From: Jeff Davis (jrd1415@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Jun 01 2003 - 15:34:39 MDT
Extropes,
You'll recall Damiens's post of several days ago
--- Damien Broderick <damienb@unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
> Well, gee:
>
>
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/31/1054177767278.html
>
> Doubt on key war claims
Here's something similar:
http://www.counterpunch.org/wmd05292003.html
May 29, 2003
Weapons of Mass Destruction:
Who Said What When
CounterPunch Wire
Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein
now has weapons of mass destruction.
Dick Cheney August 26, 2002
Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities
that were used for the production of biological
weapons.
George W. Bush September 12, 2002
If he declares he has none, then we will know that
Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.
Ari Fleischer December 2, 2002
We know for a fact that there are weapons there.
Ari Fleischer January 9, 2003
Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam
Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500
tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.
George W. Bush January 28, 2003
We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his
weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make
more.
Colin Powell February 5, 2003
We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein
recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use
chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator
tells us he does not have.
George Bush February 8, 2003
So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq
of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership
in Baghdad? I think our judgment has to be clearly
not.
Colin Powell March 8, 2003
Intelligence gathered by this and other governments
leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to
possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons
ever devised.
George Bush March 17, 2003
Well, there is no question that we have evidence and
information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction,
biological and chemical particularly . . . all this
will be made clear in the course of the operation, for
whatever duration it takes.
Ari Fleisher March 21, 2003
There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein
possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this
operation continues, those weapons will be identified,
found, along with the people who have produced them
and who guard them.
Gen. Tommy Franks March 22, 2003
I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of
weapons of mass destruction.
Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board , March 23, 2003
One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the
WMD. There are a number of sites.
Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark March 22, 2003
We know where they are. They are in the area around
Tikrit and Baghdad.
Donald Rumsfeld March 30, 2003
Obviously the administration intends to publicize all
the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find --
and there will be plenty.
Neocon scholar Robert Kagan April 9, 2003
I think you have always heard, and you continue to
hear from officials, a measure of high confidence
that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be
found.
Ari Fleischer April 10, 2003
We are learning more as we interrogate or have
discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within
the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some,
perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them.
George Bush April 24, 2003
There are people who in large measure have information
that we need . . . so that we can track down the
weapons of mass destruction in that country.
Donald Rumsfeld April 25, 2003
We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so.
George Bush May 3, 2003
I am confident that we will find evidence that makes
it clear he had weapons of mass destruction.
Colin Powell May 4, 2003
I never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of
mass destruction in that country.
Donald Rumsfeld May 4, 2003
I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons
program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons
program.
George W. Bush May 6, 2003
U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to
open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction.
Condoleeza Rice May 12, 2003
I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years
ago -- I mean, there's no question that there were
chemical weapons years ago -- whether they were
destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're
still hidden.
Maj. Gen. David Petraeus,
Commander 101st Airborne May 13, 2003
Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that
Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,
biological and chemical. I expected them to be found.
I still expect them to be found.
Gen. Michael Hagee,
Commandant of the Marine Corps May 21, 2003
Given time, given the number of prisoners now that
we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to
find weapons of mass destruction.
Gen. Richard Myers,
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff May 26, 2003
They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't
know the answer.
Donald Rumsfeld May 27, 2003
For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue,
weapons of mass destruction (as justification for
invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone
could agree on.
Paul Wolfowitz May 28, 2003
------------------------------------
The warm and fuzzy ethical truism -- "the end doesn't
justify the means" -- is a cobweb. Swept aside by the
bedrock of realpolitik: violence.
Practically speaking, the deed is done, the "end" of
Saddam is an accomplished fact. By itself an
unalloyed plus and a clear victory for George Bush.
So far so good. Regarding deceit as tool to enable
the war: fugeddaboddit(sp?). Victory will reformulate
the "ethical" equation. At some primitive place in
the human psyche victory defines ethics. Winning is
everything.
Fascinating.
But the fat lady is nowhere in sight. And bet on it,
there will be surprises. Fun stuff, and not
necessarily bad (depending on how you define "bad" of
course), neither.
One possible source of surprises:
The neocons have their agenda. If they can get the
American troops out of the way, which is to say get a
puppet regime in place, complete with an effective and
disciplined security force, then they can temporarily
have their way. But if US troops stay to implement
the "nation building"/reconstruction, then genuine
American values will be--inadvertently--taught at the
grass roots, and the neocon plan will be substantially
subverted. It cannot survive genuine democracy and
town hall American optimism/decency, which, when the
war-fighting skill set is put away, is the resource
the troops-turned-nation-builders will draw on to win
the peace.
Am I dreamin', or what?
Best, Jeff Davis
"During times of universal deceit, telling the
truth becomes a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
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