Right-wing spin to draw the noose around the Dems as well...(WMDs)

[bloom]

forwarded to me by my brother:

_____________

"Subject: About......face! Weapons of Mass Destruction

Famous Quotations .....
_____________

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to
develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them.
That is our bottom line."

President Bill Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
_____________

"We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S.Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."

Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle,

John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998
_____________

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass
destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA),

Dec. 16, 1998
_____________

"Hussein has .... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies.";

Secretary Madeline Albright, Clinton

Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999
_____________

"There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies."

Letter to President Bush, Signed by

Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL,) and others, Dec, 5, 2001
____________

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."

Sen. Ted "The Swimmer" Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002
____________

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members

... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will
continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002
_____________

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are
confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and
biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."

Sen. Robert "KKK" Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002
____________

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-- if necessary-- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."

Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002
_____________

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction."

Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002
_____________

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal,
murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a
particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ...

And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ..... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real ....."

Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003
_____________

SO NOW THE DEMOCRATS SAY PRESIDENT BUSH LIED, THAT THERE

NEVER WERE ANY WMD'S AND HE TOOK US TO WAR FOR HIS OIL BUDDIES???"

____________

[Skittles]

1. TELL YOUR BROTHER

WE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE ARE AWARE OF THE SPINELESSNESS OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

[SnohoDem]

12. A few of them are brave

Like Washington's Patty Murray, self proclaimed "Mom in tennis shoes", and called by 'pugs the least intelligent Senator:


After considering the threat, the costs, and the unanswered questions, I have reached a decision. I will vote against the underlying resolution. I will vote against going to war at this time.

I am committed to fighting and winning the war on terrorism, including eliminating Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. I support wholeheartedly our men and women in uniform. I admire their heroism. And I will continue to do all I can to provide them with the resources they need for whatever mission they are asked to carry out on our behalf.

Today we are being told we have no choice that we have to grant the president war-making authority immediately without knowing the ultimate goal or the ultimate cost and without knowing whether we're going it alone.

It may well be that someday our country needs to take military action in Iraq, but the decision right now to give the president this broad authority without focusing it narrowly on weapons of mass destruction, without the support of our allies, without defining the costs to our country today and tomorrow, is not something I can support given what we know today.

The constituents I hear from want to know: Why are we racing to take this action right now alone with so many questions unanswered? The Administration could answer those questions with clear, compelling facts and goals, but so far we haven't heard them.

We're being asked to endorse a policy that hasn't been thought out and one that could have dramatic consequences for our citizens and our future.


http://www.senate.gov/~murray/news.cfm?id=188920

Her stand should make a lot of Dem legislators ashamed of themselves.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

2. won't work

nice try

[Cocoa]

17. I agree

they tried this before, big time, early in the summer, right when it was beginning to be clear there might be no WMD.

All the right-wing whores were writing columns with these quotes, but it fell flat.

Everyone associates the WMD with the Bush administration.

[arcane1]

3. lol, quoting Clinton to prove Bush is honest??

LOL!!!

I've seen it all now...

hey freepers, just because Clinton says something, doesn't make it true!!!!

dumbasses

:silly:

[madfloridian]

4. Go to PNAC, look up the Dec 2001 letter about Iraq!

Graham's signature is not there!!!!!!!!

I called his campaign when this first appeared in a letter to our editor. They chose to do nothing.

[madfloridian]

7. Here is the link to that letter!

http://www.newamericancentury.org/congress-120601.htm

Please note the signatures. Harold Ford has Graham in that same letter on his site, but I think he made an error. I think he substituted it for Gilman.

Make him prove that the rest of it is right, put him on defense.

[bloom]

13. It's tempting

We had been having a truce - not sending each other things... and then I sent him a site I found that was by Conservatives/Libertarians that are against Bush and the neo-cons. I thought maybe he would be able to relate - as he tends to be a Libertarian.

But he is too entrenched in right-wing propaganda and thinks Liberals are evil, blah, blah, blah...

There is no use.

P.S. I decided 'what the heck' - it was a good opportunity to show him the PNAC link and rail against them a bit.

(thanks for the link)

[AngryYoungMan]

5. Tell your brother

that none of those people ever advocated (or enacted) a unilateral U.S. invasion and takeover.

[mac56]

8. That's it in a nutshell.

Nobody has ever claimed that Saddam is a Boy Scout. But Bush's unilateral invasion and conquest IS a way to grab the oil and enrich his buddies.

[gratuitous]

6. Rebuttal -- the short form

None of those Democrats quoted in this spurious catalog sent hundreds of soldiers to their deaths, thousands more to the hospital, tens of thousands of civilians to the infirmary or the grave, or spent hundreds of billions of dollars doing it.

[Terwilliger]

22. thats right...they didn't stop it

and they fostered the idea that it was OK for Bush to do what he did...and now they're deciding whther or not to give him the FULL 87 billion for "his" war :nuke:

[bloom]

9. In reply : 1st I sent my bother this:

saying something about Cheney's memory and that Bush should have listened to his father:

From George H.W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft, A World Transformed (1998), pp. 489-90:


"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in "mission creep," and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs. Apprehending him was probably impossible. We had been unable to find Noriega in Panama, which we knew intimately. We would have been forced to occupy Baghdad and, in effect, rule Iraq. The coalition would instantly have collapsed, the Arabs deserting it in anger and other allies pulling out as well. Under those circumstances, there was no viable "exit strategy" we could see, violating another of our principles. Furthermore, we had been self-consciously trying to set a pattern for handling aggression in the post-Cold War world. Going in and occupying Iraq, thus unilaterally exceeding the United Nations' mandate, would have destroyed the precedent of international response to aggression that we hoped to establish. Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land. It would have been a dramatically different--and perhaps barren--outcome."

http://hnn.us/articles/631.html#bush1998



WHY DICK CHENEY OPPOSED GOING TO BAGDAD IN 1991 AT THE TIME OF THE GULF WAR (posted 10-16-02)

Dick Cheney in April 1991, then Defense Secretary, as quoted in the Slate on October 16, 2002:


If you're going to go in and try to topple Saddam Hussein,you have to go to Baghdad. Once you've got Baghdad, it's not clear what you do with it. It's not clear what kind of government you would put in place of the one that's currently there now. Is it going to be a Shia regime, a Sunni regime or a Kurdish regime? Or one that tilts toward the Baathists, or one that tilts toward the Islamic fundamentalists? How much credibility is that government going to have if it's set up by the United States military when it's there? How long does the United States military have to stay to protect the people that sign on for that government, and what happens to it once we leave?

[bloom]

10. And then I sent him the "quote of the day" with this response:

When you hear of people being attacked for being unpatriotic - remember this ->


Of course the people don't want war... Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.

- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials.

________________________________________________________

If politicians are misleading the public into going to war (or staying in one) - it should be denounced - whichever the party.

I think, regardless of the quotes sent, Bush gets the credit and blame for the war we are in. He set the course and I think - the propaganda to go with it.

[fob]

11. Looks like Clinton's bombing that the RWers said was

wagging the dog, took care of more than anyone knew!

Prove me wrong.

[stopbush]

14. Wasn't Rumsfeld the one supplying Clinton with info

about Iraq back in 1998? I thought I read that somewhere. Can anyone confirm?

[bloom]

16. Rumsfeld is a signer

to the PNAC letter sent to Clinton 1998.

http://www.newamericancentury.org/lettersstatements.htm

[Qutzupalotl]

15. First of all,

Bush lied to the Senate, so these quotes from Kerry and Graham from 2002 and 2003 are from before it was common knowledge that Bush lied. Remember, he KNOWINGLY USED A FORGED DOCUMENT to make his case to congress, and skirted lying outright in the State of the Union Address by saying "British intelligence has learned <from us>..."

Secondly, Iraq had been trying to rebuild its weapons programs during the 90s and was a real threat to world stability (but not the U.S. directly). Sometime before the inspectors were pulled out in 1998, Iraq gave up trying to have secret weapons programs and cooperated with inspectors. Scott Ritter says they scrubbed 96% of the country. In 2002, according to him, Iraq HAD NO WMDs.

[madfloridian]

21. Check my post about Graham.

He did not sign the letter that is mentioned.

[blm]

18. BFEE loyalists were passing bad intel for many years.

Clinton and others thought they were being given good intelligence.

There was also that little matter of POPPY Bush funnelling weapons and $$$$ to Saddam up until the invasion of Kuwait.

[Old and In the Way]

20. I totally agree.....the Bush "assassination" attempt is one, I think.

No doubt that CIA/NSC/DIA had many Bush/Reagan supporters who were motivated to embarass Clinton...I think the aspirin factory fiasco is another example.

Anyway, all these quotes share a similar theme...most of them all have conditional statements. I'll let Clinton's record speak for itself. The fact is the UN were doing their job, not finding weapons, and should have been allowed to stay for as long as it took. Bush and his minions just couldn't afford for this to play out properly...they'd have no way to launch a war for oil and distraction, otherwise.

[Nederland]

19. Point Out

...that Howard Dean's name is not on that list and that's who's gonna be kicking Shrub's ass in 2004.

[progressivejazz]

23. My next-door neighbor probably owns a couple of guns.

And he isn't a particularly nice guy. But he isn't pointing a gun at me.

These Democrats were saying he owns the guns and isn't a nice guy.

Bush said he was pointing the gun at me and so I was justified in shooting him first.

Bush was lying. The Democrats were acting on the information they had at the time.

Is your brother capable of telling the difference between a possible threat and a really immanent threat? Does he think I should shoot my neighbor just because he probably owns guns and isn't very nice?