Weapons report justifies war: UK

[Barrett808]

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw says a first progress report to the US Congress on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq justifies the US-led military invasion to oust former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

After the publication of his report, US inspector David Kay said in Washington that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq yet, but there is "substantial evidence" that Iraq planned to make chemical and biological arms.

Mr Kay is a US weapons expert who heads the 1,200-strong Iraq Survey Group (ISG) sent to the country after the war that brought down Saddam.

"Kay's report confirms how dangerous and deceitful the regime was, and how the military action was indeed both justified and essential to remove the dangers," Mr Straw said in a statement in London.

"The ISG has produced further conclusive and incontrovertible evidence that the Saddam regime was indeed in breach of UN Security Council resolution 1441," he said.

The UN resolution in November 2002 threatened serious consequences if Iraq did not come completely clean over its alleged weapons programs.

But Mr Straw's predecessor as foreign secretary Robin Cook, says London and Washington rushed to military action too quickly.

"There was no imminent, serious threat from Saddam Hussein which would justify brushing inspectors aside and going straight to war," Mr Cook told BBC Radio.

"If we had given the UN inspectors extra time we would now know what the Iraq Survey Group is telling us, which is Saddam Hussein simply did not have any weapons of mass destruction and did not pose a threat to ourselves or indeed to our neighbours."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s958965.htm

[DarkPhenyx]

1. What a crock of shit!

I swaer! There aren't very many straws left in this broom of theirs, adn yet they keep grabbing for them every time they get a chance.

[Emillereid]

4. You took the words right out of my mouth!

Where do these guys get off. Is Tony's ass worth that much that they have to lie and distort this much. It is definitely beyond the beyonds.

[mike_c]

2. spin cycle....

No dirty laundry here....

[goforit]

3. This story line is so old it is rediculous!!!!......

Please don't make us send the stupid A** thugs to
kindergarden.

Go get your damn "Crayolas" and please color me another picture!!!

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. I still have my suspicions that there MAY be WMD's in Iraq - -

and here's my reasoning -

IF there are WMD's the most logical place would for them to be in an underground bunker - ( I know - DUH - right ?)

Bear with me -

I have seen old video coverage of the INSIDE of some of the Bunker Complexes underneath Baghdad - which INCLUDES an underground highway at least 12 kliks long whhich runs from the Airport to Baghdad -and wide enough for two-way traffic, and ONE of the exits/entrances is at the Sadaam/Baghdad airport -

There was a very brief "blurb" that the Armed Forces had discovered this entrance at the Airport very early in the invasion - and then NOTHING!!!

So how come we have heard no reports of these underground bunkers/barracks and highways ??

Could it be possible that the US found WMD's MONTHS ago - and decided not to "find" them until around election time ???

or - the USA has planted some WMD's in the meantime

- and again - "find" them around election time ???

NOT that the WH would be that devious ?(sarcasm ON)

Something to ponder

- and SCARY too

- hmmm

[arikara]

12. Lets hope you're wrong

But I wouldn't put planting WMD's past these evil morans either. Especially now that their karma is catching up with them.

:tinfoilhat:

[leesa]

14. But NO ONE would believe they are not planted

No, they have shot their wad.

[Barrett808]

18. I figured it was because Bechtel built them

And that would open up the whole "Poppy Bush illegally armed Iraq" can of worms.

[never cry wolf]

6. Here's the rest of the statement

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also added that black is white and up is down, confirming the allegations the Bush administration has been making for many months now.

[The Magistrate]

21. Excellent, Sir

Thank you for the laugh!

[Jack Rabbit]

7. A river in Egypt, anybody?

[Rex]

8. Kay could have crapped on a sheet of paper

and Straw would have said, "Kay's report confirms how dangerous and deceitful the regime was, and how the military action was indeed both justified and essential to remove the dangers."

[neverforget]

9. We own every square inch of Iraq now and this is the best they can

do? I think they need some oxycotin.

[Matilda]

10. Kay was sacked as deputy director of the IAEA

because of his ties to U.S. Intelligence agencies. Not a very credible person for this job. How could anyone believe the word of anyone other than UN inspectors - you could see this one coming. I don't know what annoys me more - their apparent stupidity, or the fact that they think we're stupid.

[bpilgrim]

11. It DOES if you are trying to JUSTIFY PREVENTIVE WAR

i suppose :shrug:

ask the imperial japan and nazi germany of wwII fame...

guess thats what they were talkin bout when they said everythings changed :scared:

peace

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. He has to say things like this

Otherwise he would have to admit that he along with Blair are war criminals and should be executed.

[shirlden]

15. Shall we make a list of

countries that this statement does NOT apply to
"substantial evidence" that Iraq planned to make chemical and biological arms.

I'll start.......there is....no, well maybe,...how about?? Hmmmmm, I'm thinking. Give me a little more time.

:think:

[dennis4868]

16. What I don't get is....

why the media is not telling the public who David Kay really is....a right wing hack who was kickjed off the UN Inspection team for unethical behavior. He is very much part of the Bush thugs.

[emad]

17. The BBC's 'Newsnight' last night said he was just

a salesman for Bushco and not an independent assessor, almost an apologist for the 'give us another $600 million' brigade...

[underpants]

19. He's right in a way-we couldn't have the report if we didn't have the war

No actually we could have. Never mind

[muriel_volestrangler]

20. BBC interview with Straw available here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/runningorder/ram/today4_straw_20031003.ram

Straw starts about 4 minutes into the 17 minute clip. I think John Humphries, the interviewer, is an example to US broadcast journalists of how they ought to deal with a politician who refuses to answer the question.

Also on the programme, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Menzies Campbell, says that this report does nothing to disprove his allegation that the whole war was in fact illegal: because Blix had asked to be allowed to continue inspections, the fact that Iraq had broken UN resolutions did not justify war, which is only meant to be a last resort; and military action is always meant to be proportional to the problem - since there were no weapons in Iraq, just tiny biological laboratories, it's clear that the purpose of a complete invasion was regime change, which is illegal. Listen to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today2_campbell_20031003.ram .

Another reason for considering the Lib Dems the real opposition in the UK (if you don't count the BBC, of course).

[T_i_B]

22. How desperate is Straw?

I thought "new" labour was supposed to be reforming its ways and not spinning and lying like it used to Mr Straw?

Never mind. it's lies as usual for the Blairites. Straw is distorting things to the point of unrecognisability here. The sooner we turf the "new" labour liars out the better.