Bush knew that Saddam didn't have WMD

[Silent Hunter]

According to this article, Tenet told the President that the Iraqi Foreign Minister said they didn't have WMD. He didn't believe the Foreign Minister. I wouldn't have believed the Foreign Minister.

Not a smoking gun.

[Silent Hunter]

According to this article, Tenet told the President that the Iraqi Foreign Minister said they didn't have WMD. He didn't believe the Foreign Minister. I wouldn't have believed the Foreign Minister.

Not a smoking gun.

This is yet another piece of evidence, added to numerous other pieces, that show that the existance of WMD's in meaningful quantities was very much a topic of debate. When that is added to the fact that Bush pulled the weapons inspectors out of Iraq after they had pretty much concluded that there were not meaningful quantities of WMD's the conclusion that the war was sold to the American people falsely is a fairly easy one.

This isn't about what Bush knew or didn't know as fact - it is about what he presented to the American people as fact to create a justification for the invasion of Iraq.

This also has nothing to do with what we should now do in Iraq. It has everything to with how the run up to any wars in the future should be addressed and what sort of accountability should be assigned to those that did provide the case to the American people for the war in Iraq.

"Very much a topic of debate". It does not prove- if it's true- that the Bush administration knew for certain there were no WMDs and went to war anyway.

[Silent Hunter]

I read what you wrote. Bush may not have believed the weapons inspectors.

It still would have been right to remove Saddam Hussein.

[Silent Hunter]

I read what you wrote. Bush may not have believed the weapons inspectors.

It still would have been right to remove Saddam Hussein.

You are missing the point of what I wrote at minimum.

It has been proven that what was told to the American people about Iraq by the Bush administration and what was known by the Bush administration were two completely different things. This is a lesson about what should be done in the future when we march to war.

Regardless of if you believe we should or should not have removed Saddam regardless of the existance of WMD's (and that is a different debate) it does not justify the Bush administration presenting questionable information to the American people as fact in order to stir their fears and march them to war.

I'll agree with that. But you still haven't proved that people in the Bush administration knew for  certain there were no WMDs.

[Silent Hunter]

I read what you wrote. Bush may not have believed the weapons inspectors.

It still would have been right to remove Saddam Hussein.

You are missing the point of what I wrote at minimum.

It has been proven that what was told to the American people about Iraq by the Bush administration and what was known by the Bush administration were two completely different things. This is a lesson about what should be done in the future when we march to war.

Regardless of if you believe we should or should not have removed Saddam regardless of the existance of WMD's (and that is a different debate) it does not justify the Bush administration presenting questionable information to the American people as fact in order to stir their fears and march them to war.

I'll agree with that. But you still haven't proved that people in the Bush administration knew for  certain there were no WMDs.

No, and I don't think that can be done. Nor am I even trying to prove that they knew something in an absolute fashion, in fact I'm doing the exact opposite - I'm showing that they absolutely didn't know for sure that there were WMD's. The historical record of their statements show that they presented the existance of WMD's in Iraq as a fact when their was considerable debate inside the executive branch about that very topic and our own weapon inspectors were indicating that there were no WMD's present in meaningful quantities. That is all that is required to show that the case that was made for war to the American people was falsely constructed. And again - when you add that to the fact that Bush ordered the removal of the weapon inspectors at a time when it has been shown that there was considerable debate about the existance of WMD's in meaningful quantities - it makes the case against Bush all the more damning.

Concur with you there.

[Silent Hunter]

You do realise, nlm, that earlier you were essentially proposing doing what the Reagan administration did vis Saddam's Iraq and now you're essentially condemning it.

Saddam did a lot of other things apart from Halabja, BTW.

Why do I get the feeling we're going round in circles?

[Silent Hunter]

Well, you're certainly suggesting the former:

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Do you condemn the Saddam regime or not?

[Silent Hunter]

I'd like to apologise for implying you were a hypocrite. Sorry.