Posted on 07/03/2003 12:00:04 PM PDT by kattracks
US senator expects 'breakthrough' on Iraqi weapons
By Susan Cornwell
WASHINGTON, July 3 (Reuters) - U.S. forces have found documents that could lead shortly to "breakthrough" news about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, a Republican senator back from visiting Iraq said on Thursday, but Democrats on the trip seemed less convinced.
Kansas Republican Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who just returned with several other senators from Iraq, declined to give details. But he and Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said they concluded from what they were told that Saddam did have the weapons.
Some Democrats who were on the trip were less persuaded by what they had learned and said the focus should be on rebuilding Iraq and getting other nations as well as NATO and the United Nations to help.
President George W. Bush partly justified the invasion of Iraq by the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical or biological arms, but so far none have been discovered.
"As the military continues, we are finding volumes of documentation, and it takes us time to go through it. That has led us to a couple of, what I would call breakthrough pieces of information that I hope in the near future will be very positive news," Roberts told a news conference.
"The focus is on people information and document exploitation. That will lead to the final puzzle to prove without a doubt he had the WMD," Roberts said.
Warner said David Kay, the head of the Iraq survey group looking for the weapons, shared classified information with senators that made him conclude the weapons did exist.
After the news conference, Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on Warner's panel, said he could not join in Warner's assessment because the source of the information had not drawn conclusions about a recent weapons program.
"I would not say that the person who gave us that information has concluded anything in that regard yet. ... He urged us, as a matter of fact, to hold off on reaching any conclusions," Levin said.
Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, another Democrat, said no such weapons had been deployed with Iraqi troops, and he believed it was less likely they would be found. Minnesota Democrat Mark Dayton thought the hunt for the weapons was "a huge red herring" distracting U.S. forces.
Saying U.S. troops were stretched thin, Levin said the United States should reach out to other countries, including those that declined to take part in the invasion, to finish the task of rebuilding Iraq.
07/03/03 13:57 ET
Minnesota Democrat Mark Dayton thought the hunt for the weapons was "a huge red herring" distracting U.S. forces.
Red Herring? It's the Dims who keep pursuing this.
Sounds like some series backpeddling from the Dims going on here.
Translation = RUN AWAY, RUN AWAY.
Of course they are also blaming Bush for spending money and soldiers on stabilizing Iraq. I guess they figure that if they keep saying stuff eventually one angle will stick.
Blix: Vhat's dis? I didn't tink Omaha Steaks sold Crow?
Ahhh, so that's why Switzerland has had such a hot summer. Overconcentration of hot air.
The real answer when proof is unearthed is not 'ha! here's the weapons', it should be 'the reason we invaded and toppled saddam was because he broke the conditions of the ceasefire of the first gulf war, the WMD were just the impetus not to wait any more'
The only real problem I have is that with his supporting and giving millions/billions to Mazen, he is giving justification to the liberals crying that we really invaded iraq for the oil or for imperialism. The old War on Terror just dosn't ring true now that he's buddying up to the known terrorist Mazen after Mazens recent comments to hamas, and his refusal to stop terror incidents
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