US officials knew in May Iraq possessed no WMD

[kskiska]

Senior American officials concluded at the beginning of last May that there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq, The Observer has learnt.

Intelligence sources, policy makers and weapons inspectors familiar with the details of the hunt for WMD told The Observer it was widely known that Iraq had no WMD within three weeks of Baghdad falling, despite the assertions of senior Bush administration figures and the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The new revelation came as White House sources indicated that President George Bush was considering establishing an investigation into the intelligence, despite rejecting an inquiry the previous day.

The disclosure that US military survey teams sent to visit suspected sites of WMD, and intelligence interviews with Iraqi scientists and officials, had concluded so quickly that no major weapons or facilities would be found is certain to produce serious new embarrassment on both sides of the Atlantic.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1136351,00.html

[POed_Ex_Repub]

1. What's that I hear hitting the fan?

I bet you can guess. :evilgrin:

[ET Awful]

2. I'm not sure. . .

but it's gonna make one hell of a mess :).

[slor]

3. So they continued wasting...

millions of dollars for a futile hunt for WMD!?! Damn I CANNOT wait for these fools to be brought up on charges!!!!

[aquart]

16. By whom?

[Robb]

26. Don't forget the lives as well

A few hundred Americans, and countless thousands of Iraqis.

[Whoa_Nelly]

33. Have sent this story to all my local TV news stations

...and let them know that my senator knows about this as well.

[joeunderdog]

35. Send this one. They knew before May. Don't they read the web?

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0319-08.htm

[UpInArms]

4. excuse me?

they knew before we went into Iraq that that there were no WMDs.

This is more shit - and keeps their reasoning alive -

don't let it fool you -

this was an illegal war in every way.

[Old and In the Way]

7. I think that was 5/03...a few months after the invasion/occupation.

There was realisticly, only a few places where these weapons could be stored securely. I think they probably all of checked those places by May.

Of course, Bush had to spend another $100MM to keep his delusion going.

[kskiska]

10. Junior pulled his Mission Accomplished stunt on May 1, '03

knowing there were no WMDs.

[markses]

21. The point is that

they were fully aware that Saddam's WMD's were a myth before their lunatic invasion, and that the May date simply reinforces the "oops, we got it wrong" line, and whitewashes the more likely "we knew it all along, and we didn't give a flying fuck" line.

[treepig]

24. of course they were aware there were no WsMD

condi and colin said as much in feb 2001

besides, there's no way they would have risked mass casualties in a war if they thought WsMD really existed (note the "diplomatic" approach to north korea, a country that might actually have WsMD).

[Galley_Queen]

39. That's Right!

We knew before we attacked Iraq that the Niger claim was a forgery....and a very bad one at that. This is all horseshit. Hell, if WE knew, how come the Squatter didn't???

[grytpype]

5. Things are crumbling so fast it's hard to keep up with the developments!

But I'm digging it!

[proud patriot]

6. wheeeeeeeeeeeeee !

:D

[pinto]

8. Bushco says misled by axis of evil intel source related activities...

I hope this whole thing breaks open.

[Malva Zebrina]

9. but the private contractors are in there and have made their fortunes

and will continue there in that country even if Bush is ousted. He will escape punishment, that is my gut feeling. What does he care? The goal has been accomplished--the buddies are infiltrated and employing the Iraqi paeons to work for them. They have taken over the resources that rightfully belong to the Iraqi people. Christian missionaries are having wet dreams over the missions and the converts they can rack up for Jesus, thus insuring themselves a seat inheaven next to the god's throne. and Bush? Ok, he may be ousted or may not be ousted. We may win by voting hin out. But, the situation in the ME has been changed by this, these two, wars. Corporations have gained a foothold and that is, after all, what it was all about. No one is going to oust Halliburton, Brown and Root, or any of the other subsidiaries or fringe corporations that have rushed into Iraq to take advantage of the opportunity Bush gave them''

So if he has to go down in infamy--what does he care? He will go to his 1600 acre ranch, live in luxury, be lauded by arch conservatives, write a book. and the frump will be able to sit poolside, smoking and reading paperback romantic novels. :shrug:

I honestly do not believe that anyone will take on the Bush family evil empire to insist that George go to jail.

[stevedeshazer]

20. Mission Accomplished!

You make great points. The damage has already been done. They got away with it. I agree with you.

[MasonJar]

11. Don't get your hopes up. Remember how Bush packed the

9/11 commission and then stonewalled them. It will happen again. Somebody's wife will be threatened.

[wabeewoman]

13. He has Tony Blair's example

He can just fashion his 'defense' like Blair did and get the commission to declare him to be without fault or better yet, blame the messenger. Then he can get on TV and blame his acusers for 'lying' about him. I just don't understand how they can all be such lying scum....

[grytpype]

14. Yeah, whose wife are they going to go after now?

[lovedems]

12. And this is the same administration who wants to take control of when a

message should be released to the public like a mad-cow outbreak or a chemical or biological attack. It is pretty friggin' scary if you ask me. How long would they wait? 10 months?

Oh, I get it. It is just like Halliburton telling on their employees for getting kickbacks right before an investigation was going to start. I guess they think this will "help them".

[Jaybird]

15. lets not forget....

these are the same bastards who said the air was just fine and dandy in NYC after the towers fell......i heard some guy on NPR last week say that breathing that air was like breathing drain cleaner

[54anickel]

27. Another reason for his rush for torte reform. n/t

[BeFree]

17. MIHOP, all the way..

It's evident that there was no real reason for the Iraqi invasion.

It was all MIHOP every bit of it.

[Jack Rabbit]

18. And the rest of us knew it sooner

!!

[Jacobin]

19. I'm sure it will be all over the front pages of the NYT tomorrow........

NOT.

[The_Casual_Observer]

22. I , as others posted this as far back as August of 2002.

However that was not a popular position in those days. It was clear that, based on the kinds of "evidence" they were putting forward - which you had to assume was their best and strongest case, that there was nothing in Iraq. The real telling part was when Iraq was, in good faith. destroying missiles that even appeared to be in violation, if even by a few hundred feet of range.

The facts were all there 2 years ago, you simply had to read or listen to them. Bush & Co. rightly assumed that the public was too dumb to do so.

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

23. I was just thinking of evidence---glad you mentioned that

?ering why I knew back then there were no WMD's while Kerry and Edwards and Hillary and the crew were giving the idiot son a free pass to go to war --

You hit right on when you say that it was recognizing that the lousy case they were presenting was their "best and strongest case"!

Yep, that was so obvious that Iraq was in compliance by doing things like even bending over backwards to destroy missiles that could go a few hundred feet over in range!
And letting inspectors go anywhere...letting them look in Saddam's underwear drawers.

Half of us in the good ol U.S. of A. had an idea that we were being presented a false case that was ever so weak--- and invading was ever so serious (possible deaths of thousands).

Let's remember,
we witnessed THE LARGEST protests the world has ever known on Feb 29 2003...should be a holiday
--Millions around the world took to the streets to protest this insane invasion. The world stood together. London alone had over a million marchers in the streets-Rome had over a million--Here we had record crowds in almost every major city around the world and it was IGNORED by CNN and most news media!!
At the end of the day we REALLY KNEW--after seeing the failure to cover the protests and at every chance downsizing our numbers--That just really drove it home that Bushco was running a con with the WMD thing ---very few people of the world were buying it!!
Let's never forget that we have strength in numbers.
No matter what they do, we CAN resist !!!
And we still can get out of Iraq NOW--it's not too late!!
We WILL stop Chimp and friends before this place becomes the planet of the chimps!

[salin]

25. Agreed - and we kept being told

that the democrats "had a secret plan" (eg to stop the war push)... :eyes:

I remember it well. A story floated by the administration would show up on LBN... with in 48 hours the entire story would be debunked in th international media. And while we could point this out - exactly as you say... that what they (admin) were floating (the stories) were the strongest case that they had... and it was being debunked almost as quickly as the stories appeared. Yet over time more and more folks... even here... started questioning if there mustn't be some truth... some wmds... or how could they keep making their claims...

But the truth was always there - and some of us continued to catch flack for pushing it.

Sadly there is no sense of vindication in having been correct in this very tragic situation. Many have died. The US international position has been greatly weakened... diplomatically, economically, and militarily. *sad, heavy sigh*

[54anickel]

28. "rightly assumed that the public was too dumb "

Not entirely true, he and his media whores chose to completely ignore those protesting against the war, instead spewing the propaganda.

Please, let's put the blame where it belongs, rather than consider the majority of the public "dumb".

That is one of the attitudes that ticks me off at DU.

[salin]

29. It is complex

the public - it seems - was manipulated... and manipulable.

The whitehouse spewed propoganda and the media chose to spin it for them.

However I believe that much of the public chose to be manipulated.

The power of trying to prevent cognative dissonance is often mislooked. Here I am Joe or Jane Doe. I have an image of my country. I have an image of a government that serves the people - that even when the elected officials are of the other party I still chose to believe that the government is working to serve the people, but just that their philosophy of how to do this is different.

Thus - to believe that all of the news (propoganda as we see it) was false - and intentionally so... means that I will have to question my entire view of my country/government. It means that I have to acknowledge that those at the top are acting in ways that are unbelievable to my perspective in that they would willingly risk American lives when there was no threat to serve ends that have nothing to do with national security... while in the face of a real national security crisis (the percieved aftermath of 9-11.)

That is a HARD wakeup.

Heck, I recall I first heard of the October surprise in the late 80s. I had worked in DC and had seen the Reagan years close up, and had nothing but contempt for their view of America. I didn't trust them. But - initially (and for years) I could not accept the concept that these folks... in order to push their chances up for reelection... would allow the hostages to remain in captivity for even one or two months longer. That seemed beyond decent and bounds.

Years later, I met the very conservative father (pro Reagan to the hilt) of a friend... a Navy Jag who had been on the negotiating team to release the hostages. In October they finally had a deal - after being up very late in negotiations - they broke for the night to finalize arrangements (and release) in the morning. And suddenly - with NO explanation - in the morning the deal had been pulled off the table.

I say this to describe - that even for a politically aware and cyncial person like myself... the choice to deny such an ugly reality of those who would lead our country was STRONG. And now what we have is a picture that is even more ugly than allowing the hostages to stay in captivity for sixty more days. We are talking about creating death and destruction... about sending our own off to a life changing (sometimes life ending) endeavor that will have a devesatating impact upon most lives. To accept that some of the top pushed this - by deciept - at the huge cost to citizens... means challenging all sorts of beliefs about our system and government. It is big psychologically - and many chose to stay in denial for as long as possible before moving into that psychologically uncomfortable realm of cognitive dissonance. This is not stupidity... this is a form of mental self-preservation (or what the mind does to protect itself from having to go through a very mentally challenging period of questioning all sorts of fundamental beliefs.)

At least this is my take on it...

[Chico Man]

30. I agree

The real intelligence failure was the failure of the intelligence of the average american to not realize what was being done.

[salin]

31. My point is that it isn't their 'intelligence'

ala IQ. I doubt that my iq is higher now than it was when I continued to doubt the story of the October Surprise. I just found it so hard to believe... in retrospect not because it was unbelievable... but because it would force me to question so many other beliefs I had held for a long time about our country, our government and the intentions of those - even on the other side of the aisle. In short - it was painful to reach that level of cynicism...

It wasn't about my overall intelligence. It was about the power of the brain to try to fight off cognitive disonance - esp when that disonance would force one to question many of one's fundamental beliefs. While we are fighting this off - we are more manipulable.

If we 'get' this process - we will find more ways to move those folks who are beginning to question - but are fighting drawing any conclusions (because they don't want to have to acknowledge the manevolent intentions from above). By having empathy for this process - we will become more effective in being successful in carrying our message. Viewing simply as people are stupid (which I think isn't accurate) - we will not find the message that resonates. the level of aftermath of public cynicism is going to be 10 times worse than the aftermath of Watergate - because the reasons for what these folks are doing - and the damage caused by it is so much worse than those of watergate.

[glitch]

37. I think you are correct

I've been through it and seen others go through it. We follow the same patterns that people use to handle grief and mourning. It's a serious loss, very hard to take, and I can understand why so many people refuse to see what's happening.
And once the questioning begins it does not stop with government. Everything comes under question, including our way of life.
And that's a good thing, but it is hard to face. I believe this is the only good thing Bush* have ever done - they woke up a lot of people.

[jdunn]

32. Get a brian morans!!

I am an Amurkan patridiot. I support the troops and I love our president. He's over there in Irack sacrificing for us. If tore the roof off my trailer, took my children from their beds, and pissed all over my kitchen table on the way out, I would support him. Why do you guys hate Amurka?

Actually, in the first few days of the invasion I was in line at the counter in a gas station, and there was a guy in front of me with a 12-year-old kid.
I started paying attention to their conversation when he said, "Well I think we need to nuke'm."
"Wouldn't that kill an awful lot of innocent people?" the kid asked, quite sensibly.
His response? "He's got weapons of mass destruction! He's used them on his own people!"

The kid thought about it for a minute, and then gave up trying.

[TacticalPeek]

34. Lies of Mass Deception

"I don't want to be quoted on this, so don't quote me. (Winston Churchill)
said ‘sometimes the truth is so precious it must be accompanied by a
bodyguard of lies.'"
- Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense, September 25, 2001
Pentagon briefing


Gleaming, audacious treason.

[reprobate]

36. This is why I call them nazis. A la Joseph Goebbels.

Tell a lie often enough and the people will believe it. Remember, nothing that this bunch says is true, it's all designed to convince the people of whatever lie they want them to believe.

but it really doesn't matter anymore. The whole system is corrupt. Even if a democrat does get into the white house nothing will change. As long as politicians are required to raise money for reelection they will still be owned by the corporate masters. Take the much lauded democrat clinton. While pushing socially liberal ideas, he still moved the corporate agenda forward more than anyone before *. And some still call him 'masiah'.

Come on people. Face the facts. America was on life support before the selection. That was just the coup de grace. The only question now is whether to find a new home, or stay here and await the revolution.

How do you know when KKKarl Rove is lieing?

George's lips are moving.

[nolabels]

38. What year are they talking about ?

They must of meant way before Richard Butler got there in the first place, say in 1991 or so. Multiple layers of liars, so disgusting