> I quoted from the National Intelligence Estimate of October 2002, which > is available in many places on the net
I wasn't sure if you obtained your quoted directly. A quick read of that estimate shows numerous claims that Hussein had significant WMDs in his possession. The text selection tool doesn't seem to work on this text for some reason, it comes as just an image, but there are a couple of quotes from the June 4th, 2004 release of that memo. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB129/nie.pdf "We assess that Baghdad has begun renewed production of mustard, sarin, GF (cyclosarin) and VX;" "Although we have little specific information on Iraq's CW stockpile, Saddam probably has stocked at least 100 metric tons (MT) and possibly as much as 500 MT of CW agents, much of it added in the last year." "We assess that they possess CW bulk fills for SRBM warheads, including for a limited number of covertly stored Scuds, possibly a few with extended range." "We judge Iraq has some lethal and incapacitating BW agents and is capable of quickly producing and weaponizing a variety of such agents, including antrhrax, for delivery by bombs, missles, arial sprayers, and covert operations." Now, with regards to your quote: This quote you attributed to Tenet: "They never said there was an 'imminent' threat. Rather, they painted an objective assessment for our policymakers of a brutal dictator who was continuing his efforts to deceive and build programs that might constantly surprise us and threaten our interests." is consistent with the released version of the report. This: > Specifically, they said that Iraq had a missile program, but no WMD > missiles. They had an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles program, but no Unmanned > Aerial Vehicles. They said that Saddam wanted to restart his nuclear > program, but didn't have one going. They said that they believed Iraq > still > had some biological and chemical agents and programs that would be able to > develop the means to weaponize and deliver them, but no evidence that they > had done so. Is not. Further, with regard to Scott Ritter, Wikipedia has some 1998 quotes from Ritter <quote> In January of 1998, his inspection team into Iraq was blocked from some weapons sites by Iraqi officials and Ritter was accused by Iraq of being a spy for the CIA. He was then expelled from Iraq by its government in August 1998. Shortly thereafter, he spoke on the Public Broadcasting Service show, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. I think the danger right now is that without effective inspections, without effective monitoring, Iraq can in a very short period of time measured in months, reconstitute chemical and biological weapons, long-range ballistic missiles to deliver these weapons, and even certain aspects of their nuclear weaponization program [1] When the United States and the UN Security Council failed to take action against Iraq for their ongoing failure to cooperate fully with inspectors (a breach of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1154), Ritter resigned from the United Nations Special Commission on August 26, 1998. [2] In his letter of resignation, Ritter said the Security Council's reaction to Iraq's decision earlier that month to suspend co-operation with the inspection team made a mockery of the disarmament work. Ritter later said, in an interview, that he resigned from his role as a United Nations weapons inspector over inconsistencies between United Nations Security Council Resolution 1154 and how it was implemented. The investigations had come to a standstill, were making no effective progress, and in order to make effective progress, we really needed the Security Council to step in a meaningful fashion and seek to enforce its resolutions that we're not complying with." [3] On September 3, 1998, several days after his resignation, Ritter testified before the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and said that he resigned his position "out of frustration that the United Nations Security Council, and the United States as its most significant supporter, was failing to enforce the post-Gulf War resolutions designed to disarm Iraq." [4] During Ritter's Senate testimony about the inspection process, Senator Joseph Biden stated "The decision of whether or not the country should go to war is slightly above your pay grade." Senator John McCain later rebutted by stating that he wished that the administration had consulted with somebody of Ritter's pay grade during the Vietnam War. " <end quote> He is more than entitled to change his mind, but I'd be curious to see the information he received after he reigned that made him change it. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
