Bush official on Iraq war justification: WMD "Isn't really the issue"

[Emboldened Chimp]

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2003/09/05/bolton/index.html

Sept. 5, 2003 | PARIS (AP) -- The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was justified in part because Saddam Hussein retained scientists capable of building nuclear weapons, Washington's top arms control official said Thursday.

In an interview with The Associated Press, John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control, said that whether Saddam's regime actually possessed weapons of mass destruction "isn't really the issue."

"The issue I think has been the capability that Iraq sought to have ... WMD programs," Bolton said at the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. pathetic

eom

[Ouabache]

3. miserably pathetic

Now the spin has devolved and spiraled down from "WMD launchable in 45 minutes" to "programs for WMD" to "sought to have programs for WMD". This is below pathetic.

Next they will be telling us the Iraqis "definitely did internet searches for instructions on how to make something or other."

[Parche]

2. all lies

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

[maxsolomon]

17. correction

NOBLE lies.

intended to protect the public from itself.

[Brotherjohn]

23. I personally got tired of that s*** in the 80s...

...and I was only in my early 20s. I voted for Reagan as a naive 18-yr old. But by the time they were saying "yeah, we gave arms to the Contras even though Congress explicity forbade it. But WE KNOW what's good for you", I had had enough.

[UpInArms]

4. ROFLMAO!

these guys need jobs in comedy!

the lines that they come up with are too rich!!!

next stop: any country with a university - 'cause someone might be able to learn to read and write - thus some day they might be able to build a fire!

[NicoleM]

5. it's official

They know now that they're not going to find anything.

[wryter2000]

13. Yup, yup

Amazing silence we're hearing from David Kay, huh?

Unfortunately for these assholes, we have all kinds of quotes about tons of this and mountains of that and exactly where they are -- around Baghdad and Tikrit, ad nauseam.

[wtmusic]

6. He's right, you know

The issue is the fabrications and distortions perpetrated on the world by *'s power-hungry cadre of idealogues.

[NNN0LHI]

7. We needed David Kay and his 1200 flunkies to find this out?

Unbelievable?

Don

[Flying_Pig]

8. Bolton, Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith... "lie" all together

Mein Name ist Richard, und ich bin ein faschistisch swine. Meine Landsmänner in PNAC und ich, haben einen Plan für die Welt. Zusammen mit meinen Freunden im Likud, haben wir Kriege geplant haben, ein genration zu dauern. Wir werden regieren. Sie werden einreichen. Ja!
:evilgrin:
<http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,287510,00.jpg>

[saigon68]

9. GREAT PHOTO

SCARY---VERY SCARY

[wryter2000]

14. Ganz gut gesagt!

But the picture still scares me. :scared:

[TeeYiYi]

21. That freaks me out! That picture is just BIZARRE. ......n/t

TYY

[Minstrel Boy]

10. First it was the WMDs.

Then it was WMD programs.
Now, it's the capablity to have sought the programs.

"Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you no sense of decency?"

[treepig]

11. guess he should have executed all the scientists

and stuck them in a mass grave.

(of course, that in itself might have been used to justify the war, it all seems very complicated, sure glad i'm not the one making the difficult choices faced by the monkey-brained mr. bush and advisors)

[Brotherjohn]

12. What's next, war over "intellectual property rights"?

And what about France? They have that smaller-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty over there! They gave it to us! It's our symbol!! Let's invade now!

[Brotherjohn]

15. I suppose they were supposed to exile (or kill) all of these experts.

Experts who, by the way, probably mostly obtained their expertise earning degrees right here in the U.S.

Even to say that these people could no longer hold jobs working for their own government is ridiculous.

[BadGimp]

16. Saddam had "intent"

Saddam had in his heart the intent to build WMDs. Yeah that's the ticket!


What a Load

[zbdent]

18. Capable - well, I'm capable of flying short distances by the power

of my farts, I just haven't actually produced anything which proves this.

Beware the staple remover of mass destruction!

[shanti]

19. sure, iraq had the scientists

and WE WANTED THEM!!

[Robin Hood]

20. It was an imminent threat. It's too late to change your story now.

Where are the WMD?!! There are none. Bush lied!!

[phiddle]

22. There are SO many justifications for war!

As each assertion has proven unlikely, a new and more remote one is substituted. The progression has been:

1. Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.
2. Iraq has programs to make weapons of mass destruction.
3. Iraq has facilities which could be used in programs to make weapons of mass destruction.
4. (Now) Iraq has scientists who could create facilities which could be used in programs to make weapons of mass destruction.

What's to follow?
5. Iraq has science students who could become scientists who could create facilities which could be used in programs to make weapons of mass destruction.
6. Iraq has children who may become science students who could become scientists who could create facilities which could be used in programs to make weapons of mass destruction.
7. Iraq has women who give birth to children who may become science students who could become scientists who could create facilities which could be used in programs to make weapons of mass destruction.

There, we are justified in killing women and children.
Have I missed anything?

[Sideways]

24. Yes You've Missed "My Dog Ate The Weapons Of Mass Destruction"

:crazy:

[phiddle]

28. Thanks, Mary:

Do you suppose that the dog was specially trained by Saddam to eat the weapons, and then sent to us, knowing that we would scrutinize the end products of its digestion, taking the results as evidence of weapons?

[Sideways]

31. That Would Be A Real "Shitty "Defense

But the way these clowns play fast and furious with the truth I wouldn't put that kind of "shit" beyond them.

Rumsfield: "We have conclusive proof from the bowels of Saddams dog Ali bin Abdullah Spot that this dog did indeed eat the homework..err..WMD. We have placed Ali bin Abdullah Spot as #53 on our deck of Most Wanted Iraqi Cards. Ah shit the dog ate those as well. Fuck somebody please bring me another warm glass of blood."

Edit: bad verb.

[ET Awful]

33. BUAHAHAHA

Ali bin Abdullah Spot??????

That's the funniest damn thing I've read all day (next to the Newsmax article totally reversing themselves on pretty much everything they've said about Iraq since March) :).

[Robin Hood]

25. LMAO!!!

Thatis hilarious. I am sure that will be next.

[kimchi]

39. No, that was perfect!

If you don't mind, that goes on ye olde van that isn't running at the moment.

[markses]

45. Brilliant, phiddle

Hilarious!

[bowens43]

26. The idiots keep lowering the bar.

Next they will tell us it was justified because saddam wished that he had WMD. What a pathetic bunch of goons we have in power.

[Zorba607]

27. knowledge

so we just attacked a country because of the knowledge they had? If the people swallow this one we're in for some scary times. You must remain ignorant to avoid our wrath!

[wellst0nev0ter]

40. "We Need Bombs That Will Destroy Ideas"

From "The Daily Show With John Stewart"

Colbert: "If Saddam is dead, it greatly reduces his ability to control Iraq."
John Stewart: "He'd have no power at all. He'd be dead."
Colbert: "Really John? Remember, when this man appears in public, no one is sure it's actually him. And yet he has held an iron grip on power since 1979. 24 years of brutal dictatorship, all while only maybe existing."
Stewart: "So wait a minute, You don't think Saddam Hussein ever existed?"
Colbert: "I'm sure he existed at one time. I've seen the pictures of him shaking hands with Donald Rumsfeld. All I'm saying is, right now, fear keeps people in line. If people think he exists, he exists, even if he doesn't really exist. ... The point is, we haven't really killed Saddam Hussein until we kill the idea of Saddam Hussein. So what we need to do is to develop bombs that kill ideas."

video link (RealMedia):

rtsp://st21g1.services.att-idns.net/v1/494/1742/2597/dailyshow/colbert/colbert_7124_300.rm

[NickB79]

43. The Daily Show is pure genius

I love it, it gives me hope that not everyone in this country has gone totally stupid. It's pure satire/jokes and it's still a better news show than FAUX!

[underpants]

29. W has the capability of f**king everything up MORE than he has

well not actually him but his minions.

Maybe we need a pre-emptive election or impeachment.

[bspence]

30. More Bush deflection tactics

Why the fuck doesn't Bush speak for himself? Why don't we ever hear what HE has to say on the matter?

Because the election will be coming up, and he can deny totally everything. Dick.

[damnraddem]

32. WMDs not the issue?

Well, they sure were when Dubya and the rest of the thugs lied the U.S. into the invasion. The 'capacity' Bolton is prating about, if it in fact existed, was not a reason for an immediate invasion; and in any case, represented at worst something that could be adequately dealt with by the UN inspections process.

[Judi Lynn]

34. Maybe you remember they had Bolton claim Cuba had bilogical weapons

one night before Jimmy Carter was supposed to go to Cuba. He "broke the news" at a Heritage Foundation meeting.

Later he had to back down, OF COURSE.

These people are utterly without conscience.



He should be proud of himself

[Fozzledick]

35. Two PhD's?

I heard an interesting story on NPR a few weeks ago about a military research project after WW II to see what it would take for a country to develop a nuclear weapon. As an experiment, they recruited two recent physics PhD gratuates with no specific training or experience with nuclear weapons and assigned them to attempt to design a working bomb using only publicly available information. Within two years they produced a practical implosion-type device which the government's experts estimated to have an explosive yield comparable to the Hiroshima bomb.

Is this the new standard for a Causus Belli; two guys with doctorates in physics? :nuke: :nuke:

[samsingh]

36. so we're expecting to tell

other companies who they can and can't keep in their borders.

we should probably attack Japan or Russia. I hear there are lots of smart people over there.

[stumblnrose]

37. I retain water

Please send the navy immediately to settle this issue.

[killbotfactory]

38. It's official. Iraq was not a threat.

Everyone say "Thanks Bush".

[Warren Stuart]

41. Eventually it will come down to a H.S. kid taking Physics

To be all the justification they need to prove that Saddam had a nuclear weapons program.

[Spirochete]

42. Whistle-Ass..

might as well just go back to his original reason: "He called me a chimp and he tried to kill my dad!"

[Oreegone]

44. Let us Remember or Learn That

As a country we have only one reason for a Pre-emptive strike:::::

That we are under imminent (threatening, impending) attack....It is ILLEGAL.......to attack another nation....

Unless we are in danger of IMMINENT attack....we do NOT attack another country....or it is IMPEACHABLE.....We are not supposed to be an EMPIRE simply attacking people because we think they have something we want.