The inspectors have not found proof of the existence of any WMD in Iraq. I think that it's a good time to check the ledger.
They've failed to uncover prohibited weapons despite the fact that they are dedicated professionals armed with sophisticated detection equipment, guided by intelligence data provided by the US, free to enter any facility and are granted the imprimatur of the UN and ostensibly, the US.
Yet, we say weapons will be found.
The inspectors have certified the non-use or non-replacement of prohibited equipment and Iraq's forces are training for the contingency that they're going to be invaded, not to engage in an invasion of their neighbors. It's a fact that their military capability has degraded to levels even less than after the immediate end of the Gulf War.
Yet, we insist that they disarm.
No evidence exists that Iraq still maintains mobile laboratories, prohibited stores of chemical filled shells, missiles, a reconstituted nuclear weapons program, or other violative elements.
Yet, we state that the absence of proof doesn't belie the absence of their existence.
We scour the country with sophisticated surveillance assets, such as satellites and spy planes, both manned and unmanned. We generate sorties and bomb targets at will. The inspectors, equipped with transport planes, helicopters and dedicated vehicles have made unannounced and intrusive raids of facilities, collected soil samples and even opened personal effects without obtrusion, and have yet catch the Iraqis with their hands in the cookie jar.
Yet, we insist that the Iraqis are not cooperating enough.
Itemized lists are deputed on both sides of the debate and no credence is given to the point made by Scott Ritter that the so-called hidden weapons fall well into the parameters of weapons lost to attrition by US attacks and are made ineffective by degradation over time. Plus, there's no extant delivery mechanism to launch these weapons against us, even if they did exist.
Yet, we say that those weapons are still a danger to us.
There are no mass demonstrations in the streets of Iraq begging for US intervention, no internal acts of violent dissension by Iraqi opposition groups and no American citizen has ever cast a vote in an Iraqi election.
Yet, we say we know who's best to lead the Iraqi people.
Our troops are moving into place, we spin the apparent evidence into a web of prevarication and 27 January 2003 will be here soon.
So far, George has checked the balance sheet and has calculated that we have no alternative, but to go to war.
Looks like somebody needs an honest and independent auditor.
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