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Posted on 07/11/2003 11:26:30 PM PDT by Registered
Admission on Iraqi nukes is disturbing
Friday, July 11, 2003
President Bush, in his State of the Union message this past January, told the American people that Saddam Hussein had accelerated his pursuit of nuclear weapons to an alarming degree:
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," said the president. "Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide."
As it now turns out, these statements were inaccurate. The White House, through its spokesman, is saying now that its information about Iraq's nuclear weapons program was wrong, having been based on forged documents from the African nation of Niger.
This is disturbing stuff.
The nuclear issue was a key component in the administration's argument that not only was war with Iraq a necessity, but that an invasion could not be delayed even to accommodate United Nations investigators already on the ground in enemy territory searching for these weapons of mass destruction.
Moreover, the White House's admission followed only by a day or two the rather embarrassing assertions of Joseph Wilson, a U.S. envoy who had been dispatched to Niger previously to specifically check out the rumor of an Iraq uranium purchase there. Wilson's investigation showed that rumor to be untruthful, and the envoy reported as much to his superiors in Washington -- specifically, he said, to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney (Cheney's office is denying this). Wilson's very public complaint was that his findings were ignored.
Were this admission about the possibly knowing use of faulty intelligence on Iraq's supposed nuclear arms program all there is to consider along this line, that would be plenty for the public to chew on.
Yet there are other new twists and turns now emerging about the ongoing hunt for weapons of mass destruction that is still bedeviling the administration.
One chief concern that we hope is addressed immediately by the Bush White House is the outcry generated by the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, co-chaired by former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean and former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana.
In its interim report to Congress this week, the 9/11 commission says that it has not received timely cooperation from any federal agency in its investigation as to how the nation's defenses were penetrated by the murderers employed by Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization. One commission member went so far as to term the low level of cooperation shown to the commission as tantamount to "stonewalling."
This is unacceptable, if true. The nation must learn the truth about the facts of 9/11, just as it delved so publicly during wartime into the causes and reasons for the security lapses that allowed the Japanese to successfully attack on Pearl Harbor of Dec. 7, 1941. Without a credible investigation, we remain vulnerable.
Finally, there is the question of the missing weapons of destruction that Saddam was apparently ready to loose on the world prior to our invasion. We would have hoped that more details of this program would have surfaced by now.
There are any number of reasons why these weapons have not been found, but we would once again remind the White House that the longer the search drags on, the more its credibility will be brought into question. Right now, it is in "erosion mode."
A word used by liberals originating with Senator Tom Daschle. Used specifically during those times when no truthful argument can be made to counter a conservative opponent. Also used to build sympathy and a false impression of compassion by Democrats (see Children, Elderly, Prescription Drugs and Health Care)
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It is time that the Un-Patriotic liberal weenies start demanding information on this topic and I include those liberals who are RINOS as well as demoncrats. The truth we all seek is intentionally being avoided and the American public is once again being led down the Primrose Path.
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