Bush, Powell Defend Remark On Iraq's Weapons Capability

[radfringe]

Bush, Powell Defend Remark On Iraq's Weapons Capability

By Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 26, 2003; Page A24


President Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell defended yesterday a statement made by Powell early in 2001 that Iraq's Saddam Hussein did not have "any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction."

---snip----

"Nine-eleven changed my calculation," the president said after a meeting with lawmakers at the White House. "It made it really clear we have to deal with threats before they come on our shore. You know, for a long period of time, we thought oceans could protect us from danger, and we learned a tough lesson on September the 11th."

Powell offered a different explanation yesterday, saying that more information was obtained later. "What I said was, at that time, three weeks into the administration, when I was trying to get sanctions retained -- and we did succeed in getting sanctions retained -- I made that observation," he said. "You'll note that I did not say that he didn't have weapons of mass destruction. . . . He was a threat then. The extent of his holdings were yet to be determined. It was early in the administration and, fact of the matter, it was long before 9/11."

----snip---

The administration has not yet found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. An interim report by U.S. inspector David Kay is due soon, but the White House said it might not be publicly released.

[radfringe]

1. Failure to Find WMD Poses Credibility Problem, Analysts Say

Failure to Find WMD Poses Credibility Problem, Analysts Say

(CNSNews.com) - In another apparent setback to the Bush administration's credibility on Iraq, an extensive search of locations and facilities in that nation reportedly failed to find the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) given as the principal reason for the invasion earlier this year.

An interim report by David Kay, the lead U.S weapons inspector who served as a U.N. official in Iraq in 1991, is expected to show documentary evidence that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons programs but no proof of actual arms, officials told reporters.

As head of the Iraq Survey Group, Kay has presented a progress report on his findings to CIA Director George Tenet. Sections of the report are expected to be made public later this month.

Kay found evidence of material that could be used to build biological, chemical and nuclear weapons or for dual-use systems. He also spoke with at least one Iraqi who said he had worked in a biological and chemical weapons program until shortly before the U.S. invasion, the New York Times reported.

Officials pointed out that the results are inconclusive and stated it cannot be assumed that WMD don't exist. Kay and members of the Iraq Survey Group were unable to search all possible locations in a country the size of California where weapons could be hidden, they said.

But the lack of hard evidence to date, especially after the Bush administration made assertions about the quantities of nerve agents and chemical weapons Saddam Hussein was supposed to possess, likely will hurt President Bush, analysts said.

[rocktivity]

10. No shit, Sherlock!

Failure to Find WMD Poses Credibility Problem, Analysts Say

Coming to that conclusion required the services of an analyst?


rocknation

[IndianaGreen]

2. They have no more defense than Clark did on his comments about W

They are all a bunch of liars. Powell can not even lie with a straight face, unlike Bush. What a disgusting bunch of crooks. They should all be impeached!

[IndianaGreen]

3. Ironic to get Powell and Clark on video tape!

Powell telling us that Saddam had no WMDs, and Clark telling us what a great team George W. Bush had put together.

[jayfish]

7. Have You Ever Stated An Opinion...

that some time down the line was shown to be incorrect? Did you still stand by the opinion? Clark was stating an opinion Powell was expressing fact.

Jay

[xchrom]

4. beware david kay

and his report. kay is a rabid rw'er. there will be plenty of ''dangerous threats'' about saddam in his report.
there might even be a ''find''.
i do not trust these guys -- and i think there could very well be a set up.

[ClintonTyree]

5. And remember.................

they knew EXACTLY where these weapons were before the invasion. Their satellites were tracking their movements. They were near the border and were to be deployed within 45 minutes of any attempted invasion. Lies, lies and more lies.

[4dsc]

6. This story is coming from the rigthie too

if Townhall.com is reporting this, I have to wonder if rightie is about to abandon ole dubya on Iraq??

[Jack Rabbit]

8. Today's award

THE SPINNING TOP AWARD



September 26, 2003
George W. Bush
Former Governor of Texas
Colin Powell
Retired General, United States Army

Illustration from the website of http://www.astutegraphics.co.uk/astute3/print4.htm">Astute Graphics (UK)

[Flubadubya]

9. Joseph Cirincione, nuclear and WMD expert was on CNN today...

He said he saw Kay in the airport a few weeks ago and Kay told him the report was complete. Cirincione said that the report is now in the hands of the Bush administration and is being spun and "sexed up" before it's release to the public.

I though poor little Bill Hemmer was going to get a hernia or a stroke or something. He really didn't want this guy saying these things.

This Crincione has been on CNN quite a number of times and he has ALWAYS stood by his stance that Saddam did not have these weapons and that the whole Iraq war was trumped up on false charges.

Check this out: http://tv.oneworld.net/tapestry?link=2383&window=full

Great link, great expert!

Edit for spelling.

[Richardo]

11. We need a Daniel Ellsberg to leak the original Kay report...

...before the WH "sexes it up".

[TahitiNut]

12. "we thought oceans could protect us from danger"

"... and we learned a tough lesson on September the 11th."??? :wtf:

If there's anything that lends credence to the hypothesis that Shrub's academic work as an undergraduate in History at Yale was performed by hirelings while he partied, it's this kind of gross misapprehension of such events. I thought that "lesson" was "learned" by the vast majority of Americans on and after December 7th, 1941? I thought the massive investment in SAC in the 50's represented such a lesson learned. I wasn't aware that there was an "ocean" separating Boston Logan from NYC, DC, or Pennsylvania. (sheesh!) Wotta freaking moran!

[Terran]

14. absolutely right

While it might be okay for ordinary uninformed citizens to have believed that line about "oceans protecting us" as late as 2001, there is no way in which the President of the US, or *any* person in government with responsibility for military or foreign policy matters, can make such a claim, given 50 years of Cold War policy.

[underpants]

13. Eyes rolled as I heard W cite 9/11 last night on the news

Apparently that dead horse of an excuse is still able to take a flogging.