Bush: 'We Found' Banned Weapons

Washington Post ^ | 5/31/03

[areafiftyone]

KRAKOW, Poland, May 30 -- President Bush, citing two trailers that U.S. intelligence agencies have said were probably used as mobile biological weapons labs, said U.S. forces in Iraq have "found the weapons of mass destruction" that were the United States' primary justification for going to war.

In remarks to Polish television at a time of mounting criticism at home and abroad that the more than two-month-old weapons hunt is turning up nothing, Bush said that claims of failure were "wrong." The remarks were released today.

"You remember when [Secretary of State] Colin Powell stood up in front of the world, and he said, 'Iraq has got laboratories, mobile labs to build biological weapons,' " Bush said in an interview shortly before leaving on a seven-day trip to Europe and the Middle East. "They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two.

[JustPiper]

Applause! Excellent post!

[Lady In Blue]

I was watching C-Span one day last week and they had Tony Blair speaking before the Parliment,and he was being questioned about the WMDs.He said something that stuck in my mind.He said,paraphrasing,"We will release everything at once rather than a little bit at a time" or something like that.It would jive with what the person from the State Dept said to that post.

[Mo1]

Well, he's right to say that terrorist ties to Iraq were a part of the reason given, but this has not been substantiated. As far as the human rights argument, that didn't even come up until right when were poised to go in, and then only in a last ditch effort to drum up international support.

I don't know about you, but I do recall the President in his speeches mention these things plus more before the war ever started. I recall the media and the press choosing not to report on it. I also recall a couple important speeches the President gave where none of the major news media would not air it.

[JustPiper]

I know you have not been here long but you don't like our President much do you?

[Jorge]

I specifically remember Alan Colmes making the absurd charge that because President Bush cited so many reasons for the upcoming war in Iraq, that that meant that none of them could possibly be true.

Exactly. Now these same Bush bashers who said he had too many reasons for war on Iraq....are now claiming he had ONLY one reason and therefore he was lying.
These people talk out of both sides of their mouths...and they are expecting us to believe Bush is a liar? LOL

[JustPiper]

Definition of a Liberal= "people that talk out of both sides of their mouths"

[Reagan Man]

>>>The fact is Bush and Blair always claimed several reasons for going after Saddam...which included WMDs, the danger of Saddam's assisting terrorists, and liberating the Iraqi people from the oppression of his regime.

Correctamundo! Worth repeating, Jorge.

[ApesForEvolution]

OK, I disagree. Any Baathist that didn't have brains to hide or destroy the voluminous amounts of bio/chem weapons or is willing to lead Americans to hidden weapons has GRAVE liabilities. These folks were insane, but not stupid.

[ApesForEvolution]

"They could well have documented and emphasized the killing of innocent Iraqi's by Saddam alot more and emphasised that much more."

Welcome back to planet earth. You've obviously been gone, because the atrocities were cited many times by Bush and the administration. The case, specifically relating to WMDs, was directed at the UN, a game I'd rather we hadn't played, but nonetheless the game that was played.

[Brad’s Gramma]

And your first clue was.....???????

[JustPiper]

Here my sister just found this:

Hunt for Iraqi Weapons Shifting Gears
4 minutes ago

By MATT KELLEY, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A large new U.S. team heading into Iraq (news - web sites) to search for weapons of mass destruction will shift its focus away from areas identified as suspicious sites before the war, the Army general heading the effort said Friday.
Instead, the searchers will focus on areas where documents, interviews with Iraqis and other new clues suggest biological or chemical weapons could be hidden, Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton said.

Dayton leaves Monday for Baghdad, where he will head the Iraq Survey Group. The team of about 1,400 experts from the United States, Great Britain and Australia will take over the weapons search from a smaller U.S. military team.


The shift comes amid growing questions from allies and some members of Congress about why no chemical or biological weapons have been found. President Bush (news - web sites) said Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, as well as a nuclear weapons development program. Bush used the elimination of those programs as justification for waging war against Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s regime.


Before the war, the United States drew up a list of more than 900 "suspect sites" where weapons of mass destruction or evidence of such programs might be found. Military teams have visited more than 200 of those sites without finding any actual weapons.


The United States has found two equipment-filled trailers in northern Iraq that American intelligence agencies say were mobile biological weapons production facilities. Bush and other administration officials say the finds show Iraq did indeed have clandestine programs to make germ weapons.


In response to questions about the credibility of U.S. intelligence, CIA (news - web sites) Director George Tenet released a statement Friday defending his agency.


"Our role is to call it like we see it — to tell policy-makers what we know, what we don't know, what we think, and what we base it on," he said. "The integrity of our process was maintained throughout and any suggestion to the contrary is simply wrong."


Dayton, a top official in the Defense Intelligence Agency, said he remains convinced his team will find chemical and biological weapons in Iraq. He said he believed the information the United States had before the war indicating Iraq had the banned weapons and continues to believe that.


"Do I think we will find something? Yeah, I kind of do," Dayton told reporters at a Pentagon (news - web sites) news conference. "This is not necessarily going to be quick and easy, but it's going to be very thorough."


Dayton said the Iraq Survey Group will include 200 to 300 searchers to fan out around Iraq to look for weapons, hundreds of experts to interrogate Iraqis, about 250 people to analyze documents and computer files at a regional base in Qatar and analysts to put the pieces together and figure out what they mean.


Establishment of the group, announced last month, "represents a significant expansion of effort in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction," Dayton said.


The group will begin a two-week transition period to take over the weapons hunt in Iraq no later than June 7, Dayton said.


The group includes both military and civilian experts, including former United Nations (news - web sites) weapons inspectors. Stephen Cambone, the Pentagon's top intelligence official, said Friday he did not know whether the United States would agree to have U.N. inspectors return to Iraq.


Critics say the Bush administration should let U.N. inspectors back in.


"Given the size and complexity of the task, it's unwise to turn down help from groups who have demonstrated expertise in this area," said Paul Kerr, an analyst at the Arms Control Association in Washington.


Cambone and Dayton said they did not know why no chemical or biological weapons have been found so far. Dayton echoed comments by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld earlier in the week speculating that Iraq could have destroyed such weapons before or during the war.





"These things could have been taken and buried. They could have been transferred. They could have been destroyed," Dayton said. "That doesn't mean they weren't there in the first place."

The Iraq Survey Group also will investigate possible war crimes by Iraqis, links between Saddam's regime and terrorism and the fate of those missing in action or held prisoner since the 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites).

Dayton said those other missions make sense because his team will be interrogating Iraqis who may know about all of those issues and because his analysts will be able to pull together clues on those matters.

"They're all interrelated," Dayton said. "We'll be connecting pieces that haven't been connected before."

[Brad’s Gramma]

Won't work.

[Paraclete]

If you're referring to support for the contra's that's one thing. But what in the heck business did we have selling missles to Iran?????

[JustPiper]

President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and first lady Laura Bush arrive at Krakow-Balice International Airport in Krakow, Poland, Friday, May 30, 2003. Bush will visit the Auschwitz prison camp on Saturday and meet with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, an early and staunch ally in the war on terrorism and American efforts to liberate Iraq (news - web sites). (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

[MJY1288]

My brother works for the State Department and is in Iraq right now, and he tells me something very simular to what your are saying. I mean WTF were those chemical suits found on the battle field for... Mosquito's?

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Mr. Bush stated early on that we were going to rout the terrorists from their lairs and that countries who fed them, paid them, hid them, or gave comfort to them would be on our list, too. Taking out Saddam was a key step in ridding the ME of Islamists. There will be other steps. The President also said this could take as long as thirty years. Iraq is just one step in a very long and complicated process. The world is changing for the better because Mr. Bush has the courage to see the problem and do something about it. No need to get lost in the details.

[ilgipper]

You doubters ever hear of strategery? You are falling for the same trap that daschle, the media, and the other dumb dems have faller for time and time again in the past two years. You seriously think that Hussein didn't have WMDs, that this whole 12 year conflict was a ruse, and that three administrations and the UN were all wrong in their evidence of WMDs. The media is up in arms over this because the Democrats have absolutely no issues, and Bush must be beaten down about something. Why must our forces find these weapons in 30 days when the UN weapon inspectors would have been given 30 years?

[Brad’s Gramma]

THANK YOU!!!!!

[MJY1288]

Bingo..... Bush is Chess not Checkers