To all who Doubted the WMD Claims....

[Armstead]

Congratulations. Each and every one of you is smarter than those in Congress who allowed themselves to be led by the nose.

Throughout all of the claims, thhose whose "smell detectors" said "Wait a minute, what's all this 'we assume' or 'it can only mean' and the other Catch 22 phrases?"

You have been vindicated by David Kay.

Drink a champaigne or whatever beverage of choice you want.

[ewagner]

1. here, here

have one on me :beer:

[NNN0LHI]

2. I thought they had them until the UN inspectors...

...couldn't turn up anything after a few weeks. But your right. Hats off to the ones who didn't fall for it right from the start.

Don

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

3. I'm pretty close to you, Don.

I thought they had them but it took me longer to be sure. I made my educated guess when they weren't used during the invasion. I still think it was smart to hedge your bet until there was more information to deal with. I felt that I couldn't be absolutely sure until there was more on the table than just accusations and speculation. Iow, I didn't think there was enough info to think that there weren't WMD, either.

I, also, tip my hat to those who were ahead of the curve.






ed- add word

[Armstead]

4. That ol curve

I did my share of internal waffling about it.

Nothing is certain but it is certainly clear Saddam did not have huge chaches of WMD's pointed at America.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

Gotta look before you leap...

...or you'll get torn up on the rocks below.

[NicoleM]

5. make mine non-alcoholic

It wasn't my "smell detector," it was Scott Ritter that convinced me.

[no name no slogan]

37. I'm with you too, Nicole

Scott Ritter's book on the subject was excellent, considering it came from somebody who was on the UNSCOMM team.

I was fairly certain that the weapons they supposedly had either 1) did not exist, or 2) previously existed but were so outdated that they were useless, or 3) did NOT pose an imminent threat to anybody.

I tended towards #3, as Iraq had been under a strict embargo for over a decade. Either way, I knew those WMD were not as big a threat as the BFEE set them out to be.

Howdy from another MNan! :hi:

[G_j]

6. & a toast to Scott Ridder & Will Pitt

:toast:

[stickdog]

27. Yes. They convinced me early on.

It's amazing what a well reasoned argument presented with sincerity can do.

Thanks, guys.

[Generic Other]

36. Aaron Brown owes Pitt and Ritter an apology!

Remember his drunken rant at Pitt? And his telling Ritter he was "radioactive"? Whose glowing now?

[veganwitch]

7. "we told you so"

is going to be my sign on the 25th.

and im sure im not the only one.

[sushi]

29. If we said

"we told you so," it wouldn't be nice, so let's not!

[knight_of_the_star]

32. Good idea!

I think I might want to use that one. Can I?

[don jose]

8. "To all who Doubted the WMD Claims...."

time will tell.....I think GWB must be getting desperate

[newyawker99]

17. Hi don jose!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[rucky]

9. BS is always a safe bet...

with this administration

:pat pat:

[Aidoneus]

10. I was certain of it by the time the army started massing in Qatar/Kuwait

thousands of US soldiers in one place in the open desert about to invade = GIANT BULL'S EYE
If they had anything it would've been unloaded on the invaders before they even left the border. Yet, there was nothing.

[htuttle]

11. It never made sense to me

I didn't see any upside for Iraq to have WMD as they described. Sure, who wouldn't mind a nuke, but those are hard to come by.

I read up on military experiences with chemical weapons last year. They didn't sound anywhere nearly as useful as the media would make them out to be. The same is true with biological weapons. Perhaps they are more useful to a small group of 'terrorists' targeting civilians, but not to a conventional military.

Given that the downside would be a potential UN military action if it were proved before the war that Iraq actually had what Bush claimed he had, I didn't think it made any sense for Iraq to have exposed itself for so little benefit.

Didn't matter to Bush, though. He invaded anyway.




on edit: removed extraneous paragraph

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

12. but..but...but....Rummy said he knew where they where

<sarcasm>

BUT BUT BUT BUT....


"We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad."
- Donald Rumsfeld, March 30, 2003

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

13. Well 'Bunsen Burners' are apparently proof now!!?!!

An American congressman -- whose name I forget -- was being interviewed by the BBC a couple of days ago. He had seen parts of the leaked ISG interim report & cited the fact that Saddam had "purchased a large number of bunsen burners which had been suspiciously cleaned" (or words to that effect) and that this was proof that Saddam was manufacturing WMD's. Best laugh I've had in ages!!

In this thread I'd just like to give an anonymous shout out to the incredible work done by Dr Glen Rangwala in the run up to war. It was his breakdowns of UN reports that convinced me that Iraq was WMD free.

[frank frankly]

14. Thank you, thank you

I promised I wouldn't be smug today. I really was possessed in march trying to do my personal best to end this because I KNEW IT WAS BULLSHIT BECAUSE I READ FROM BUZZFLASH AND DU AND...

yes, it was an intellegence test. and a metaphysical test. and of course a matter of being an honest and decent creature in this world we share.

peace out!

[Eloriel]

15. I figure we were vindicated by about 2 weeks after

"Mission Accomplished."

But thanks.

Eloriel

[chadm]

16. I don't take too much credit....

I'm just careful about the reputability of the news source I deal with. CNN, Fox, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS and, come to think of it, all the mainstream print media, are out if you want the truth.

Anybody paying attention to the "underground" media knows the scoop several months before the masses.

[angka]

18. grr

fuck yes i will beer up in celebration.

what are we gonna do about it?

[Cheswick2.0]

19. but but but, they found documents of mass distruction

and lets not forget the evidence of legendary WMD from 10 years ago.
:scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared::scared:

[eleny]

20. War with Iraq = More Repubs in Congress

The whole thing was trumped up for the 11/02 elections. I felt that from the day * started talking against Iraq.

[ComerPerro]

21. It wouldn't have suprised me if he had chemical weapons

And I would have expected Bush to send our troops storming into Baghdad and be wiped out by a WMD attack, just to prove his point.

But once they took control of most of Baghdad and started demanding "we need more time" after bullying Blix, I absolutely knew that all the talk of WMD and imminent threats was a lie (I knew Iraq was not a threat anyway)

[Liberal_Andy]

22. yes, we're right, they're wrong!

I spoke out on CSpan in September, 2002.

I wrote a letter to the editor in April, 2003.

And I'm only warming up!

:beer: "Oh yeah, that's good!"

[Zorra]

23. It was an obvious no-brainer.

Has smirk ever spoken the truth?

[moof]

24. but, but , but , didn't kay say

that he had definitely found possible indications of intent to possibly restart the programs & scientists that were considering helping with it ?

in a very good eric Idle

" Say No more " !!!!

[Selwynn]

25. *pats himself on the back*

I wrote a scathing "I told you so" email to all my friends and no-so-friends I debated this with for months...

Then I trashed it.

I felt like I wanted to be above that sort of thing. But damn, it does feel good to see evidence that I occiasionally know what I'm talking about!

[stevedeshazer]

26. As someone who participated in civil protest

I wish I felt good about being vindicated, but I don't.

I feel pissed off instead. Didn't WANT to be right.

[Armstead]

28. A

:kick:

[Loyal]

30. LMAO!

And before opening the thread I thought there would be some stupid link in here about another "mobile chemical weapons factory." :)

[neverforget]

31. but we were "forced to act" because "war is a last resort" and

Saddam had "unmanned drones capable of hitting the US" and ........

For Bush's lies we get to have soldiers killed and wounded, our Treasury drained, Iraqis pissed off at us and the Arab world furious with us. Good job Bush! :spank: :grr: :argh:

[David Zephyr]

33. Thank You, Armstead! I Think I Will Have Some FRENCH Champaigne.

:toast: Thanks and to all the rest here who not only never bought the lie, but ridiculed it here with me.

[Upfront]

34. Kay Supprised Me

I thought sure they would plant something.

[spanone]

35. David Kay is not done. This man is a zealot.

He swore he would find them and he's asking for more time. Put a cork in the champange and keep an eye on this dude. Today someone referred to him as Dr. Kay. Where the hell is Scott Ritter?