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Did Bill Clinton know about WMDs in Iraq?

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Disturbed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:33 PM
Original message
Did Bill Clinton know about WMDs in Iraq?
It seems to me he must have known that there were none.

What are your thoughts on this?
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justinsb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:36 PM
Response to Original message
1. Clinton was complicit
in the oppression of Iraq throughout his 8 years in office, he was likely complicit in the WMD lie too.
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FogerRox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:37 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. When Clinton was on Letterman a few weeks ago Dave asked him about the Dow
DOwning St minutes and Clinton lied-- pretended he never heard of the DSM
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Lex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:39 PM
Response to Reply #2
6. How, exactly, do you know that Clinton *had* heard of it?
Thanks.

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FogerRox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:43 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. body language-changed speach pattern changed
He speaking pattern can be a flowing assured of pace-- he almost stuttered
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Lex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:44 PM
Response to Reply #10
11. Wow.
You should do that for a living.

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FogerRox Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:47 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. it came in handy during my meeting with
Edited on Tue Jul-26-05 05:49 PM by FogerRox
the Attorney Generals staff in NJ-- in NJ the AG runs election instead of the SOS.
I meet with the Chief of staff Marcus Green and Deputy AG Donna Kelly. My "feelings" Were shown to be most like true when a latter meeting was cancelled and why it was cancelled.
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Catherine Vincent Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 07:25 PM
Response to Reply #11
34. I'll have to agree with RogerFox.
Edited on Tue Jul-26-05 07:27 PM by cat_girl25
I saw President Clinton on Letterman and my BS detector rang when he was asked about the DSM and Clinton said "what was that?" He knew exactly what Letterman said and Clinton acted like he hadn't heard of it. It was like when I first saw that clip of him pointing his finger of not having sex with that woman, ML. He was BShitting then.

But as far as the WMD goes, they were there at one point in time. The United States sold or gave it to Saddam back when we were friends.
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merh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:39 PM
Response to Reply #1
4. I agree.
Also, Clinton's administration authorized the CIA to transport suspects (political prisonsers) to other nations that use torture as a means to gain information.

Clinton's hands are as dirty as the weeds, imho.

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justinsb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:40 PM
Response to Reply #4
8. Clintons hands are dirty all the way back to Nicaragua
apparently the CIA was flying in and out of an airport in Menna, AK while Clinton was Governor and he signed the papers giving them permission.
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merh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:58 PM
Response to Reply #8
23. I didn't realize that.
But it doesn't surprise me. How sad is that?

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justinsb Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:01 PM
Response to Reply #23
24. Pretty Sad
Just do a search under
Clinton Nicaragua Mena Arkansas CIA on google, you'll get tons of info.
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merh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:23 PM
Response to Reply #24
27. Thanks, I will.
:hi:

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OmmmSweetOmmm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:42 PM
Response to Reply #1
9. Yes, he is complicit. n/t
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chelsea0011 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:38 PM
Response to Original message
3. If he did he has never come out against the Iraq War
My understanding is that he had CIA info the had questions about Saddam and his weapons programs. Did Clinton think it was bullshit? If he did why didn't he speak out prior to the war? I think he had the same questions the CIA had about the truth of the information. He didn't think it raised the bar to a slaughter of thousands of civilians over it.
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:39 PM
Response to Original message
5. He went along with the ruse, because we were bombing them daily
I doubt that we have ever had a truly "honest" president.:(

Expediency always wins out :(

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Missy M Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:40 PM
Response to Original message
7. He must have known there were no WMD's in Iraq.....
Edited on Tue Jul-26-05 05:41 PM by Missy M
in my opinion everyone in congress must have known there were no WMD's in Iraq. They had to hear what Hans Blix and Scott Ritter among others had to say.
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Lex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:45 PM
Response to Reply #7
12. Clinton didn't declare war on Iraq and invade it either. nt
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Missy M Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #12
16. But he is a big supporter of the war....
Edited on Tue Jul-26-05 06:02 PM by Missy M
I like Bill Clinton but I strongly disagree with him on the war.
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Lex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:50 PM
Response to Reply #16
20. "A big supporter" of the war?
Hmmm. I've never gotten that impression.

I think he thinks Bush f*cked up (he won't say that however), but he also thinks we have to deal with the fact that our soldiers are there now.

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Missy M Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:01 PM
Response to Reply #20
25. He did not speak out about it when the phony decisions were....
being made to invade Iraq and Hillary Clinton supported bush on the invasion. Bill Clinton did support the invasion.
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Patty Diana Donating Member (555 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 07:05 PM
Response to Reply #20
32. If Clinton had gone to War with Iraq___he would have gone in with
what the GENERALS asked for. We would have dethroned Saddam and the country would now be stable. We wouldn't have lost all those soldiers and we wouldn't have killed over 100,000 Iraqis (mostly women and children). Plus he would have had a REAL coalition with both troops and money. shrub has a shitload of chickenhawks (never served in real combat) civilians running the Entire United States Military. Oh we wouldn't be WAR CRIMINALS either!!!! What a disgrace this cabal is!!!!!!!!
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FreedomAngel82 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 07:16 PM
Response to Reply #20
33. Now where have I heard that before?
(that we have to deal that we're there) :eyes:
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Disturbed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:46 PM
Response to Reply #7
14. It make sense to me that
Bill Clinton knew all along that there were no WMDs. He is complicit with the sham by not speaking up. If he knew then so do his wife. It makes me ponder about both of them. How about you?
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Missy M Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:51 PM
Response to Reply #14
21. I would love to see a woman president but I am getting very...
disillusioned with Hillary Clinton. She also must have known there were no WMD's and she is a staunch supporter of the war.
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joemurphy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:49 PM
Response to Reply #7
17. Clinton has always said that the CIA had told him that
there were WMDs in Iraq. I don't think anyone knew for sure that there weren't any until there was a thoroughgoing search after the war.

That said, I don't think Clinton regarded Saddam as a major threat either. He saw terrorists as a bigger threat.
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Missy M Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:55 PM
Response to Reply #17
22. What about Hans Blix and the weapons inspectors. They could not
find any WMD's. Scott Ritter was everywhere talking about it, did no one in congress listen to those people. They only heard what they wanted to hear from bush and company.
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joemurphy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:59 PM
Response to Reply #22
31. Well, David Kay was making the rounds claiming that he was
darn sure Saddam had them. Ritter never said before the War that he was 100% sure Saddam hadn't hidden some WMDs. Ritter was pretty emphatic that Saddam's nuclear program was hamstrung by the inspections. He was less sure about chemical and biological weapons.

Ritter was a more reasoned voice in the run up to the war. He was painted as a traitor and Iraqi dupe and was basically silenced in the furor created by all the drumbeaters like Judy Miller, David Kay and Richard Butler. Kay, I'm sure, personally made millions in NOT finding nuclear weaponsafter the war. Almost a billion dollars was spent on his fruitless search for the non-existent weapons.

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Name removed Donating Member (0 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:45 PM
Response to Original message
13. Deleted message
Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.
 
Gabi Hayes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:49 PM
Response to Original message
18. he talked about that on Al Franken last week. anybody catch it?
bad connections, so I half paid attention

he said something about how they knew most of them had been destroyed right after the first invasion, but that they couldn't know that all of them, especially chem/bio were gone into the mid/late 90s, cause Saddam wasn't totally cooperative

hard to get much of a take on his position based on what I heard

there's got to be plenty on google, etc., on that, though

based on his lack of a strong voice against the invasion, and his sickening handholding with poppy, though, I don't hold much with most of his output these days

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pocket Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 05:50 PM
Response to Original message
19. Clinton signed the "Regime Change" act
which is basically the policy that * set into motion.

He's just as guilty.

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Disturbed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:06 PM
Response to Reply #19
26. "fucked up on the intelligence"
In my view the Intell was taken from the CIA to the Office of Special Plans and "fixed to fit the policy". Special Plans- Yeah the Rethugs do have a knack for naming things, don't they?

Bill and Hillary need to be scrutenized, not worshipped.
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ChiDem Donating Member (238 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:42 PM
Response to Original message
28. Clinton has done some nasty things..
First off, he KNEW Saddam was selling oil and violating the sanctions...and did nothing.

snip

Despite United Nations Security Council Resolutions," a 1998 memo signed by President Clinton's deputy secretary of state, Strobe Talbott, said, "Jordan continues to import oil from Iraq."

snip
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/02/iraq.oil.smuggle/

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Patty Diana Donating Member (555 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:51 PM
Response to Original message
29. I hate like hell to admit it, but he's in bed with the bushies here_now
why I don't know. I can imagine all kind of tinfoil hat shit
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Disturbed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 06:59 PM
Response to Reply #29
30. Bill and Hillary are Moderate Republicans.
They get along with Pa and Ma Bush just fine. Bill has been unofficially adopoted the them.
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K-W Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 07:27 PM
Response to Original message
35. Nobody knew for sure.
Bill Clinton isnt a psychic. He knew what everybody else knew.
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Disturbed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 07:32 PM
Response to Reply #35
36. Bill Clinton was the Pres.
Edited on Tue Jul-26-05 07:35 PM by Disturbed
He knew a Hell of a lot more than most Amerikans and more than most in Congress. His main person on terrorism was Richard Clark. Let's not sell Bill short on what he knew.

Even Colon Powell and Ms Rice knew that there were no WMDs. Let's get real, eh?

"Saddam Hussein has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours."
Powell in Cairo on February 24, 2001

"We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt."
Condoleeza Rice, April 2001

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K-W Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jul-26-05 08:09 PM
Response to Reply #36
37.  we know what he knew.
Edited on Tue Jul-26-05 08:09 PM by K-W
From people like Richard Clarke.

Clinton knew that Iraq might have had some small chemical or biological stockpile, that it was very unlikely but possible that some small program existed. He knew full well that the case for war was a fabrication. But so did I.

He certainly could not categorically know that not a single thing classified as a WMD existed in the entire nation of Iraq.

He hedged his bets like almost all politicians and refused to say definitively that there was nothing just in case a small something appeared and made them look stupid.
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