Think Tank Report: Iraq WMD Not Imminent Threat

[phillybri]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bush administration officials "systematically" misrepresented the danger of Iraq (news - web sites)'s weapons of mass destruction programs, which were not an immediate threat to the United States and the Middle East, a report from a U.S. think tank said on Wednesday.

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said in its study, "WMD IN IRAQ: Evidence and Implications," that there was "no convincing evidence" Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear program and that U.N. weapons inspectors had discovered that nerve agents in Iraq's chemical weapons program had lost most of their lethal capability as early as 1991.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040108/wl_nm/iraq_usa_weapons_dc

[underpants]

1. Where is that "No SH*T" file?

Thanks for chiming in 10 months late. :eyes:

[gasperc]

7. Jon Stewart still has Powell's "Bullshit" file

Stewart referred to Powell's spring 2002 comment that he threw down the Iraq report and yelled "this is bullshit"

Stewart then showed a copy of the "actual" report which was of course titled "Bullshit"

so I hope I answered your question

:beer:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

2. This reminds me

of being in the streets of Manhattan last Feb. 15th. WE WERE RIGHT!!!

[phillybri]

3. Unfortunately, "I told you so" doesn't provide much comfort....

....when close to 500 of our soldiers have died because of these bullshit lies...:grr:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

20. too true

too true

[Zenaholic]

4. "Liberal Leaning"?

<snip>
There was greater uncertainty about Iraq's biological weapons, but that threat was related to what could be developed in the future rather than what Iraq already had, the study by the liberal-leaning think tank said.
</snip>

Does liberal leaning mean leaning towards the truth? Who decides this is a "liberal leaning" think tank?

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

12. Three guesses.

Somebody obviously hopes the phrase "liberal-leaning" will lead most Americans to dismiss the think tank's findings as simply more whiny leftist BS. It'll probably work, too.

[gasperc]

5. Isn't this just jaw dropping

all those fuckwads, "we have to invade NOW!"

Bob Woodward, "I don't think Bush would be going to war if he didn't have the goods on Saddam" what an asshole

Oh, I think they knew there were NO WMD's making the invasion all that much easier from a military point of view!

I'm reading Chomsky's book "What Uncle Sam really Wants" right now
He says "Finally, take the term conservative, which has come to refer to advocates of a powerful state, which interferes massively in the economy and in social life. They advocate huge state expenditures and a postwar peak of protectionist measures and insurance against risk, narrowing individual liberties through legislation and court-packing, protecting the Holy State from unwarranted inspection by the irrelevant citizenry..."

[bamademo]

6. Are any of the major networks covering this?

Have we seen any TV coverage? I haven't. This morning it was Laci, Kobe and that was about it. :mad: :puke: :mad: :puke:

[imax2268]

8. ummmmmmmm....

do you love being right or do you love being right...!

[rustydog]

9. So, when Bush says "Oops, sorry 'bout that"

tens of thousands of Dead Iraqi citizens will spring back to life?
Hundreds of American troops will be resurrected and can rejoin their loving families on Earth instead of waiting for them in heaven?
Does "Oops"mean the limb-less and the sight-less will regain what was lost.

To quote from Bernie Ward's show-closer: It is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission.

[underpants]

16. They are trying to change it to being about liberation

and how horrible (he was) Saddam was. The problem is that if they had come out and said ,~"We ned to do this to free the Iraqi people and get rid of this evil man...." in an altruistic way even their "base" would have smelled nation building coming and squashed it. The had to paly the fear card and keep it in black and white terms. Unfortuneately black and white paints yourself in a corner and if you are wrong (they are) and especially if you knew you were wrong (they did) no amount of explaining will get rid of it.

If you haven't seen Perle and Frum making the bookselling rounds on the TV shows that is what they are trying to do and frankly they are coming off as lunatics (which they are).

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. The most truthful and compelling WMD they had was Bolton's

Iraqis, he said, before the war, had the INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY to produce WMD.

Continuing military operations are underway to remove this threat.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Thanks for pointing out this Bolton brilliance

Having missed Bolton's "intellectual capacity" observation the first time, I checked google to read it for myself, and it's even more bizarre than one would have guessed:

(snip) Bolton reiterated a statement in an earlier speech that a suspected Iraqi capacity for developing and producing unconventional weapons offered justification for a military attack (see GSN, May 23).

“It’s the weapon, it’s the delivery system, it’s the means of production, it’s the research and development, it’s the intellectual capacity, all of which are points on a spectrum,” he said.

“I think it’s very unlikely that we will find weapons-grade uranium or weapons-grade plutonium in Iraq. But what we will find, what we know is there now, is the cadre of nuclear scientists and technicians, whom Saddam Hussein himself called his nuclear mujahadeen, who are the possessors of the intellectual know-how of how to construct nuclear weapons,” he said. (snip/...)

http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2003/6/5/2s.html

Simply impossible to believe these clowns are running our world right now.

[yellowcanine]

18. We invaded because of what people Knew?

"But what we will find, what we know is there now, is the cadre of nuclear scientists and technicians, whom Saddam Hussein himself called his nuclear mujahadeen, who are the possessors of the intellectual know-how of how to construct nuclear weapons,” he said."

We invaded Iraq because of what some scientists knew? This opens up a whole new universe of justification for premptive war! "Kill off your scientists or we are coming in!"

[DuctapeFatwa]

22. Yes, that's basically it. Better still, kill off anyone who might have

the intellectual capacity to become a scientist. Or a writer. Both can be used to present a grave threat to US business interests.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. That's why almanacs are so dangerous

if someone knows about your country, it's as good as them occupying it...

[bobthedrummer]

11. Bush lies

people die.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

13. and why is he not being impeached, if it's not impolite to ask

why?Where are the damned democrats?

[ET Awful]

14. If you want to see the pathetic twisting of a Repug on this . . .

Go to http://www.fearbush.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4682&st=0&#entry59039 and take a look at what "Smokey" is trying to say. . . basically the moron is saying that because we've been proven right that no WMD's were there, that must mean we want Saddam in power. . . the typical reich-wing BS.

[lovedems]

19. All I have to say to that nonsense

is Yes, Saddam was a bad man and he was evil. But if there aren't any WMD's and I mean ANY, logic tells me that he wasn't a massive threat to us or his own people. Don't chew me out and tell me all of the past wrongs he did do to his people, I know it to be true. I am just saying that he didn't have the capability to cause thousands of deaths to Iraqi's anymore either. In a nutshell, inspections would have worked and hundreds and thousands of lives could've been saved and Iraq wouldn't have had to endure the lousy "shock and awe" bullshit Rummy got a boner with.

[bushisanidiot]

17. American Voters Will Realize Before the Election that they were lied to

we won't need to say "i told you so." AWOL won't just lose the election, he will be tried for treason.

What a WEAK "president"

[NNN0LHI]

21. We are in deep shit if it takes a renowned think tank to figure this out

A phone call would have done the trick. Ring. Hey Rummy, did you find the WMD's over there yet? No? Didn't find none? OK, thanks. There now. See how easy that was?

Don

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. is this from the Department of DUH?

by the way take cover the shit is about to hit the fan... and it is
going to fly every where/

(think about it, now that midle america is waking up, how long until it flies to oh... Congress demanding they do their job)

[Flubadubya]

25. Dupe....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=303526

[Moderator]

26. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=303526