> -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Nick Arnett > Sent: Friday, August 04, 2006 1:33 PM > To: Killer Bs Discussion > Subject: Re: RFK Jr. interview > > Irrelevant. The point is that it was not a foundation for saying that > > > there were WMDs or there was an immediate threat. > > > > But, it specifically stated that there were WMDs, as commonly defined. > > > Bullshit. Show me one place in the published NIE where it says that Iraq > had WMDs. It is not there. It says they had WMD programs and WMD efforts, > but nowhere, nowhere does it say that they had WMDs. Nowhere.
It is in the first Key Judgment on page 5 of the report (page 9 in Acrobat). The first two sentences read: "We judge that Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program in defiance of the UN resolutions and restrictions. Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapons program." I think it goes without saying that Baghdad is used as a synonym for Iraq here. Chemical and biological weapons, by definition, are WMD. Thus, the first Key Judgment is that Iraq has a WMD program that includes actual WMD. According to this judgment, the WMD program included both weapons and development for biological and chemical warfare. It did not include nuclear weapons, just a nuclear weapons program. It's not bullshit. Rather, it's the clear and obvious meaning of the text. Dan M. > Yet our leaders didn't tell us that they had programs and could develop > WMDs. They told us that they had them and were ready to attack America > with > their fleet of UAVs. They told us we shouldn't be so sure that Iraq > didn't > have nuclear weapons and that they were rebuilding their nuclear > facilities, > despite intelligence that said *if* they restarted their program, it would > be years. > > Come on. The NIE paints a picture of Saddam wishing and hoping that he > could weaponize what he had and get other programs going again. That's > not > a guy with WMDs, that's a guy with aspirations. No question that he used > them in the past and was doing all sorts of bad stuff. > > Nick > > -- > Nick Arnett > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Messages: 408-904-7198 > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
