Kay Cites Evidence Of Iraq Disarming (WP )

[diamond14]

(moderators...this is one of several separate stories from WP, from separate news reporters...there were TWO congressional hearing today, and this is news from ONE hearing...posted other hearing earlier)


Kay Cites Evidence Of Iraq Disarming
Action Taken in '90s, Ex-Inspector Says

By Walter Pincus and Dana Milbank
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, January 28, 2004; Page A01


U.S. weapons inspectors in Iraq found new evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime quietly destroyed some stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons in the mid-1990s, former chief inspector David Kay said yesterday.

The discovery means that inspectors have not only failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but also have found exculpatory information -- contemporaneous documents and confirmations from interviews with Iraqis -- demonstrating that Hussein did make efforts to disarm well before President Bush began making the case for war.

Bush, fielding numerous questions in the Oval Office based on Kay's earlier assertion that there are no weapons stockpiles in Iraq, said yesterday that it is premature to form judgments. "I think it's very important for us to let the Iraq Survey Group do its work so we can find out the facts and compare the facts to what was thought."

Though he did not repeat his earlier statements that forbidden weapons may yet be found in Iraq, Bush said: "I said in the run-up that Saddam was a grave and gathering danger -- that's what I said. And I believed it then, and I know it was true now. And as Mr. Kay said, that Iraq was a dangerous place."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54353-2004Jan27.html?nav=hptop_ts

[gauguin57]

1. david kay on "nightline" tonight

Today's "Nightline preview" e-mail:

TONIGHT'S FOCUS: He has been at the heart of the search for Iraq's weapons for years. Most recently, he was in charge of the U.S. effort to find those weapons. He has just resigned from that position, and tonight he'll sit down with Ted.

David Kay has been one of the central figures in the Iraq drama for, well, it seems like forever. He was one of the chief inspectors for the U.N. when that body had inspectors in Iraq. He was chosen to head the latest U.S. effort to find those weapons or the weapons programs. And in the last couple of days, since he has quit that position, he has said that he thinks it is unlikely that weapons of mass destruction will ever be found there, and that in fact they may have been destroyed years ago.

Does anyone still care about this issue? The administration has worked to minimize the importance of the WMD controversy, which was once cited as one of the major reasons for going to war. In fact, the President yesterday, when asked about it, pointed to other issues, and talked about the general danger that Saddam presented. There's no question that Saddam was a brutal dictator, and the world is better off without him. But that nagging question persists. How could everyone have been so wrong? Why, if Kay and others are right and the weapons were destroyed, why didn't any of the intelligence agencies pick that up?

This will most likely be a major issue in the coming election. Certainly the Democrats want to make it one, and the administration hopes that it will go away. So Ted will sit down with David Kay tonight, to talk about what he found, and what he didn't find, and what it all means. I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff
ABCNEWS Washington bureau

[diamond14]

2. they'll spin it to cover for bush*.....should just LISTEN to congressional

hearings and forget the media spinning....kay tried to spin it too...but got caught in his own crap....

the news will now try to paint the shrub as being a victim....

forget it, don't even turn it on...

[cspiguy]

3. Saddam Hussein's regime quietly destroyed some stockpiles

"quietly destroyed" put him in material breach of UNSC resolutions requiring that he verifiy that Iraq is free of WMD. Saddam tried to have it both ways - lose the WMD to baffle the inspectors and still keep up a bluff to hold the US (and Israel, Iran, etc.) at bay. His ruse cost him a country since had he revealed this documentation he would surely still be in power. Hard luck, eh!

[Beetwasher]

4. And you know this how?

You don't know this at all, you just made it up. The Weapons inspectors were there to verify just that, that he did in fact destroy the weapons. Had they been allowed to finish their job, there would have be no need for a war and the loss of thousands of lives.

[cspiguy]

5. from the first sentence in the post ...

:)

[Beetwasher]

7. That's not what I was talking about

This is what I was talking about:

"Saddam tried to have it both ways - lose the WMD to baffle the inspectors and still keep up a bluff
to hold the US (and Israel, Iran, etc.) at bay. His ruse cost him a country since had he revealed this
documentation he would surely still be in power."

You don't know this at all...The UN weapons inspectors should have been allowed to finish and should have been allowed to examine the "exculpatory information." For all we know Saddam was allowing them to and they were just about to do that when they had to leave because of the Chimps hardon for war. There was NOTHING he could have done to remain in power.

[OutlawCorporatePolls]

10. finish, no way.

<i>The UN weapons inspectors should have been allowed to finish</i>

but we never would have been able to get that cheap oil under our dollar, for our economy, and hence, our standard of living depends on access to cheap oil. (sarcasm off)

[underpants]

6. Can you find the SPIN the first two paragraphs?

Read it and re-read it. It is in there.

U.S. weapons inspectors in Iraq found new evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime quietly destroyed some stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons in the mid-1990s, former chief inspector David Kay said yesterday.

The discovery means that inspectors have not only failed to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq but also have found exculpatory information -- contemporaneous documents and confirmations from interviews with Iraqis -- demonstrating that Hussein did make efforts to disarm well before President Bush began making the case for war.

[xchrom]

8. david kay's new career

covering for bush's ass.
they couldn't plant the wmd's{yet} and now they blame intell -- well i'm sticking with the fact that u.s. intell wouldn't cross the line and call for war -- so bush used british intell in his state of the union.
they knew the wmd's weren't there -- and u.s intelligence wouldn't go so far as to say so. so cheny and the rest created the reason for murderous invasion.

[diamond14]

9. kay got caught up i n his own lies...the TWO hearings he testified

for today were damning for kay, and really damning for bush* and his minions....all the Democrats did a GREAT job, and closed the door for kay and bush* to escape by any route at all....I was especially proud of Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York) and Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan)....

everyone here are bringing up possible escape routes...but if you listened to the complete testimony.....they're all caught....all are now officially war-criminals...