Thursday, January 22, 2004
George W. Bush's State Of The Union Address; The "Weapons Of Mass Destruction" to be found on Mars?
(This isn't really about Mars--but I thought Dennis Kucinich's line about this was funny.) With many people (as many of us predicted) no longer all that concerned about the original basis for going to war (since it somehow became a war to overthrow a dictator instead), let's refresh our collective memory about the assertions made by the POTUS in last year's State Of The Union Address . . .
"In his State of the Union address, Bush claimed if the US did not invade Iraq, "the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day." He did not acknowledge, however, that U.S. inspectors have uncovered no unconventional weapons.
A year ago at the 2003 State of the Union, Bush made the case for war by claiming that Iraq had 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tones of sarin, mustard and VX nerve gas and 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. After 10 months of weapons searches, none of this has been uncovered. We hear from acclaimed Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy and Hans Von Sponeck, the former head of the UN mission to Iraq. [includes transcript]" (DemocracyNow.org)
Everyone with a longer memory span than a fly is now [or should be] rather upset with the whole situation in Iraq--and with the whole pretext having proven to be just that, a pretext and nothing more.
Here's a quick summary of the WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!! (sorry--it seems like these words not only are supposed to be meaningful, but also must be followed by an exclamation mark, much like TERROR!!! and EVIL!!!)--alleged and found . . .
Many of us kept pointing out before the invasion that there was really no evidence of any significant weapons program, and very little evidence that Iraq was not complying with the U.N. inspectors.
"January 9, 2003
Hans Blix reports to the Security Council that Iraq has cooperated by providing an "open doors" policy of unfettered access to requested sites. According to a later statement from Blix, "the most important point to make is that access has been provided to all sites we have wanted to inspect." IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei likewise reports on January 9 that "Iraqi authorities have consistently provided access without conditions and without delay." Blix reports that Iraq has provided new information on its weapons activities, including an "Air Force document" that may shed light on Iraq's use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war."
source: "Grading Iraqi Compliance": A Report by the Sanctions and Security Project of the Fourth Freedom Forum and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
In fact it seemed that Iraq was going above and beyond, doing whatever was asked of them (even allowing inspections of the palaces), in order to avoid being bombed to smithereens. It also seemed clear that the Bush administration was bound and determined to go to war no matter what, with or without good reasons/evidence, and with or without U.N. authorization or support [actually, this part was stated openly and explicitly].
—ungeziefer
THE CADAVER POLITIK Home Page
UNGEZIEFER
"In his State of the Union address, Bush claimed if the US did not invade Iraq, "the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day." He did not acknowledge, however, that U.S. inspectors have uncovered no unconventional weapons.
A year ago at the 2003 State of the Union, Bush made the case for war by claiming that Iraq had 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tones of sarin, mustard and VX nerve gas and 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. After 10 months of weapons searches, none of this has been uncovered. We hear from acclaimed Indian author and activist Arundhati Roy and Hans Von Sponeck, the former head of the UN mission to Iraq. [includes transcript]" (DemocracyNow.org)
Everyone with a longer memory span than a fly is now [or should be] rather upset with the whole situation in Iraq--and with the whole pretext having proven to be just that, a pretext and nothing more.
Here's a quick summary of the WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!!! (sorry--it seems like these words not only are supposed to be meaningful, but also must be followed by an exclamation mark, much like TERROR!!! and EVIL!!!)--alleged and found . . .
Many of us kept pointing out before the invasion that there was really no evidence of any significant weapons program, and very little evidence that Iraq was not complying with the U.N. inspectors.
"January 9, 2003
Hans Blix reports to the Security Council that Iraq has cooperated by providing an "open doors" policy of unfettered access to requested sites. According to a later statement from Blix, "the most important point to make is that access has been provided to all sites we have wanted to inspect." IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei likewise reports on January 9 that "Iraqi authorities have consistently provided access without conditions and without delay." Blix reports that Iraq has provided new information on its weapons activities, including an "Air Force document" that may shed light on Iraq's use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war."
source: "Grading Iraqi Compliance": A Report by the Sanctions and Security Project of the Fourth Freedom Forum and the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.
In fact it seemed that Iraq was going above and beyond, doing whatever was asked of them (even allowing inspections of the palaces), in order to avoid being bombed to smithereens. It also seemed clear that the Bush administration was bound and determined to go to war no matter what, with or without good reasons/evidence, and with or without U.N. authorization or support [actually, this part was stated openly and explicitly].
—ungeziefer
THE CADAVER POLITIK Home Page
UNGEZIEFER
