Why didn't the Bush White House plant WMD in Iraq?

[Ian_rd]

I know we're all still wrapped up in Katrina and Roberts, but this issue continues to bug me - probably because I still expect WMD to show up one day on the news and create the biggest "I told you so" in the history of the world. What do you think?

[mr_hat]

1. There's still time...

[barb162]

67. that's right

[AverageJoe]

2. I want to vote for 2-5

Since I can't I won't have an official vote. Heavy sigh.

[illflem]

3. The rest of the world expected them to try it

and was watching too closely

[babylonsister]

4. They got what they wanted in regards to going into Iraq.

Then, for months, they used the threat as further impetus to move their plan forward. We were/are so entrenched, it probably doesn't matter to them anymore.

[Bozita]

5. Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing aircraft was too busy ...

... hauling heavy equipment for gold mining.

[ComerPerro]

They don't need to. There are still people here in the US who believe

that WMD were there, that Bush was telling the truth, and that we are just days away from finding them.

And its not like anyone discusses all the lies.

Cindy raised a good point when asking Bush for the "Noble Cause".

I wish more people would discuss this.

"Well, no WMD. So why did we go in, and why are we still there?"

[Mr_Spock]

6. Who said they have integrity?

What's up with that??

[oasis]

15. Freeps are forced to flee their comfort zone because of the "Roberts

is gay" talk over there.

[Mr_Spock]

22. Roberts is Gay??

Actually, I've seen that story - kinda funny. Funny thing is, the majority of successful gays that I know are Republican. I can't figure it out but I have been rather surprised by this seeming anomoly. It may have something to do with preserving what you have when you feel like you've "earned" it. It's a selfishness that plagues the Republican philosophy. In fact, their entire philopophy (repuke) could simply be described as "me, myself and I".

[Cha]

69. But, successful in whose

terms?..I know a lot of successful Gays who are in the business of being Dems.

[Cha]

66. That's what I want to know..and

why are there 6 freeptards voting on this poll?

[wakeme2008]

7. IMHO and there was some chatter that they had

tried but got caught with the boxes and did not plant them.

[Jacobin]

8. Judy Miller was about to, but had to go to jail before she could

deliver them.

:evilgrin:

[rocktivity]

9. I remember there was a story floating around

that an attempt WAS made to plant the weapons. But through some kind of communication breakdown, the people planting them were mistaken for the enemy and killed.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Ian_rd]

13. I remember that one...

If it's the same story you're thinking of, it was the one covered by Iranian state news. I was waiting for a more credible news organization to confirm the story, but it never happened, so I pretty much decided that it wasn't worth believing.

[verdalaven]

18. Brownie must have been in charge of that mission.

Yeah, I'm a bad girl.

[rocktivity]

27. Bad DU-er! BAD!!!

:spank:

On edit: Thanks for the story link, Tiptoe. It's from a Pakistani newspaper but quotes American military and Pentagon people.

:headbang:
rocknation

[tiptoe]

85. just an fyi: original date of story was 12/8/2003

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/?page=story_12-8-2003_pg1_9

(The original link above had never worked for me during previous attempts months ago...now it does.)

[tiptoe]

20. Here's the "whistleblower" story:

US tried to plant WMDs, failed: whistleblower

If the report details are ever researched and confirmed -- and I don't know that they weren't debunked -- it would shine a brighter light on 1) Tenet's "Slam Dunk" comment, 2) Judith Miller's basis for confidence in her excursion to Iraq with MET Alpha unit to uncover WMDs, and 3) why WMDs never turned up.

[cynatnite]

10. They forgot n/t

[cally]

11. I think they tried

I vaguely remember some DU posts on a weapons cache found in another country during the early months of the invasion. Most speculated that these were destined to Iraq. I can't remember enough to do a search. Maybe someone else remembers what I'm referring to. :shrug:

[BlueJac]

12. It didn't matter to them...

we are there anyway.....hopefully we will bust the Bush liars someday.

[Disturbed]

21. Bushco had it covered.

The deal was to blame faulty Intell when no WMDs were found. That plan has worked for the most part. The other part is that they figured that most Amerikans wouldn't be outraged by the lack of WMDs because Saddam was ousted and Iraq was becoming a Democracy. Maybe Bushco underestimated the resistance of Iraqis to US/UK Colonialism?

[Why Syzygy]

14. What about

Bush wouldn't know a WMD if it bit him in the butt.

I believe the rumors that there were attempts made to plant 'evidence'. It sure as hell was planted beforehand, wasn't it.

Maybe someday we'll get the truth. Probably not today though.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. They tried

a little reported story, the First ID killed to a man a CIA team, they claimed it was a Recon \ Intelligence unit that somehow got lost.

How do we know they tried? When was the last time they relieved a Lt General in teh middle of a succesful invasion?


So none of your options is good

[Inland]

17. I expect WMD to show up, still

the way I expected it to show up three years ago--buried fucking deep in some desert hideaway in a form that it can't be used.

The reason why Bush didn't plant any is because what they needed to find is WMD, not WMD parts, not WMD traces, not buried bits and pieces. Now, I don't know about you, but if someone came to me and said, "I want you to take this nerve gas, put it in a container that looks Iraqi, scuff it up a bit, and smuggle it into Iraq...Oh, and by the way, you can't take any precautions like suits or special vehicles, because that would looks suspicious.....and bury it somewhere which is handy to Saddam but not so handy that somebody familiar with the area would know it wasn't there before. Don't forget to kill anyone who finds out. No, we won't kill you after, come on."

Now, my suspicion is that not too many would sign up on a dangerous mission to save Bush's bacon, and the WH knows that, and knows better than to even ask.

[Why Syzygy]

23. Don't forget!

They do claim to have found WMD PROGRAMS!

Programs. Compare that to the 'evidence' they were spouting pre-invasion.

Bring Them Home.

[Inland]

38. Not even active programs; "programs" that could be restarted.

I'm not sure what a program is when it isn't doing anyting, nobody is working on it, and it's just a plan that may or may not be executed. I would call that a "not program".

[Why Syzygy]

54. Well George Walker

is a pro with "not programs". Makes sense now. Thanks.

[renate]

57. WMDs, then WMD programs, morphed into...

"programs of mass destruction-related activities," according to what * said in the 2004 State of the Union address.

oooh. Programs of mass destruction-related activities. Shiver me timbers.

[Inland]

82. Like FDA labelling, the more words, the less like food

Pastueurized Processed Cheese Food. Whatever it is, it isn't cheese.

Same with Programs of Mass Destruction-Related Activities. Whatever it is, it isn't WMD.

[Maine-i-acs]

19. I believe they tried twice -

One from the South just after the invasion, which was taken out by "friendly fire" (but a clandestine weapon-planting team would not ID itself to the point of qualifying as such).

One from the West which was intercepted by Jordanian military at the border.

Both accounts have been sucked into the media hole, and sorry if I can't provide links or corroboration, but it may take a whole generation or more for the truth of this illegal war to come out.

[tiptoe]

33. see post #20 for link to story "from the South" I suspect. nt

[zwielicht]

24. They would have lost the last bit of international credibility

Especially after Powell's shameful U.N.-presentation.

my 2 cents. A good question!

[tridim]

25. Saddam was a WMD, remember?

Regardless, we simply moved our own WMD's into Iraq, and now we are the evil regime in the Middle East.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

26. The bungling boobs can't even button their own shirts.

The so called "intelligence community" in this country are hopeless cretins. And, the bloated, ineffective, military, is like the redcoats charging up Bunker Hill weighted down with equipment. If they can't push a button to make something happen they're stuck picking their noses.

Plant WMD? In thier dreams.

[Why Syzygy]

56. Yeah.

Busting into an Ira*qi jail with tanks to 'rescue' two undercover coalition agents is the way to go.

[dbonds]

28. Most WMD can be traced to a source.

Both nuclear and bio weapons usually have a fingerprint that shows where they came from. About all they could possibly get away with in chemical. But they would have to show more than a weapon or two, they would have to show how they were made, which would require much more than sneaking in a few barrels or warheads.

[nickgutierrez]

29. The risk was too great

Now that they've already concluded that there were no WMD, it would be a hell of a thing for them to try and pull now. Nobody would believe it, I don't think.

[KansDem]

30. "Other..."

This war was supposed to be over as quickly as it started. Finding WMDs was a part of that. I think they decided not to plant the "evidence" after realizing we would be in Iraq for a long time, for fear that, once found, Americans would say "pull out..." Seeing that this invasion wasn't going to be the cakewalk the Bushistas had envisioned, they very well couldn't have stayed in Iraq after the WMDs were "discovered," so they wouldn't be able to build the 14 military bases and seize control of the oil, the real reason we're there.

[RaleighNCDUer]

31. Other!

They wanted to, but for some unaticipated reason people over there started shooting at them and blew the whole operation.

On Edit:

Besides, if they foung the WMDs they wouldn't be able to say they were smuggled into Syria/Iran before the next phase of the seizure of the oil fields.

[warrens]

32. Well, we got us four FRetards here

Either that or four sarcastic poll takers.

[RaleighNCDUer]

34. Maybe they just like any option that says 'Zing!'

I was tempted myself.

[Ian_rd]

41. In my opinion, "zing" is underutilized. hehe. (nt)

[elfin]

35. Because the believed the

"intelligence" they fabricated - too dumb to remember they made it up out of nothing.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

36. Even as idiotic and credulous as so many Americans are, do you honestly

believe the country would "buy it" if some crates of WMD's just suddenly "turned up" now? :shrug:

[Ian_rd]

42. Don't ever underestimate the ability of Republicans to believe ANYTHING ..

.. Bush has an approval rating of 40%. That's not amazing for how low it is, but mind-blowing for how high it is. What on God's Earth has this chimp done RIGHT? And he has 40% because he says "God" all the time, wants to "save" marriage from the sodomous hordes, and thinks intelligent design should be taught in school.

People don't believe Bush because they listen carefully and weight the facts, they believe him in the same way that they believe the Bible. It's all faith. Unshakeable faith.

[Why Syzygy]

63. That's what I was asking someone the other day.

Exactly what has this man ever done Right? How can we be proud of this? Other than the swaggering on a Navy vessel and bringing a plastic turkey to the men and women fighting every day and night for his illegal and morally bankrupt war, he seems to have missed the mission accomplished. That would include an actual MISSION!
It may be accomplished today and not tomorrow, do not misunderstand! K?

What else, George. What have you done again? Oh. Lead us in prayer. Thank you very much. You can leave now.

[lpbk2713]

37. Logistics

It would have taken too many people to pull of a scam that big. They just don't have that many people outside their inner circle that they can trust.

[Walt Starr]

39. WMDs are tracable

They'd be caught, and caught big time if they did it.

In fact, I figure they planned it that way all along, until they found out how easily they'd be caught at it.

[LondonReign2]

46. Yup, Scott Ritter was saying it would be near impossible

to get away with. Too easy to determine origin, too difficult logistically to pull off.

[LondonReign2]

47. Yup, Scott Ritter was saying it would be near impossible

to get away with. Too easy to determine origin, too difficult logistically to pull off.

[Why Syzygy]

64. yabut

where did their WMDs (a loooong time ago) come from?

What did they do? Put a UPC code on them, "destined for Ira*q courtesy of the USofA"?
Could be.

If anyONE believes that SH gave a crap about producing his own weapons, they need to think again.

[LondonReign2]

87. I could be talking out of my ass

but I believe it is fairly easy to determine *when* a bio weapon was produced. If I recall, one issue with Saddam's suppossed WMDs was that they would have degraded and been useless by now, at least the ones that Saint Ronnie and Poppy sold him.

So, we would have had to bring in some manufactured at the same time as the originals.

[imaginary girl]

40. Too busy using them on innocent bystanders

[Ksec]

43. They dont care

They get voted in anyway.

[MrSlayer]

44. Because they don't give a fuck. The important thing was getting in.

It doesn't matter that they got caught lying about it, they're in there now and aren't leaving until they've stolen all the money.

[RaleighNCDUer]

45. Thinking back on it, they screwed up their own plans.

The CIA are the obvious ones to do that sort of thing, but when Plame was outed it pissed the CIA off and they stopped cooperating. They couldn't follow through until Goss replaced the former head and 'shook up' the organization, purging it of the disloyal. By that time it was too late to make it believable.

[dickthegrouch]

71. They *can't* plan!

They are too busy not planning anything, except the cover-ups, to be able to forsee that an actual cache of WMDs might have helped.

Why do you think they haven't produced OBL?

[kerry-is-my-prez]

48. Surprised that they didn't do it and claim that the Dems planted them....

Rove fell down on the job.

[Ignacio Upton]

49. It is too big of an operation to pull off

But I wouldn't be surprised if they tried it. However, my theory is that Bush himself thought there were some WMD's there, or at least traces of a program, BUT he probably knew or had a hunch that this was not the elaborate arsenal that the MSM was telling us. In order to get his war, he needed two things:
1. 9/11 and connections to the tragedy - Which would allow him to mould the public's support for the war under the guise of "terror" and "fear" and "mushroom cloud."
2. Exaggerated arsenal - He needed to say that Saddam had drums of antrax, drones filled with biological weapons, mobile labs, and a nuclear program months away from having the bomb. If he just said that Saddam "poses a threat" or "Saddam has the intent of building WMD's" the public would have hestitated and said "wait a minute, sure Saddam is a bad guy, but why is he an immediate danger to us? There are other countries out there that pose more of a problem, like...North Korea and Saudi Arabia."

[Why Syzygy]

74. The MSM was telling us?

Hmmm.. Check out the State of the Union address he gave in 2003. I went to http://www.whitehouse.gov to try to find it but my stomach started knotting up, so I abandoned that search.

Someone here has the link, I imagine. The bottom line: BUSH and his devil masters put up the the whole charade. MSM fell in line.

That's my take on it anyway.

[in_cog_ni_to]

50. WMD have 'fingerprints' and can be traced to the lab that made them.

THAT is the ONLY reason they didn't plant them. I learned that tidbit from Will Pitt's book with Scott Ritter, "War In Iraq"

[Wizard777]

51. Too easy to get caught. Much like the Anthrax attacks.

It would take a chemist about a day to be able to say, This is the property of the US Government. Then comes the GAO audit of our stock piles.

[Why Syzygy]

76. Correct me if I'm wrong

but weren't ALL their weapons made in the USA? Or Russia. Okay. Still but, I find it very hard to believe they ever actually manufactured an original weapon.

Used them on his own people? Without a doubt. Seen the documentaries. But still. I just don't think they ever had 'labs', and I could be very mistaken. It happens.

[Wizard777]

78. Reagan/Bush gave him the sarin and mustard gas he used on Iran.

He also used some of it on the kurds. It was retalliation for a profidious attack on his army. But he was manufacturing his own bio/chem weapons. But all of that was detroyed by UNMOVIC.

[Onlooker]

52. Most likely they did

But, Al Qaida got hold of them.

[yurbud]

53. Why do you think they got so mad at Joe Wilson?

I read some theory that his wife was involved in the part of the CIA would know it was fake, which was a backdoor reason to go after him.

A simpler explanation was he set a bad precedent of whistleblowing on this issue that made planting too risky.

I also vaguely remember a story someone getting caught at a port trying to set it up.

[BlueIris]

55. Other--the CIA rebelled and refused to support the plant.

People ask me why I continue to post on this website when many of its contributors make me apoplectic. THIS THREAD IS WHY. To me, the refusal of the intelligence communities to support Bush's illegal, destructive plans--and in a few rumored cases, actually sabotage them--is a major reason why Bush hasn't been able to do more damage. A friend I made during the campaign days, who was ex military-intel, agrees with me that the WMDs never materialized because "there are a few honest people left in this world." There are a lot of things to criticize about CIA and the military as both those groups exist today, (not ripping vets or others who serve, please don't flame me!) but the bravery of those who dared to oppose this facet of Bush's scheme isn't one of them.

[yella_dawg]

58. They did.

But true to form, they botched it. When "troops" opened the supposed cache, all they found was cases Cheerios and size "small" condoms.

Naturally, the bureaucrat responsible was promoted.

[NNN0LHI]

59. Because the US is not the only country with high resolution spy satellites

And they were watching closely.

Don

60. rove wants to talk to you

and sign you up as a consultant.

[dooner]

61. they couldn't find any WMDs to plant

[Freedomfried]

62. A smart crooked cop always carries a "throw down" pistol

but Bush was in Houston years ago when the one cop got caught doing just that.

Maybe that memory stuck in his booze soaked brain.

[Cha]

65. I'm wondering how that last

choice got 6 votes??

You didn't have a choice for what I heard about this..I read on DU, long ago.. that they were all ready to "plant WMD" and some snafu happened and they were caught with their pants down and couldn't finish the job. Does that sound like one of their operations?

[leftofthedial]

68. they tried and got caught a couple of times so abandoned the project

so many expected them to try that they couldn't get away with it.

[Poiuyt]

70. I thought I heard they had plans to do it, but Nancy Pelosi found out and

said she would blow it open to the public if they did.

[bemildred]

72. They tried, but they bungled it. nt

[Sapphire Blue]

73. Could be they did & lost them somewhere around blah, blah, blah

[cantstandbush]

75. Perhaps they did and the "insurgents" stole them.

That could be why Bush and gang were so insistant that there were WMDs in Iraq even in the face to all the evidence to the contrary.

[RaleighNCDUer]

80. If insurgents found WMDs they'd have used them by now.

It's Bill Clinton's fault. He sneaked in there and stole them before they were found, so that he could sell them to China.

[freethought]

77. I am virtually certain someone would have 'ratted' them out

Of this fact I have no doubt. If the Bush administration had 'planted' WMDs in Iraq in order to save it's own sorry ass, somebody would spill the beans in a heartbeat. Who knows, maybe it may have been someone high up like Powell or Tenet. There are, were a few people in that admin who are still part of the human race. I am not a religious person but I will say this, Lord only knows what the reaction may have been if they had gotten caught doing it!

[Why Syzygy]

79. I think they are pretty well busted

even without the plants. Look around.

[Lochloosa]

81. They did not care if there were WMD..

we're the little people. So who cares what we think.

[ProfessorGAC]

83. One Word: Sattelites

Don't for one minute think the Russians, Chinese, and French didn't redirect their surveillance orbiters to watch Iraq. They would have been caught red-handed if they were moving hardware IN.

The Professor

[yodermon]

84. Google "Nelda Rogers" n/t

[HoosierClarkie]

86. For the last time people, we went to Iraq to liberate!

:sarcasm: