Officials Say Bush Seeks $600 Million to Hunt Iraq Arms

[ozymandius]

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — The Bush administration is seeking more than $600 million from Congress to continue the hunt for conclusive evidence that Saddam Hussein's government had an illegal weapons program, officials said Wednesday.

The money, part of the White House's request for $87 billion in supplemental spending on Iraq and Afghanistan, comes on top of at least $300 million that has already been spent on the weapons search, the officials said.

The budget figures for the weapons search are included in the classified part of the administration's supplemental appropriations request, and have not been made public. The size of the request suggests the White House is determined to keep searching for unconventional weapons or evidence that they were being developed under Mr. Hussein. The search so far has turned up no solid evidence that Iraq had chemical, biological or nuclear weapons when the American invasion began in March, according to administration officials.

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At this price - we could make their weapons for them.

[Jacobin]

1. What a lying piece of dung

gonna spend our tax dollars to rewrite history.

[saigon68]

12. A floating Turd

Where are our so-called representatives who have to vote on this? This is real money folks----- it could go to much better causes. Or how about just letting "THE TAXPAYER" keep it for themselves!!!!!

[Gman]

2. That $900 million should come from the RNC or C(RE)EP

Since the only purpose of the money is to find something that can be passed off as WMD's before the election next year.

[MGKrebs]

3. Glad to see it's in the NY Times.

Many people should see this.

[Snellius]

4. The Commander in Chief is Captain Queeg

(Captain Queeg removes the steel balls from his pocket and he spins them in his palm insistently as he speaks.)

Queeg: No, I, I don't see any need of that. Now that I recall, he might have said something about messboys and then again he might not -- I questioned so many men and Harding was not the most reliable officer.

Lt. Greenwald (Jose Ferrer): I'm afraid the defense has no other recourse than to produce Lt. Harding.

Queeg: Now there's no need for that I know exactly what hell tell you. Lies! He was no different than any officer in the wardroom -- they were all disloyal, I tried to run the ship properly by the book but they fought me at every turn. If the crew wanted to walk around with their shirttails hanging out that's all right let them take the tow line. Defective equipment no more no less, but they encouraged the crew to go around scoffing at me and spreading wild rumors about steaming and circles. And then old yellow stain. I was to blame for Lt. Merrick's incompetence and poor seamanship. Lt. Merrick was the perfect officer but not Captain Queeg.
Ah, but the strawberries! That's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with geometric logic, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist! And I'd have produced that key if they hadn't pulled Caine out of action! I-I-I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officer and!......(realizes he has been ranting, babbling)
Naturally, I can only cover these things from memory if I've left anything out, why, just ask me specific questions and I'll be glad to answer them...one-by-one...



There are definite signs of a mental disorder aboard the ship of state

[karlschneider]

6. Good one. "Old Yellow Stain", the perfect analogy. But it's so old,

it probably wouldn't be widely graspable these days. :-(

[saigon68]

13. THE SHEEP WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND THIS

The logic and the example cited show that without doubt, the CHIMPANZEE is just as crazy as Queeg and a lot more dangerous.

The Chimp has his finger on the nuclear trigger and is looking for the WMD. Queeg was only looking for the key to the storage where the strawberries were kept.

This movie would NEVER be made today--- Remember all troops are heros and must be venerated as such--

[hail to the thief]

5. WMD's never existed

I'm sick and tired of this administration's complete inability to tell it straight. They lied, Saddam had WMD's back in the 80's not in 2002 or 2003. Bush deliberately messed with the dates and the facts to confuse the sheople into backing a corporate/big oil takeover of former CIA employee Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The weapons are not there, they were never there. Tomorrow when David Kay presents his report on the search for WMD's it's gonna say they haven't found a damn thing, and where supposed to be cool with being lied to? when are the confused masses going to speak up? Weapons PROGRAMS are not even close to the same thing as tons and tons of actual biological/chemical WEAPONS! What happened to all the tons of Anthrax? VX Sarin? Mustard Gas? Now this idiot Kay is going to suggest the U.S. Intelligence community was duped by Saddam into believing he still had the weapons, man they have got to be kidding.

[karlschneider]

7. Wry smile here. Welcome to the choir to which you preach so well. :-)

:D

[Flying_Pig]

8. What a bunch of crap!!! Voting against this proposal, would give him

an excuse. He could say, "Well, they wouldn't fund finding them, so I guess it's not as important to them as they say". What a crock. You would think that the tens of billions they've already spent, would have produced the evidence they were seeking. But you can't find what ain't there. What a scam.

Still another round of calls tomorrow to Congress to protest this one! Christ! They never stop. Time to start hitting the mole with a goddamn bat instead of a feather!

:grr:

[Dr Fate]

9. He should ask the "Coalition of the Willing" for that cash...

...I mean, they have our back- right?

[Fuzz]

10. I guess we know what David Kay will be saying tomorrow then

eh?

[VolcanoJen]

11. David Kay scheduled to address Congress Thursday...

... in closed-door sessions, of course.

Isn't it a wee bit coincidental that this request from the White House was timed to coincide with Kay telling Congress, "We didn't find no stinkin' weapons?"

[sandnsea]

14. Anybody want to go to Iraq???

1200 of us could go and get paid $500,000 a piece (is my math right?). We could toodle around the desert hunting for weapons, help people with their gardening and dig around for weapons under tomato plants and rose bushes, visit some hospitals and see if the smallpox is being used in vaccines, make sure nobody has extra bags of castor beans, lots of things we could do!! And when we've done that for a year, we'd still have $450,000 a piece left over!!!

[underpants]

15. Great Time mag article :"Chasing a Mirage" WMD's not there

Worth the read. It basically says that WMD were destroyed and SURPRISE SURPRISE Saddam lied about it hoping to stop a US invasion and keep the wolves at bay.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101031006/wwmd.html


Hans Blix, head of the U.N. inspection team that entered Iraq last November and left just before the war, told Australian national radio two weeks ago that "you can put up a sign on your door, beware of the dog, without having a dog."

[Maeve]

16. Sure! Neighbors have a sign about the alarm system, but...

I repeat my comments--the terms "down a rat hole" and "throwing good money after bad" come to mind.