So WHAT if Saddam did have WMD's

[BushOut06]

Just for shits and giggles, let's say that Saddam did have some WMD material sitting around before we invaded. Let's even grant that he engaged in the best hide-and-seek game in human history. So what?

What most people tend to forget is that not many people were disputing the fact Saddam had WMDs before the war started. The key issue is did Saddam pose an IMMEDIATE THREAT to the United States? Meaning, is there ANY information that Saddam was preparing to use those weapons against us? Saddam had no means to deliver any WMDs, his longest-range missiles barely had a range of a few hundred kilometers (if that). Saddam may have been indirectly supporting groups like Hamas, but there were NO ties to "international" groups like Al Qaeda.

THIS is the justification BushCo used to go to war - not the mere presence of WMDs themselves. Heck, there are lots of countries around the world that possess biological and chemical weapons, are we going to start invading each and every one? (Well, given the disposition of this administration, that's a distinct possibility)

The next time some neocon tries to pull this shit on you, you need to pin them down. Ask them precisely what the "immediate threat" that Iraq posed was. Don't accept the "well, Saddam could have done this or that". That's not what an "immediate threat" means. Pin them down, make them squirm. When they can't come up with anything, spit at their feet, walk away, and say "Yeah, that's what I thought".

- on edit - I still don't believe that he actually had them, I think most of them were either destroyed in '91, or during Clinton's bombing actions (1997?). It is, however, somewhat possible that a few WMDs may have survived, although they sure as hell wouldn't constitute the "stockpiles" that BushCo claimed was such a dire threat.

[mzmolly]

1. It wasn't about WMD's it was about RECONSTITUTING A NUCLEAR PROGRAM.

We can't let them change the terms of the debate. And, if he did have weapons, the inspections could have handled that.

I fully agree with you though, "so what." There were solutions besides war.

[BushOut06]

3. Oh yeah, the "mushroom cloud" comment

That was a total crock of BS. I dont think anyone seriously believed that Saddam had an active nuclear weapons program going on. Well, outside the BushCo regime, that is. Even they didn't believe it, it was just scaremongering on their part.

[ktlyon]

5. Which means he violated the law that supposedly allows wire taps

He did not pursue every possible alternative before invading. He had to invade, the inspectors where running out of places to look. He never expected Saddam to agree to the inspectors. He also said he had top secret info that he could not share at this time.

[mzmolly]

6. You got it !

:hi:

[BOSSHOG]

2. This factual statement really pisses a "conservative" off

Iraq had WMD when Bill Clinton took office, and he did not when President Clinton left office.

Operations Southern and Northern Watch, the no-fly zone, weapons inspectors free to do their thing in the peaceful and prosperous 90's. Hussein is a good candidate for republican office, constantly talking smack. I'd talk like a badass too if I were fixing to get my ass kicked.

[mzmolly]

7. Yep good point.

:hi:

[Warpy]

4. Uh, I said 5 years ago he didn't have a delivery system

and the chances of using crazed Islamic fundies to deliver them to the US via ship or aircraft was so minute as to be laughable. Most of those guys would have succeeded in killing themselves off with whatever nerve gas or nasty germs they were carrying long before they got out of the Middle East, let alone on the way to a US city. The whole idea was ludicrous.

[BOSSHOG]

10. But "conservatives" have to feel good

about the war, since they choose not to participate themselves. The pride of "conservatives" is so great that they must grasp for anything even years later. Your accurate analogy of the Iraqis hurting themselves handling their own weapons kinda deflates the swagger of the boy king huh! War president my ass.

[bryant69]

8. One point - They won't concede that he had no

ties to al Qaeda. And even if they concede that, they will say he might have developed them.

Bryant
Check out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Roland99]

9. But, he didn't. Wasn't even close.

Just "weapons programs-related activities".


:rofl: