Rumsfeld: WMD May Still Be Found in Iraq

[underpants]

Ready for some tapdancing? Add you own favorite parts as I am limited on the initial posting.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=542&e=4&u=/ap/20040204/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/rumsfeld_congress


WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Wednesday he is not ready to conclude that Iraq (news - web sites) did not have weapons of mass destruction before U.S. troops invaded to depose Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) last year.

Rumsfeld told the Senate Armed Services Committee (news - web sites) that U.S. weapons inspectors need more time...

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and other Democrats on the committee reminded Rumsfeld that in September 2002 he said "we know" where weapons of mass destruction are stored in Iraq.

Explaining that remark, Rumsfeld told the panel that he was referring to suspected weapons sites, but he acknowledged that he had made it sound like he was talking about actual weapons.

The remark "probably turned out not to be what one would have preferred, in retrospect," he said.

The findings of the Kay group, he added, so far have "not proven Saddam Hussein had what intelligence indicated he had and what we believed he had. But it also has not proven the opposite."

[Skittles]

1. translation: we need more time to plant them

f***ing asshole

[gatlingforme]

44. "He was not found guilty, but he was not found innocent..." OKAY Rummy

[Whoa_Nelly]

66. Just more "known unknowns" Rummy Dumbspeak

"Reports that say something hasn't happened are interesting to me, because as we know, there are known unknowns; there things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know." -Donald Rumsfeld

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. translation

damn the OSP told us one thing, we can't find them, give us time... to plant them

[underpants]

6. "We may eventually find it in the months ahead."

Or, Rumsfeld postulated, "small quantities" of chemical or biological agents may have existed, along with a "surge capability" that would allow Iraq to rapidly build an arsenal of banned weapons. Commenting on that possibility, Rumsfeld said, "We may eventually find it in the months ahead."

[Beetwasher]

12. Rummy: "Just Wait 'Til October, I'm SURE We'll Find Something!"

"As a matter of fact, I have this feeling that we're going to find Osama holed up in Iraq w/ a huge stockpile of WMD's! Just you watch!"

[GOPisEvil]

3. What an absolute load of bullshit!

Hey Don, are the flies bothering you, fucktard?

[stopbush]

4. He's right. They also might find Bigfoot some day, or Nessie

or Jimmy Hoffa.

How about this, Rummy?: proof of pre-meditated absence of proof pretty much proves the absence of proof.

[underpants]

10. We've found bigfoot and guess what? We shaved him and it is OBL!!!

Honestly at this point that wouldn't surprise me.

[calimary]

21. He'll find 'em alright. About the same time he finds his conscience.

Schmuck. Or Shmuck. WHICHEVER spelling, it applies.

[truthspeaker]

5. find out what Rummy is smoking and sell me some

Even on the chronic I don't have delusions like that. Obviously I'm not getting my money's worth.

[salin]

7. heck it worked when he pulled this bs sort of stuff before

when arrogance leads to a fall - it is because previous arrogant assertions (even when those were ridiculous) worked. Remember the OBL questions after months and months of the search (and assertions that we almost had him).... "he could be inside the country... he could be outside the country... truth is we don't know where he is..." and he went on to assert that it was an irrelevant question at this point (presumably because al qeada was no longer a threat... pretty interesting given the number of times in the past 2 months they have interfered with domestic and international flights due to heightened and serious threats by.... al qeada).

He is crazy enough to think that since it worked before.... it will work again. Just can't get the fact that he is no longer a "Master of the Universe" where the press and public is concerned.

[UpInArms]

8. ROFLMAO!

Where are they Rummy?

North, South, East or West of Tikrit???

What a friggin' idiot.:argh:

[underpants]

14. Yes they are

:bounce:

52. they're in Cuba!!!

check this thread
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=344930
and site
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/arms/02060502.htm

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Can't these twits just stop!?!?

They're like children! Apparently they think that if they just keep lying we'll believe them, after we KNOW they are lying!

[underpants]

16. I loved the part about WMD and the size of the spiderhole

Rumsfeld also said he saw a possibility that Iraq managed to hide some banned weapons of mass destruction. He said that it took 10 months to find Saddam Hussein and that the hole in which he was found on Dec. 13 "was big enough to hold biological weapons to kill thousands" of people.

"Such objects, once buried, can stay buried," Rumsfeld said.

Uh Rummy, ever heard of the shelf life of WMD? Sarin and Tabin 5 years. VX maybe 7.

[EstimatedProphet]

26. The script so far has gone a lot like this...

Donald Rumsfeld: "The mean old man has WMDs! I'm afraid!"
The American People: "Now that's not a nice thing to say about our neighbor. Have you seen the WMDs?"
DR: "Yes!...No, but I know he has them."
AP: "How do you know?"
DR: "Because...and I know where he has them too!"
AP: "Well, let's ask him to show them to us."
DR: "No! He won't, cuz he lies all the time!"
AP: "Well, let's go find them then..."
DR: "I know where they are! I know! I...he hid them!"
AP: "Now do you believe me that he doesn't have any WMDs?"
DR: "No! He hid them cuz he's mean! I bet he gave them to his neighbor, because he's mean too! I bet he's just waiting until we look away, and then he'll get them back and he'll blow up the universe!"
AP: "We asked him if he had any WMDs, and he said no..."
DR: "He lies! I bet they're still there, painted invisible!"

What else will they say...Yeesh.

[underpants]

28. DR's second to last response is where the paranoia starts

Excuse I meant REALLY starts. THEY ARE ALL AGAINST US!!! WE MUST ATTACK THEM FIRST!! ALL OF THEM!!!! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!!

Welcome to DU If'n I haven't before. :hi:

[coldwatercyn]

55. Makes you wonder

Who stole his strawberries!

[yellowcanine]

35. And my basement is big enough to hold biological weapons to kill millions

Just what is Rumsfield's point here? That holes in the ground are hard to find? I believe this particular one was covered up with a piece of plastic. If someone had walked on it they would have fallen in. Also it seems to me that one doesn't just bury stuff all over the place and nobody sees anything or knows anything. Surely they would have nabbed somebody by now who would have spilled the beans as a way to save their ass or to claim a reward. Saddam wasn't out there hiding the weapons.

[EstimatedProphet]

49. What I don't get is why people keep buying this crap

Anyone who's ever been around children knows the WMD argument pattern: lie, keep lying, when people don't believe you, lie some more about something different. Keep lying at all costs...
Pretending that they are still "looking" for WMDs, when we all knew they were never there, doesn't give them any more credibility than a 3 year old that says a spaceman took his cookie, so he wants another one. Rumsfeld needs to be spanked and sent to bed without supper.

[NickB79]

53. 5-7 years under optimal conditions

Such as being refridgerated and stored under sterile conditions. How long do you think those WMD's would last buried under sand in a 120F desert over the summer? What a joke.

And again, it doesn't address why Saddam would bury the only significant weapon he had to use against the US, or where the factories are that manufactured these weapons.

[Dennis Quaranta]

11. OJ Simpson: Still Looking for the REAL Killer

Somebody should clue these guys in. Give it up!

[snippy]

60. "OJ is looking for the real WMD" is an excellent idea.

[ScrewyRabbit]

13. He said weapons inpsectors need more time

Could any other statement depict the hypocrisy more starkly?

[sushi]

50. If Hans Blix and his UN inspectors

had been allowed to have a few more months to do their work we wouldn't be in this mess today. Over 500 soldiers dead, don't know how many thousand wounded or limbless as a result, don't know how many thousand innocent Iraqis dead or maimed, Iraq's already poor infrastructure destroyed, etc.

[leesa]

65. Don't be cynical now. They pumped a lot of oil out of Iraq and a lot of

cash out of our treasury. It's not a total loss.

[coldwatercyn]

56. Too late

We needed to hear those words before the war not now.

[chromotone]

15. What! Again???

:boring:

[rock]

17. But, but... Their argument now that WMD have not been found

is that it's beside the point. So why are they still trying to make it the point?

[peekaloo]

18. I miss Baghdad Bob

:think:

[calimary]

22. Rummy IS Baghdad Bob.

Our version of it, anyway.

[Just Me]

19. Rumsfeld = Epitome of Human Evil

I enjoyed watching him get rather flustered this morning. Never have I seen him pull on his ears so much *LOL*!!!!

[joeunderdog]

20. "Look I KNOW they had them. I sold them to them. So back off."

Instead of telling it like it is/was, why bother repeating all the same recycled crap and insult our intelligence even more?

I especially like this little ditty: "Explaining that remark, Rumsfeld told the panel that he was referring to suspected weapons sites, but he acknowledged that he had made it sound like he was talking about actual weapons.

The remark "probably turned out not to be what one would have preferred, in retrospect," he said." NICE. Details, shmetails.

I guess it's easier to do what you want and apologize later than to try to do it right in the first place, ain't it?

[underpants]

24. Errors and retractions are printed on page A19

not "above the fold" of the morning papers.

Yes it is much easier to say "Well what I MEANT was ....." than to say it right (and non-desceptively) in the first place.

Their big problem is that they made this black and white clear and easy to understand, they didn't leave any wiggle room. Their idealogy overrode all else.

[truthspeaker]

33. right, and when I said Rummy was an asshole who kicks kittens,

has sex with puppies, and shows up to work drunk every morning, I really meant to say I suspect those things. I guess that statement could have been misinterpreted.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

23. "We.. . Just. . . need . .. a . .

little. . . more. . . time. If you'll excuse me I have a phonecall. Hey Bob, what's that? You found them?! Oh, this is great news. Great Work Bob. Ok, Bye. Gentlemen and Women of the Armed Services Committee, We Got Em."


:grouphug:

[SoFlaJets]

25. I am so sick

of these smug bastards-they lie-blatantly right in our faces and then with smirks on their lying faces proceed to tell another and another.......You can almost hear what they're thinking as they pull their ears and turn their heads away from the camera saying to themselves they can't do a thing to us.I want these people gone out of MY WHITE HOUSE.Never have I felt such contempt for an administration in my life and I went thru Nixon.......

[lumpy]

27. Tony Blair making waffles.

Had the pleasure of watching Blair stuttering on the tube last night.
His fellow parlimentarians were really giving him a bad time. He is as inept as Rumsfeld in the spinning game.
The Seattle Times had a picture of Bush and Co. on the front page yesterday. The worst portrait of Bush yet. He is really showing his weariness and frustration. The poor fools have led our countries down some weedy garden paths into the cesspool of dirty politics.

[joeunderdog]

30. It's so hard to speak naturally when lies are tripping you at every turn.

That's why you see so many pauses from Bush/Blair. That's why people telling the truth speak more naturally. It's easy top see who's lying just by their cadence.

At this point, there is less and less they can say without getting tripped up, and they are relying on mantras regardless of the question.

You have to wonder when one of them might say, "You got me."

[ignatius]

32. I saw today that protestors had Whitewashed the black gates

in front of Blair's office.

Remember the millions who marched before the war, millions in the UK. These people know what the hell is going on and they want the TRUTH.

All their lies are coming back to bite them in the butt.

[mbperrin]

29. Rummy needs to be fired now! After all, he still has

his acting career (as Skeletor) to fall back on!

[daleo]

31. Rummy, you crazy liar, it is too late

It is too late. Nobody would believe you, and your partner in lying, Tony Blair, said they could be ready to use in 45 minutes, not 45 weeks/months/years.

[yellowcanine]

34. Ron Ziegler "Inoperative statement" Redux

Everytime I think that Rumsfield can't possibly twist the English language anymore to fit his notion of reality he does it again. Compare this statement to Ron Ziegler's famous Watergate line, "That is an inoperative statement."

The remark "probably turned out not to be what one would have preferred, in retrospect," he said.

[pinto]

36. unknown known now known to be unknown but known none the less

[louis-t]

37. Very disappointed in C-SPAN, they cut away from Rummy's ...

pathetic testimony just as things were getting interesting so we could listen to translation of the president of Spain speech. Yippee.

[0007]

59. That was a bummer!

[fizzana]

38. Here's a hint of what might be going on with planting WMD's

This from the Moscow Times via American Politics Journal. I'm amazed we haven't seen more of this story in the alternative media - it could be a huge story.

"Last week, Pentagon auditors called for a formal investigation of 'overcharges' by Cheney's Halliburton hirelings. The well-connected corporation...is accused of skimming $61 million in excess cream from a shady deal to import Kuwaiti gasoline into the conquered land. To carry out this choice bit of war profiteering, Halliburton hooked up with Altanmia Marketing of Kuwait. Altanmia was given exclusive rights to ship Kuwaiti gasoline to Iraq - 'even though it had no prior experience transporting fuel,' U.S. Congressional investigators report. So what is the firm's actual expertise? Investments, real estate -- and acting as 'representative agents for companies trading in military and nuclear, biological and chemical equipment,' The Wall Street Journal reports."

<snip>

Further: "Strangely enough, Kuwaiti energy officials had never heard of Altanmia before the Halliburton deal. They had recommended several experienced distributors -- with far cheaper rates -- to the Americans, but were told that Altanmia was the only choice, The Wall Street Journal reports."

Along with this article, my intelligence friend appended a message: "Could it be that this shady Kuwaiti company that was hired by Cheney's Halliburton to transport petrol from Kuwait to Iraq at twice the going rate -- a company, mind you, that has no prior experience in tranporting petrol, but is really a company that specialises in representing companies that trade in military, nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons equipment -- is charging so much to do something else? Such as transporting and planting WMD into Iraq that we can than 'discover' and say, 'see, we told you all along, the weapons of WMD are there! Saddam had them.'? Could it be? You can bet that this "discovery" -- and it will have to be a whopper! -- will occur before election day."

http://www.americanpolitics.com/20040202Bisbort.html

[underpants]

39. Hey maybe they were just trying to give this company a chance

You know like a sort of affirmative action thing.

Altanmia huh? I guess if the first sighting of one of their trucks was right around the time the WMD's are FOUND that would raise eyebrows but if they become a regular fixture.....

[webtrainer]

43. RE: Planting WMD, does Kay's report . . .

cite specific places they've visited and verified no WMDs?

Just wondering, because if/when a surprise find of WMD happens in October (or whenever), we should be able to go through the report and find out if it was found to be clear of such things a few months earlier.

I wouldn't be surprised if they planted them in one of Rummy's spots he was so sure of before. I'm not convinced that the regime would be smart enough to think that people and journalists might want to take a good long look at the veracity of such findings.

If they do plant, hopefully it'll be in a site documented WMD-free by either the U.N. or Kay.

[tom_paine]

40. Sounds like someone knows that the overcharging Halliburton subcontractor

actually specializes in the transport of chemical and biological weapons.

Yes, Rummy, we know the fix is in, too.

[yellowcanine]

41. Rummy has got to quit talking like this to senators

What are we supposed to do with all of the senators whose heads explode while trying to follow his reasoning?

[yellowcanine]

42. One known known is that Rummy is indeed nuts.

Somebody should collect all of the witty sayings of Rummy and write a book.

[mac56]

45. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"?

Wasn't that one of his famous quips?

[yellowcanine]

46. Bingo - you got one.

That would make a good title for the book.

[Briar]

47. Even if there are WMD in Iraq

it does not matter.

The war was spun on the supposed certainty not only that Saddam had WMD but that he would use them. That he was a "current" threat, or whatever word Campbell's thesaurus coughed up in place of imminent. In fact Saddam did not use them. Not when the coalition invaded, not when it was at the gates of Baghdad and not now, when supposedly its loyalists are waging a guerrilla war. His willingness to use WMD has been amply disproved, even more so than the non existence of the WMD.

It's very obvious that the coalition is no longer taking precautions against chemical or biological weapons, and indeed that they haven't been for a very long time indeed. So while it is unlikely that there are any WMD to be found, it is well nigh a certainty that there are none capable of being used in Iraq even if any resistance fighters would like to use them.

[yellowcanine]

48. Not to mention the WMD "definition creep"

The only true WMDs are nukes and possibly some very sophisticated chemical weapons - neither of which Iraq ever had. (I do not count Saddam's wet dreams about weapons he wished for, so the Bushbots might disagree with me here)
By the time the hunt for WMD's had begun - which was the first day of the invasion - the Bushbots had managed to fuzz up the definition of WMDs so thoroughly that even a single corroded canister of mustard gas would probably have had them proclaiming they had found WMDs. But mustard gas, even by the barrel full, is not a WMD. It would not be an effective weapon against large population centers (the only correct definition of a WMD). Likewise anthrax, ricin, sarin, etc. Only nukes meet the definition of the weapons that are known to have been developed and tested.

[llmart]

51. "Rumsfeld: WMD may still be found"...

Yeah, and I'm a 54 year old woman with two grown children and I may still find my virginity:)

[Frangible]

54. OMG the irony!

They wouldn't give the inspectors more time, now they want it? hahaha.

[sungkathak]

57. Military 'Sure' of Catching Bin Laden This Year

Same time when they find "WMD" in Iraq.

Quote, "Military 'Sure' of Catching Bin Laden This Year
Thursday, January 29, 2004

KABUL, Afghanistan — The U.S. military is "sure" it will catch Usama bin Laden (search) this year, a spokesman said Thursday, but he declined to comment on where the Al Qaeda (search) leader may be hiding.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,109868,00.html

[knight_of_the_star]

58. Also on MSNBC

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4049012/

Same thing.

I can't believe they are pulling this. If WMDs suddenly appear after being declared by both Kay and Blix that they don't exist, then I think that a LOT of people are going to be VERY suspiscious of their miraculous appearance.

[ignatius]

61. Especially if they have made in America stamped on them.

n/t

[snippy]

62. Time for mandatory drug testing of Cabinet Secretaries.

[LiberalFighter]

63. If Rummy spreads his cheeks WMD might be found there

[yellowcanine]

70. Now that is nasty. NT

.

[LibDemAlways]

64. Sure, Rummy...About as likely as discovering

that you have a shred of human decency.

[Seldona]

67. What absolute bs.

--The remark "probably turned out not to be what one would have preferred, in retrospect," he said.--

Right Rummy. Right.

I wonder if something is up? Between Cheney and Rummy, it is looking like the fix might be in.

[pinniped]

68. Just saw a clip of that asshole...

Caught that blip about how there could enough chemical weapons hiding in a spider-sized hole (like Sadaam was supposedly in) to kill thousands of Americans. Still dribbling out that same scare tactic BS. Why stop at thousands? Why not millions or billions?

I agree, Rummy the Dummy is hiding a few canisters in his arse. This creep must be part cyborg anyways. Send him to a spider hole and he will plant the load.

[justsam]

69. they probably will

be found someday, but from when- in the 80s when Rummy delivered them..I'm still finding arrowheads in my woods from the 1700s