If Bush, Powell, and Rumsfeld lied about WMDs, then so did the UN, the European Union (and the entire rest of the world's intelligence communities), Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and many current Democrat leaders. Some examples:
- Clinton in 1998: "If Saddam Hussein fails to comply and we fail to act or we take some ambiguous third route, which gives him yet more opportunities to develop his program of weapons of mass destruction...he will then conclude that he can go right on doing more to build an arsenal of devastating destruction.... Some way, someday, I guarantee you he'll use the arsenal."
- Bill Clinton on February 17, 1998: "Saddam's son-in-law and the chief organizer of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, defected to Jordan." Here are just some of the things this defection forced Iraq to admit, as cited by Clinton: "[A]n offensive biological warfare capability, notably 5,000 gallons of botulinum...2,000 gallons of anthrax, 25 biological-filled scud warheads, and 157 aerial bombs."
- On December 16, 1998, Bill Clinton ordered a strike "to attack Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, and its
military capacity to threaten their neighbors. Their purpose is to protect the national interests of the United States..."
- former Democrat Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle in 1998: "Look, we have exhausted virtually our diplomatic effort to get the Iraqis to comply with their own agreements and with international law. Given that, what other option is there but to force them to do so? This is the key question. And the answer is we don't have another option. We have got to force them to comply, and we are doing so militarily."
- John Kerry on February 23, 1998: "Saddam Hussein has already used these weapons and has made it clear that he has the intent to continue to try, by virtue of his duplicity and secrecy, to continue to do so. That is a threat to the stability of the Middle East. It is a threat with respect to the potential of terrorist activities on a global basis. It is a threat even to regions near but not exactly in the Middle East."
- Al Gore's entire speech on September 29th, 1992 at the Center for National Policy, where he hammers George H. W. Bush for not attacking Saddam Hussein for WMDs. Even better, watch the video here.
- Senator Hillary Clinton on October 10, 2002: "In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock. His missile delivery capability, his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists including Al-Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
- Ted Kennedy on September 27, 2002: "We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
-Al Gore on September 23, 2002: "We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
These are the very same people who have reversed their positions and are now saying that there were never any WMDs in Iraq, and that Saddam Hussein never posed a threat to the U.S. Rush Limbaugh has compiled three pages of these quotes from prominent Democrat leaders, which you can read here.
The truth is that Hussein did have WMDs in the past - he used them to kill tens of thousands of Kurds in an attempted genocide. The problem is that the subsequent UN inspections couldn't account for the destruction of all of them, so it remained a possibility that he still had them. And, as mentioned repeatedly above, the whole world knew without a doubt that Hussein would continue to pursue them until he was forcibly stopped. Although there was no shortage of ominous reports before the war (see articles here, here, here, here, and here), we now believe that much (if not all) of that intelligence was mistaken, or at least overstated. Basically, the entire world got snookered about this.
Still, the question remains: did Hussein have any viable WMDs in recent years? Was he truly in violation of the UN sanctions, thus warranting military reprisals?
Yes.
Consider the following from after the invasion. In 2003, UN inspectors uncovered documents in the homes of two Iraqi scienists that proved Hussein's continuing efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Combined with the discovery of warheads capable of carrying chemical/biological weapons at a storage facility, it was a sign that the accusations were correct. Later that year, AFP reported that US and British experts discovered that Iraq was developing a missile capable of reaching Israel and other parts of the Middle East, which was in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Also in 2003, weapons inspectors found unmanned drones that were in violation of UN sanctions. In 2006, Senator Rick Santorum and Rep. Peter Hoekstra announced the discovery of more than 500 munitions or weapons of mass destruction, specifically 'sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles,' in Iraq. Reading from unclassified portions of a document developed by the U.S. intelligence community, Santorum said, 'Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.'
Even if they were old munitions, the fact is that they were still there. Saddam Hussein had WMDs in Iraq.
So why didn't we hear much about all of these discoveries? Because it meant Bush was right, and that the invasion was justified. Hussein deserved to be removed simply for being a brutal, murderous dictator guilty of torturing children, mutilating adults, and unspeakable acts of torture, but he was also in violation of repeated UN sanctions regarding WMDs.
On top of all that, let's also apply some common sense (aka 'connect the dots'):
- we know Saddam Hussein had (used) WMDs in the past
- inspectors couldn't verify they'd all been destroyed
- Iraq had literally years of warning before the U.S.-led invasion began
- Iraq is a country the size of California
Hmmm... Do you think it's possible that Hussein might have -- and this is really stretching it, I know -- tried to hide his WMDs, maybe by burying them in the sand or in caves? He did it with airplanes, so why not other weapons? How long do you think it would take to search literally every square foot of a place the size of California (both above and below ground)? A lot longer than inspectors were actually given to complete their search. Here's another thought: could Hussein possibly have -- and this is also really stretching it -- moved his WMDs into a neighboring country like Syria or Iran, who are both known state sponsors of worldwide terrorism, and who are both actively supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq right now?
Nah, probably not. That would be stretching credibility too far, wouldn't it?
There's my two cents.
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