into actual production,'' Kay said. "But in some areas, for example producing mustard gas, they knew all the answers, they had done it in the past, and it was a relatively simple thing to go from where they were to starting to produce it.''

The Iraqis had not decided to begin producing such weapons at the time of the invasion, he concluded. [..]

Kay's comments echoed those of dozens of Iraqi scientists who, in recent interviews with The Associated Press, claimed they had not seen or worked on weapons of mass destruction in years.

Only a handful of Iraqi scientists who worked in former bioweapons and missile programs remained in custody by the time Kay left Iraq in December. Some of the detained scientists have been held since April and Kay's conclusions were likely to raise their hopes for release.

Might be the right time to remember who Kay was ... when he was sent to Iraq to find the WMD, some opponents expressed doubts about the choice of man. After all, Kay was very much the President's man, and had been "a ubiquitous presence on the cable news networks, backing the president's assertions [..] during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq". Kay was the embodiment of the belief in Iraqi WMD. If he's now lost it ...

CNN) -- Two days after resigning as the Bush administration's top weapons inspector in Iraq, David Kay said Sunday that his group found no evidence Iraq had stockpiled unconventional weapons before the U.S.-led invasion in March.

He said U.S. intelligence services owe President Bush an explanation for having concluded that Iraq had.

"My summary view, based on what I've seen, is we're very unlikely to find large stockpiles of weapons," he said on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition." "I don't think they exist."

It was the consensus among the intelligence agencies that Iraq had such weapons that led Bush to conclude that it posed an imminent threat that justified the U.S.-led invasion, Kay said.

"I actually think the intelligence community owes the president rather than the president owing the American people," he said.

"We have to remember that this view of Iraq was held during the Clinton administration and didn't change in the Bush administration," Kay said.

"It is not a political 'gotcha' issue. It is a serious issue of 'How you can come to a conclusion that is not matched in the future?'"

Other countries' intelligence agencies shared the U.S. conclusion that Iraq had stockpiled such weapons, though most disagreed with the United States about how best to respond.

...(cont)...

Kay alleges Syria connection

Kay also raised the possibility -- one he first discussed in a weekend interview with "The Sunday Telegraph" of London -- that clues about banned weapons programs might reside across Iraq's western border.

"There is ample evidence of movement to Syria before the war -- satellite photographs, reports on the ground of a constant stream of trucks, cars, rail traffic across the border. We simply don't know what was moved," Kay said.

But, he said, "the Syrian government there has shown absolutely no interest in helping us resolve this issue."

Kay acknowledged that the truth might never be revealed. Widespread looting in Baghdad after the invasion destroyed many government records. "There's always going to be unresolved ambiguity here."