Calling It Quits: Iraq's WMDs
 

January 15 2005
Counterbias.com
Scott C. Smith
 

Quick: what news story has been covered the most often in January? Was it the report by the Washington Post on January 11 that the Iraq Survey Group – the team hunting for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – had ended its search? Or was it the findings of an investigation by CBS on the Sixty Minutes II broadcast of September 8, 2004, in which George W. Bush’s National Guard Service was questioned using what turned out to be forged memos from a dead commander?

The answer, of course, is the hunt for WMDs coming to an end.

No, it wasn’t.

The CBS “memo gate” investigation has been all over the so-called liberal media. You’d think it was the most important news item of the century based on the coverage.

The Washington Post reported the news that the Iraq Survey Group had ended its hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq on January 11; the group actually ended its search at the end of 2004.

Not a single weapon was found in Iraq.

Nothing. Not a drop of chemical agents, no conventional weapons, no nuclear weapons, no biological agents, no nerve gas, no enriched uranium, no mobile missile launchers; not a single weapon has been found in two years of searching.

Remember when Secretary of State Colin Powell appeared before the United Nations Security Council on February 5, 2003? Powell outlined the terrifying threat posed by Saddam Hussein and his vast stockpiles of weapons. “My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we are giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence,” Powell stated to the council.

Turns out Powell’s facts were actually assertions.

For whatever reason, the “liberal” media has given George W. Bush a pass on this story. It boggles the mind. Look at the media’s treatment of Bill Clinton. Every scandal – regardless if there was a basis in fact for the scandal – was covered in great detail. When the story broke about Clinton having an affair with an intern, the media grabbed the story and ran with it, for weeks.

So far no explanation has been offered by the Bush administration as to why no weapons were found. “No comment” is pretty much the official word from team Bush. Which is funny, because the Bush administration had a lot to say about Iraq in the months prior to March 2003.

For instance, in a speech given at the Cincinnati Museum Center on October 7, 2002, President Bush claimed Iraq “…possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles -- far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and other nations…we've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States.”

In his 2003 State of the Union Address, Bush again outlined the horrible threat posed by Iraq: “Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.”

George Bush drew a line in the sand on March 17, 2003, giving Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave Iraq. “Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.” Also, “The danger is clear: using chemical, biological or, one day, nuclear weapons, obtained with the help of Iraq, the terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country, or any other.”

Two days later we went to war, reluctantly, according to Bush. “Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly -- yet, our purpose is sure. The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder. We will meet that threat now, with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines, so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of fire fighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.”

And now, nearly two years later, at a cost of 1361 American lives, no weapons of mass murder have been discovered. No weapons had been concealed. No, we didn’t find 500 tons of sarin nerve gas. And no, we didn’t uncover a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles. 

And while we have freed Iraqis from a brutal dictator, our actions in Iraq may very well be at the root of a growing terrorist threat in Iraq, according to a report issued January 13 by the National Intelligence Committee. The report, titled Mapping The Global Future, suggests that Iraq is now a breeding ground for terrorists due to the chaos created by the war.

Conservative outrage is not expected.

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