U.S. Inspector at Odds with Bush on Iraq Weapons (official testimony)

[UpInArms]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6430642

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq had no stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons before last year's U.S.-led invasion and its nuclear program had decayed since the 1991 Gulf War, a weapons inspector appointed by the Bush administration said on Wednesday.

The assessment contrasted with statements by President Bush before the invasion, when he cited a growing threat from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as the reason for overthrowing President Saddam Hussein.

"I still do not expect that militarily significant WMD stocks are cached in Iraq," Charles Duelfer, the CIA special adviser who led the hunt for weapons of mass destruction, said in testimony prepared for the Senate Armed Services Committee obtained by Reuters.

He said Iraq's nuclear weapons program had deteriorated since the 1991 Gulf War, but he said Saddam did not abandon his nuclear ambitions.

...more...

[Ducks In A Row]

1. It's a good thing bush was lying seeing how the troops weren't...

protected properly in the first time.

[AlCzervik]

2. I've read about this today in several different places

but i've heard barely a peep on the news about it.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FlemingsGhost]

5. I expect apologies from the hos and patridiots any time now.

Yup ... any time, now.

:eyes:

[Mountainman]

6. Hussein would pass weapons or materials or information to terrorist

What number is this reason for going to war? Number 24?

[OKNancy]

7. Brotherjohn posted this in another thread

WMD Report Proves Saddam's Intent - Blair


http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3592820

"Prime Minister Tony Blair tonight declared the Iraq Survey Group report proved United Nations sanctions against Saddam Hussain were not working and the dictator had every intention of “getting round them” to develop weapons of mass destruction." (my emphasis)

Umm, newsflash to Mr. Blair: The goal of the United Nations sanctions was NOT to turn Saddam into a nice guy. The goal was to make sure he was disarmed of WMDs.

As CNN reports today, the Duelfer Report found "no evidence that Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991" and that "Saddam did not have chemical and biological stockpiles when the war began and his nuclear capabilities were deteriorating, not advancing." (and that latter reference is only to the capability to initiate a nuclear weapons program; this capability was diminishing, and there was nothing close to a nuclear weapon in Iraq) http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/06/iraq.wmd.repo...

Saddam WAS disarmed. Therefore, the United Nations sanctions (and inspections) DID WORK!

[cthrumatrix]

20. up is down...black is white.... the poodle is spinning

[OKNancy]

8. CNN story/link

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/06/iraq.wmd.report.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Contradicting the main argument for a war that has cost more than 1,000 American lives, the top U.S. arms inspector reported Wednesday that he found no evidence that Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991. He also concluded that Saddam Hussein's weapons capability weakened during a dozen years of U.N. sanctions before the U.S. invasion last year.

Contrary to prewar statements by President Bush and top administration officials, Saddam did not have chemical and biological stockpiles when the war began and his nuclear capabilities were deteriorating, not advancing, according to the report by Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group.

[Moderator]

9. kick

:kick:

[Barrett808]

10. "It was a bad call, Ripley. A bad call."

"These people are dead, Burke!"

This is how I feel whenever I see Bush apologists talk about "bad intelligence."

[Moderator]

11. Calo4 posted this: Saddam and the French Connection

Saddam and the French Connection


and it just so happens that the US and Britain recovered these memos)

SADDAM HUSSEIN believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night.

Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France - having been granted oil contracts - would veto any American plans for war.


Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, told the ISG that the "primary motive for French co-operation" was to secure lucrative oil deals when UN sanctions were lifted. Total, the French oil giant, had been promised exploration rights.

Iraqi intelligence officials then "targeted a number of French individuals that Iraq thought had a close relationship to French President Chirac," it said, including two of his "counsellors" and spokesman for his re-election campaign. They even assessed the chances for "supporting one of the candidates in an upcoming French presidential election." Chirac is not mentioned by name.

http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1167592004

[Amigust]

12. Coincidental ? just when it is revealed that Bush

calls Chirac "The Jackass".

[Rose Siding]

13. NYT- Saddam Sowed Confusion About Iraq's Arsenal as a Tactic of War

It is just as we thought

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 - Saddam Hussein hid behind ambiguities and evasions about whether Iraq possessed unconventional weapons - when in fact it had none - partly as a deterrent to Iran, according to a report by the chief American arms inspector in Iraq.

The former Iraqi leader never discussed deception as a policy and did not adopt a formal written directive outlining his orders, the report said. But privately he told aides, like Ali Hasan al-Majid, a close adviser, that "the better part of war is deceiving,'' the report said. Mr. Majid said Mr. Hussein "wanted to avoid appearing weak and did not reveal he was deceiving the world about the presence of W.M.D.,'' or weapons of mass destruction.

The report by the chief arms inspector, Charles A. Duelfer, described Mr. Hussein's posture on prohibited weapons as "a difficult balancing act between the need to disarm to achieve sanctions relief while at the same time retaining a strategic deterrent.''

Mr. Hussein never reconciled the two competing aims, the report found.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/07/politics/07saddam.html

[Rose Siding]

14. Also NYT: U.S. Report Finds Iraqis Eliminated Illicit Arms in 90's

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 - Iraq had destroyed its illicit weapons stockpiles within months after the Persian Gulf war of 1991, and its ability to produce such weapons had significantly eroded by the time of the American invasion in 2003, the top American inspector for Iraq said in a report made public Wednesday.

The report by the inspector, Charles A. Duelfer, intended to offer a near-final judgment about Iraq and its weapons, said Iraq, while under pressure from the United Nations, had "essentially destroyed'' its illicit weapons ability by the end of 1991, with its last secret factory, a biological weapons plant, eliminated in 1996.

Mr. Duelfer said that even during those years, Saddam Hussein had aimed at "preserving the capability to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction when sanctions were lifted.'' But he said he had found no evidence of any concerted effort by Iraq to do restart the programs.

The findings uphold Iraq's prewar insistence that it did not possess chemical or biological weapons. They also show the enormous distance between the Bush administration's own prewar assertions, based on reports by American intelligence agencies, and what a 15-month inquiry by American investigators found since the war.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/07/politics/07intel.html?hp

[Rose Siding]

15. kick

[Moderator]

16. kskiska posted this from the Washington Post

WP: U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons


Report on Iraq Contradicts Claims by Administration

By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus
Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A01

The 1991 Persian Gulf War and subsequent U.N. inspections destroyed Iraq's illicit weapons capability and, for the most part, Saddam Hussein did not try to rebuild it, according to an extensive report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq that contradicts nearly every prewar assertion made by top administration officials about Iraq.

Charles A. Duelfer, whom the Bush administration chose to complete the U.S. investigation of Iraq's weapons programs, said Hussein's ability to produce nuclear weapons had "decayed" continuously since 1991. Inspectors, he said, found no evidence of "concerted efforts to restart the program."

(snip)

Duelfer's report, delivered yesterday to two congressional committees, represents the government's most definitive accounting of Hussein's weapons programs, the assumed strength of which the Bush administration presented as a central reason for the war. While previous reports have drawn similar conclusions, Duelfer's assessment went beyond them in depth, detail and level of certainty.

"We were almost all wrong" on Iraq, Duelfer told a Senate panel yesterday.

(snip)

The report also provides a one-of-a-kind look at Hussein's personality. The former Iraqi leader participated in numerous interviews with one Arabic-speaking FBI interrogator. Hussein told his questioner he felt threatened by U.S. military power, but even then, he maintained a fondness for American movies and literature. One of his favorite books was Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea." He hoped for improved relations with the United States and, over several years, sent proposals through intermediaries to open a dialogue with Washington.


more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12115-20...

[Moderator]

17. related article - Report's Release Comes at Bad Time for Bush

WP: Report's Release Comes at Bad Time for Bush


(snip)

From the perspective of the White House and the Bush-Cheney campaign, the timing could hardly be worse, coming 27 days before the election, two days before the second presidential debate and a day after publication of Ambassador L. Paul Bremer's assertion that the United States had deployed too few troops in Iraq early on.

Duelfer was appointed in January by George J. Tenet, who was then director of the CIA. Duelfer operated independently of the White House, which had no control over the report's timing.

A U.S. official, who declined to be further described, said the timing of the report -- which is dated last Thursday -- was controlled by Duelfer, a former U.N. weapons inspector who had said in interviews before his appointment that he doubted chemical or biological weapons would be found.

"Charlie promised months ago that when the report was done, he would put it out, and that's what he's doing," the official said. "It's completely his show."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13152-20...

[Moderator]

18. Yahoo article

U.S. Report: Iraq Didn't Have WMDs


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041...

WASHINGTON - Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s weapons of mass destruction programs had deteriorated into only hopes and dreams by the time of the U.S.-led invasion last year, a decline wrought by the first Gulf War (news - web sites) and years of international sanctions, the chief U.S. weapons hunter found.

And what ambitions Saddam harbored for such weapons were secondary to his goal of evading those sanctions, and he wanted them primarily not to attack the United States or to provide them to terrorists, but to oppose his older enemies, Iran and Israel.


The report of weapons hunter Charles Duelfer was presented Wednesday to senators and the public in the midst of a fierce presidential election campaign in which Iraq (news - web sites) and the war of terror have become the overriding issues.

[bluedog]

19. WAS SADDAM TELLING THE TRUTH?

Guess what you do not hear........RESOLUTION 1441......the number that was tossed around for justifying the invasion of a sovereign country..........he had none...he didn't violate anything...
the bush team is a bunch of liars....dare them to throw this resolution number around now!!

[rman]

21. Saddam "deceiving the world about the presence of W.M.D"...

...by claiming that he had no more WMDs, which was substantiated by the UN.
Would that make the UN complicit in this deception?

And if there was deception on Saddams part, doesn't that mean the neocon gang is just stupid for being tricked like that while the rest of the world wasn't tricked?

Or does it simply mean there was no deception and no WMDs to begin with, and that the neocons are just weazeling about to try and cover their asses?


"Mr. Majid said Mr. Hussein "wanted to avoid appearing weak and did not reveal he was deceiving the world about the presence of W.M.D.,''
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/07/politics/07saddam.html