Kay: No WMD in Iraq
David Kay, the outgoing chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq says it is not likely that any large stockpiles of banned weapons will be found in Iraq. Mr. Kay has blamed intelligence failures for what he now says is the mistaken belief that Saddam Hussein had chemical or biological weapons.
David Kay was sent into Iraq after major combat operations had ended last May, charged with finding the nuclear, chemical or biological weapons that the United States said posed a threat to the world.
"My summary view, based on what I've seen, is that we're very unlikely to find large stockpiles of weapons," he said. "I don't think they exist."
President Bush used Saddam Hussein's refusal to verify disarmament - as demanded by the United Nations - to justify his decision to go to war. But after months of searches that have turned up evidence of weapons programs - but no actual weapons - David Kay tells National Public Radio the U.S. intelligence community owes the White House an apology.
"You have to remember that this view of Iraq was held during the Clinton administration and didn't change in the Bush administration," he said. "It is not a political 'gotcha' issue. It is a serious issue of how you could come to the conclusion that is not matched by the future."
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Matt's Chat
Mr. Kay is certainly entitled to his opinion. He's the guy the administration sent to figure it all out. But before liberals start throwing parades in the man's honor, I suggest you look at what he has to say. Kay says that he thinks it is "unlikely" that large stockpiles of WMD will be found, he doesn't rule it out. Additionally, Kay indicates that the intelligence estimate on Iraq did not change during the transition between the Clinton and Bush administrations. In a post-9/11 world, I prefer an administration that takes action to protect us from threats when the information on hand leads you in a direction that the country might be at risk.Now before the hamsters start burning me in effigy (I want to make sure that they do so for the right reasons), let me tell you all right up front that I still support the war whether we find a single weapon of mass destruction. I think Saddam was brutal dictator who committed atrocities against not just humanity, but his own people as well. I don't understand how the Clinton/Gore administration let Saddam get away with it all those years.
Was the administration wrong on WMD? I don't know, it appears that they might have been, but nobody really knows for sure. Was the war wrong? HELL NO...
Mark's Remarks
There may never be found to be large stockpiles, but we know he was trying to develop them. What, we should wait until he does develop them before we take him out? Wait til he tests them in a train station in Tel Aviv? Or Cleveland? Or DC? I do not think so. Saddam was ambitious to get the stuff, just he was duped by his own people. Also, the info he had on producing weapons could have been sold to terrorists. We know Saddam consorted with terrorists, direct al-queda connection or not. Do you mean to tell me that the man who offered rewards to suicide bombers would not have sold ricin or other chemical weapons to terrorists bent on crippling the US? I do not think so. He would have.I love the libs. They said all during Clinton/Gore that Saddam had WMD. Sen. Levin, Sen. Kerry, Sen. Clinton, even Teddy "Chappaquitick" Kennedy; all had the same intelligence info as Bush and all said Saddam had WMD. They all supported going in. Of course, now it is political season, so we have to recant and make up that we never really thought he had them, or that the threat was not imminent. Well, the President went in before the threat became imminent. In a post 9/11 world, we cannot wait til we have a threat hit us before protecting ourselves. I am sick and tired of this political manuevering...libs are making me even more sick with this garbage....I really wish they would grow up, and look at themselves....they said they would be the first to speak up if they didn't like the way the war was going, etc....they did not...(ESP. you, Mr. Kerry)....Now that it is political season, they are perverting data and manipulating events to make the President look bad....are they out to find the truth? Hell no. They don't want to correct intelligence failures or get to the heart of the matter, that Clinton's gutting of the military and spineless prosecution of foreign policy/national security made America appear to be weak, and that terrorists took advantage. They do not want to get to the fact that Clinton gutted the Defense dept., did not heed guarantees of getting bin Laden, that all he did was fire missiles into a camel's butt, or take out a baby food factory. They do not want to get to that. They instead just want to manipulate the American people to regain power, so they can make us weak and vulnerable again, raise our taxes for social experimentation, and wait for the next terror attack. They are a disgrace.
