Reply #173: Anyone else remember DU around the time of the first invasion? [View All]

[Firespirit]

When the board erupted into fights between people who believed Bush (YES, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, there were non-troll DUers who argued with other DUers about the truth of Bush's words) and people who didn't? When the general consensus was that "there are WMDs in Iraq but we shouldn't go to war"? When the tiny percentage of people who believed that there were no WMDs were laughed at by everyone? Saddam gave an interview on CBS shortly before the invasion in which he denied having WMDs or working to produce them. After that, anyone who advocated that position was said to be "believing Saddam Hussein" and was seen as radical fringe. And YES, THIS TOOK PLACE ON DU. Any person who has been a member, or even just lurked, since 2002 will remember this, though they may not admit it -- probably won't, knowing the incredible ability of some people on this board to completely ignore what suits them, a la their counterparts on the other side of the spectrum. I see that the author of the OP has not been around that long, so I cannot prove anything about what he may or may not have believed.



Instead, I merely refer you to an archived poll from PollingReport.com, and let everyone draw their own conclusions about the likely veracity of the poster:

http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq9.htm

CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll. Dec. 9-10, 2002. N=1,009 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3 (total sample).

"Do you think Iraq currently has weapons of mass destruction, is trying to develop these weapons but does not currently have them, or is not trying to develop weapons of mass destruction?"

12/02
Currently Has: 63%
Trying To Develop: 28%
Not Trying To Develop: 4%
No Opinion: 5%

11/02
Currently Has: 66%
Trying To Develop: 27%
Not Trying To Develop: 2%
No Opinion: 5%

8/02
Currently Has: 55%
Trying To Develop: 39%
Not Trying To Develop: 1%
No Opinion: 5%


IWR was passed in October 2002 and covered "Currently Has" AND "Trying to Develop," since the inspectors were going to look not just for WMD, but for active facilities and materials to produce them. If you are, by some chance, not full of shit, and were actually in that 1 - 2 percent, well, I congratulate you for your lucky damn guess, because that's all that it was.