P.W.M.D.P.R.A.C. – Moon of Alabama

October 7, 2004

P.W.M.D.P.R.A.C.

“My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.”
Transcript of Powell’s U.N. presentation

The Comprehensive Report .. on Iraq’s WMD finds:

Irak had

Possible – Weapon – of – Mass – Destruction – Program – Related – Activity – Considerations

thought to eventually deter an Iranian aggression.

Never has a nation’s international standing be shredded like this.

Posted by b on October 7, 2004 at 12:23 UTC | Permalink

Comments

OMG, the full report is HUGE.
key findings
• Iran was the pre-eminent motivator of this policy. All senior level Iraqi officials considered Iran to be Iraq’s principal enemy in the region. The wish to balance Israel and acquire status and influence in the Arab world were also considerations, but secondary.
• Iraq Survey Group (ISG) judges that events in the 1980s and early 1990s shaped Saddam’s belief in the value of WMD. In Saddam’s view, WMD helped to save the Regime multiple times. He believed that during the Iran-Iraq war chemical weapons had halted Iranian ground offensives and that ballistic missile attacks on Tehran had broken its political will. Similarly, during Desert Storm, Saddam believed WMD had deterred Coalition Forces from pressing their attack beyond the goal of freeing Kuwait. WMD had even played a role in crushing the Shi’a revolt in the south following the 1991 cease-fire.

Posted by: MarcinGomulka | Oct 7 2004 13:44 utc | 1

POWELL must resign RIGTH NOW. TODAY.

Posted by: curious | Oct 7 2004 14:41 utc | 2

see the noses of colin and george and the other guy behind them, how they are wiggling ? see the desperate faces of these guys ?
colin couldn’t bring in any real anthrax of vx or whatever, no, he had to pull off this cheap stunt with his fucking COKE VIAL before any of them had a noseful that morning !
fucking dilletant …

Posted by: name | Oct 7 2004 15:21 utc | 3

The grinch and his thugs.

Posted by: Anonymous | Oct 7 2004 15:35 utc | 4

Indeed, Bush is a wonder. So far, I thought the best (worst?) was Chirca deciding that France would sign the treaty banning nuclear tests *after* France has finished its newly revived tests program. Now, this is all forgotten in the mists of time and pales in comparison to the complete lunacy of the Bush regime.
I’ve always thought Saddam’s key reasons were to deter external and domestic attacks. When you have Iran and Turkey as neighbors, and Israel quite close, you have reasons to be paranoid. When half your people dreams of rebellion, having your own version of the death star to instill fear and submission is also efficient.
Apparently, that’s more or less what Hussein himself said to the Americans; his trial may be quite interesting.

Posted by: CluelessJoe | Oct 7 2004 16:27 utc | 5

via Josh Marshall
WaPo Editorial Weapons That Weren’t There

Mr. Bush had to decide whether the risks of invading outweighed those of standing pat without knowing for sure what U.S. forces would find in Iraq or what would happen once they were there.
Because Mr. Bush chose to act, we know what capabilities Iraq did — and did not — possess, and we’ve learned how difficult it is to occupy and attempt to reconstruct that country.

Every GI and every taxpayer should note this outstanding justification.

Posted by: b | Oct 7 2004 17:02 utc | 6

cluelessjoe
there will be no ‘trial’ & an element of it noot happening because 98% of your editorial writers are like the above from washington post
they are a shame to whatever credit journalism may have had & it is evidently less today than ten years ago, it is a shame to an america that has never been informed of the real situation, & it is a shame to humanity that some cribblers too full of drink have actually wielded power & influence
still steel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 7 2004 18:14 utc | 7

“Mr Duelfer told the US Senate he believed Saddam wanted to reconstitute his weapons-of-mass-destruction program in the future, although no evidence of such plans was uncovered.” theage.com
even for the bishop berkely that is the most metaphysic of propositions
still steel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 7 2004 18:52 utc | 8

CJ
Maybe it was just as well that France did those “nukuclar” tests. They might need to rattle sabres soon.

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Oct 7 2004 20:08 utc | 9

From the AP:
Reporter Held in Contempt in CIA Probe
Thu Oct 7,12:56 PM ET
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – A federal judge held a reporter in contempt Thursday for refusing to divulge confidential sources to prosecutors investigating the leak of an undercover CIA (news – web sites) officer’s identity.
U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed until she agrees to testify about her sources before a grand jury, but said she could remain free while pursuing an appeal. Miller could be jailed up to 18 months.
Hogan cited Supreme Court rulings that reporters do not have absolute First Amendment protection from testifying about confidential sources. He said there was ample evidence that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case, had exhausted other avenues of obtaining key testimony before issuing subpoenas to Miller and other reporters.
“The special counsel has made a limited, deferential approach to the press in this matter,” Hogan said.
Fitzgerald is investigating whether a crime was committed when someone leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, whose name was published by syndicated columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. Novak cited two “senior administration officials” as his sources.
The Novak column appeared after Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, was critical in a newspaper opinion piece of President Bush (news – web sites)’s claim that Iraq (news – web sites) sought to obtain uranium in Niger. The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger to investigate that claim, which he concluded was unfounded.
Miller’s lawyer, Floyd Abrams, said he would quickly file notice of an appeal of Hogan’s ruling with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He and Miller both noted that although she gathered material for a story about Plame, she never wrote one.
[In other news, it is reported that Larry Franklin has ceased cooperation with federal investigators and hired a high-profile D.C. defense attorney. Not necessarily in that order.]

Posted by: Pat | Oct 7 2004 20:36 utc | 10

re: Judith Miller
Why has Novak not been threatened with jail? Isn’t he the one that wrote the story? What am I missing?
It seems so simple, ask Novak who outed Plame. If he doesn’t answer turn him over to Lyndie England and her friends at Abu Ghraib. After a the boys there get a chance to “let off some steam” in the words of the great asshole Rush Limbaugh, Novak will certainly be more inclined to reveal his source.

Posted by: Dan of Steele | Oct 7 2004 20:49 utc | 11

dan of steele
i second that
but would also suggest novak be handed over to
a crowd of taliban horsemen to be used as a football of some kind so that he can begin to understand the meaning of flexibility
still steel

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Oct 7 2004 21:35 utc | 12

Cheney’s gold medal performance
Can we all see now the administration’s
Triumph of the Will?

Posted by: Citizen | Oct 7 2004 21:43 utc | 13

Superb Quick time video on Neo conman’s global aspirations.
Powell?
Just a well-paid puppet, not worth farting at.

Posted by: koreyel | Oct 7 2004 22:16 utc | 14

OT you do know Eschaton / Atrios
He was hijacked athttp://atrios.blogpsot.com/
Real christian values…

Posted by: b | Oct 7 2004 22:29 utc | 15

Bernhard: Plagiarising Ted Turner, I have more respect for the Heaven’s Gate wackos (or the Solar Temple ones, or most of the Jamestown ones); they just killed themselves and didn’t bother mankind and Earth anymore. Fundie Christians on the other intend to harm the whole world with their loony superstitions. Often, I wish they would all just drink some real kool-aid and rid us of their stupidity.
Cloned Poster: EU nuclear arsenal is quite limited. I tend to think the real European aresenal lies East, and mostly depends on one Vladimir Putin’s.

Posted by: Clueless Joe | Oct 7 2004 22:59 utc | 16

@Dan of Steele
No idea why Novak hasn’t been issued a supoena.

Posted by: Pat | Oct 7 2004 23:37 utc | 17

Pretty sure DeGaulle built several hundred nukes in the era before he pulled France out of Nato. #4 in the world, IIRC.

Posted by: Castaway | Oct 8 2004 1:19 utc | 18

On Thursday, the Memory Hole Blog linked to Billmon’s collection of some admin statements on the certainty of finding WMD in Iraq. Glad someone took him up on his comment “…if people want to use this as documentation after the Bushies try to flush it all down the memory hole, it would probably help to have sourcing.”

Posted by: b real | Oct 8 2004 18:36 utc | 19

Here’s Billmon’s database of WMD quotes
and I meant to stop that quotation above at the comma…

Posted by: b real | Oct 8 2004 18:52 utc | 20

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