IRAQ: no WMD's - nothing, zero, nada, zip, f#ck-all

Better add that one too....

Oh, and this one....

I predict that despite the administration's current posturing that war with Iraq is an inevitability.

I predict that the anti-war campaign will grow strong but not be enough to stop the war.

I predict that the war will last one month but that the casualties from occupation will be more (on the American side) than during the war.

I predict a very strong air campaign initially (no-brainer).

I predict female war heros.

I predict the history's greatest case of news management by the US military.

I predict that commercial satelight photography will be noticably absent or lessened.

I predict that Saddam will become an Osama. Hidden and wanted but as time drags on his relevance will be minimized. He will be found or killed before Osama and at that point he will be broadly touted as an important kill (yeah, might as well predict that too).

I predict that the weapons of mass destruction will not be found.

I predict that war weariness will be rearing to go but never have a real chance due to the short campaign.

I predict a post war drop in Bush's popularity.

I predict that after the war in Iraq the Mid-East will still not get the attention Bush has been implying.

I predict that the death toll won't start to solidify till after the war.

I predict that the mobilization of the troops will be complete around March/April.

I predict that the US will NOT get a UN resolution.

I predict that the occupation will be uneventful. By that I mean no huge catastrophe and no "ripples" of democracy for years.

I predict an occupation or at least a year.

I predict that Powel will resign from the administration.

I predict that despite everything Bush will win the re-election.

I predict that I will not be too happy about it. Crying or Very sad

An economist I heard on the radio yesterday said that the U.S. was spending itself into second world status. China and India - the countries to watch. Funny - that's what my grandparents used to warn about.

The phantom WMD were moved to Syria on the phantom trucks (remember the long column of those green ones?).

Do not ask me how I know this.

I could tell you, but then.....(well, you know the rest).

never "a piece," said one

Report Expected to Address WMD in Iraq

Monday January 17, 2005 9:46 PM


By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The final U.S. intelligence report on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is expected to address whether the banned armaments may have been smuggled out of the country before the war started.

Top Bush administration officials have speculated publicly that chemical, biological or radiological weapons may have been smuggled out, and the question is one of the unresolved issues on WMD. The report is due next month.

Intelligence and congressional officials say they have not seen any information - never ``a piece,'' said one - indicating that WMD or significant amounts of components and equipment were transferred from Iraq to neighboring Syria, Jordan or elsewhere.

The administration acknowledged last week that the search for banned weapons is largely over. The Iraq Survey Group's chief, Charles Duelfer, is expected to submit the final installments of his report in February. A small number of the organization's experts will remain on the job in case new intelligence on Iraqi WMD is unearthed.

But the officials familiar with the search say U.S. authorities have found no evidence that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein transferred WMD or related equipment out of Iraq.

A special adviser to the CIA director, Duelfer declined an interview request through an agency spokesman. In his last public statements, he told a Senate panel last October that it remained unclear whether banned weapons could have been moved from Iraq.

``What I can tell you is that I believe we know a lot of materials left Iraq and went to Syria. There was certainly a lot of traffic across the border points,'' he said. ``But whether in fact in any of these trucks there was WMD-related materials, I cannot say.''

Last week, a congressional official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said suggestions that weapons or components were sent from Iraq were based on speculation stemming from uncorroborated information.

President Bush and top-raking officials in his administration used the existence of WMD in Iraq as the main justification for the March 2003 invasion, and throughout much of last year the White House continued to raise the possibility the weapons were transferred to another country.

For instance:

-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in early October he believed Saddam had WMD before the war. ``He has either hidden them so well or moved them somewhere else, or decided to destroy them ... in event of a conflict but kept the capability of developing them rapidly,'' Rumsfeld said in a Fox News Channel interview.

Eight months earlier, he told senators ``it's possible that WMD did exist, but was transferred, in whole or in part, to one or more other countries. We see that theory put forward.''

-Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed concern the WMD would be found. However, when asked in September if the WMD could have been hidden or moved to a country like Syria, he said, ``I can't exclude any of those possibilities.''

-And, on MSNBC's ``Hardball'' in June, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said: ``Everyone believed that his programs were more active than they appeared to be, but recognize, he had a lot of time to move stuff, a lot of time to hide stuff.''

Since the October report from Duelfer, which said Saddam intended to obtain WMD but had no banned weapons, senior administration leaders have largely stopped discussing whether the weapons were moved.

Last week, the intelligence and congressional officials said evidence indicating somewhat common equipment with dual military and civilian uses, such as fermenters, was salvaged during post-invasion looting and sold for scrap in other countries. Syria was mentioned as one location.

However, the U.S. intelligence community's 2002 estimate on Iraq indicated there were sizable weapons programs and stockpiles. The officials said weapons experts have not found a production capability in Iraq that would back up the size of the prewar estimates.

Among a series of key findings, that estimate said Iraq ``has largely rebuilt missile and biological weapons facilities damaged'' during a 1998 U.S.-British bombing campaign and ``has expanded its chemical and biological infrastructure under the cover of civilian production.''

Although the U.S. had little specific information, the estimate also said Saddam probably stockpiled at least 100 metric tons, possibly 500 metric tons, of chemical weapons agents - ``much of it added in the last year.''

And no-one in the Bush Administration or the Pentagon or the CIA is accountable, because the voting public re-elected the Pres!

Story over. All in the past. No further questions.

Mr Stillwater wrote:

And no-one in the Bush Administration or the Pentagon or the CIA is accountable, because the voting public re-elected the Pres!

Story over. All in the past. No further questions.

Bush's inaugeral speech has the potential to be the shortest ever. He could simply stand up and say "I own this town." and sit back down again.

Bush's inaugeral speech has the potential to be the shortest ever. He could simply stand up and say "I own this town." and sit back down again.

Bush's inaugeral speech has the potential to be the shortest ever. He could simply stand up and say "I own this town." and sit back down again.