Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war
• Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons
• Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
• Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war
Originally posted by Bosse de Nage...so Dick W & Rummy were innocent dupes?...my faith is restored. USA we love you.....USA USA USA USA USA!!!!!!!
Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war
• Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons
• Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
• Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war
Originally posted by Bosse de NageA moral comes to mind. Something about eggs and a single basket.
Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war
• Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons
• Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
• Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war
Originally posted by FreakyKBHFunny one would accept the fact that this man constructed a fantasy to bring down a regime, yet accept everything he says now at face value.
Same level of culpability, agreed.
Funny, we'd opt to listen and embrace a foreign voice regarding a foreign situation, but turn a deaf ear to those within our own walls about issues from within the same.
I guess GWB and Rumsfield aren't the only ones who believe things because they want to believe them.
Originally posted by Bosse de NageI've been screaming this for years. The GOP is still in denial over it...still trying to cover it up. If a Democrat wasted this much manpower and money over a lie, the GOP would be howling for his head, but when a Republican does it. Well....they'll do there best to sweep it under the rug!😠
Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war
• Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons
• Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime
• Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/15/defector-admits-wmd-lies-iraq-war
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Originally posted by techsouthExactly! He has a cunning plan! He is out to fool idiots! It is working!
Funny one would accept the fact that this man constructed a fantasy to bring down a regime, yet accept everything he says now at face value.
I guess GWB and Rumsfield aren't the only ones who believe things because they want to believe them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_wmd
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In a July 2, 2004, article published by The Associated Press and Fox News, it was reported that sarin gas warheads dating back to the last Iran–Iraq War were found in South Central Iraq by Polish Allies. The Polish troops secured munitions on June 23, 2004,[97] but it turned out that the warheads did not in fact contain sarin gas but "were all empty and tested negative for any type of chemicals"—and it transpired that the Poles had bought the shells for $5,000 each.[98] The United States abandoned its search for WMDs in Iraq on January 12, 2005.
On September 30, 2004, the U.S. Iraq Survey Group Final Report concluded that "ISG has not found evidence that Saddam Husayn (sic) possessed WMD stocks in 2003, but the available evidence from its investigation—including detainee interviews and document exploitation—leaves open the possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq although not of a militarily significant capability."[99] Among the key findings of the final ISG report were:
1. Evidence of the maturity and significance of the pre-1991 Iraqi Nuclear Program but found that Iraq's ability to reconstitute a nuclear weapons program progressively decayed after that date;
2. Concealment of nuclear program in its entirety, as with Iraq's BW program. Aggressive UN inspections after Desert Storm forced Saddam to admit the existence of the program and destroy or surrender components of the program;
3. After Desert Storm, Iraq concealed key elements of its program and preserved what it could of the professional capabilities of its nuclear scientific community;
4. Saddam's ambitions in the nuclear area were secondary to his prime objective of ending UN sanctions; and
5. A limited number of post-1995 activities would have aided the reconstitution of the nuclear weapons program once sanctions were lifted.
The report found that "The ISG has not found evidence that Saddam possessed WMD stocks in 2003, but [there is] the possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq, although not of a militarily significant capability." It also concluded that there was a possible intent to restart all banned weapons programs as soon as multilateral sanctions against it had been dropped, with Hussein pursuing WMD proliferation in the future: "There is an extensive, yet fragmentary and circumstantial, body of evidence suggesting that Saddam pursued a strategy to maintain a capability to return to WMD after sanctions were lifted..."[100] No senior Iraqi official interviewed by the ISG believed that Saddam had forsaken WMD forever.
After he was captured by U.S. forces in Baghdad in 2003, Dr. Mahdi Obeidi, who ran Saddam's nuclear centrifuge program until 1997, handed over blueprints for a nuclear centrifuge along with some actual centrifuge components, stored at his home – buried in the front yard – awaiting orders from Baghdad to proceed. He said, "I had to maintain the program to the bitter end." In his book, "The Bomb in My Garden", the Iraqi physicist explains that his nuclear stash was the key that could have unlocked and restarted Saddam's bombmaking program. However, it would require a massive investment and a re-creation of thousands of centrifuges in order to reconstitute a full centrifugal enrichment program.
On October 3, 2003, the world digests David Kay's Iraq Survey Group report that finds no stockpiles of WMD in Iraq, although it states the government intended to develop more weapons with additional capabilities. Weapons inspectors in Iraq do find some "biological laboratories" and a collection of "reference strains", including a strain of botulinum bacteria, "ought to have been declared to the UN." Kay testifies that Iraq had not fully complied with UN inspections. In some cases, equipment and materials subject to UN monitoring had been kept hidden from UN inspectors. "So there was a WMD program. It was going ahead. It was rudimentary in many areas", Kay would say in a later interview.[101] In other cases, Iraq had simply lied to the UN in its weapons programs.[102] The U.S.-sponsored search for WMD had at this point cost $300 million and was projected to cost around $600 million more.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_invasion_of_Iraq
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 was passed by congress with Republicans voting 98% in favor in the Senate, and 97% in favor in the House. Democrats supported the joint resolution 58% and 39% in the Senate and House respectively.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationale_for_the_Iraq_War
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On August 26, 1998, approximately two months before the U.S. ordered United Nations inspectors withdrawn from Iraq, Scott Ritter resigned from his position rather than participate in what he called the "illusion of arms control." In his resignation letter to Ambassador Butler,[41] Ritter wrote: "The sad truth is that Iraq today is not disarmed... UNSCOM has good reason to believe that there are significant numbers of proscribed weapons and related components and the means to manufacture such weapons unaccounted for in Iraq today ... Iraq has lied to the Special Commission and the world since day one concerning the true scope and nature of its proscribed programs and weapons systems." On September 7, 1998, in testimony to the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee,[42] Scott Ritter was asked by John McCain (R, AZ) whether UNSCOM had intelligence suggesting that Iraq had assembled the components for three nuclear weapons and all that it lacked was the fissile material. Ritter replied: "The Special Commission has intelligence information, which suggests that components necessary for three nuclear weapons exists, lacking the fissile material. Yes, sir."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_disarmament_crisis_timeline_2001-2003
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July 5, 2002
* Iraq once again rejects new UN weapons inspection proposals.
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August 2002
* According to U.S. Intelligence, China, with help from France and Syria, has secretly sold to Iraq the prohibited chemical Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene, or HTPB, which is used in making solid fuel for long-range missiles. France denies that the sale took place. U.S. intelligence traces the sale back to China's Qilu Chemicals company in Shandong province. The chemical sale involved a French company known as CIS Paris, which helped broker the sale of 20 tons of HTPB, which was then shipped from China to the Syrian port of Tartus. The chemicals were then shipped by truck from Syria to an Iraqi missile manufacturing plant.
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August 2, 2002
* In a letter to the UN Secretary General, Iraq invites Hans Blix to Iraq for discussions on remaining disarmament issues.
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November 13, 2002
* Iraq accepts U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 and informs the UN that it will abide by the resolution.
* Weapons inspectors arrive in Baghdad again after a four-year absence.
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December 7, 2002
* Iraq files a 12,000-page weapons declaration with the UN in order to meet requirements of resolution 1441. UN weapons inspectors, the UN security council and the U.S. feel that this declaration fails to account for all of Iraq's chemical and biological agents.
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December 19, 2002
* UNMOVIC Chairman Hans Blix tells UNSC members that the Iraqi weapons declaration filed on December 7 "is essentially a reorganized version" of information Iraq provided UNSCOM in 1997, and that it "is not enough to create confidence" that Iraq has abandoned its WMD efforts.
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January 2003
* Turkey invites at least five other regional countries to a "'last-chance' meeting to avert a US-led war against Iraq."
* According to U.S. Intelligence, France has secretly sold prohibited spare parts to Iraq for its fighter jets and military helicopters.
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January 27, 2003
* Chairmen of the inspections effort report to the UN Security Council that, while Iraq has provided some access to facilities, concerns remain regarding undeclared material; inability to interview Iraqi scientists; inability to deploy aerial surveillance during inspections; and harassment of weapons inspectors.
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February 22, 2003
* Bush meets with the Spanish president, Aznar, to discuss the Security Council situation. According to a leaked transcript of the meeting, Bush was using foreign aid and trade agreements to put pressure on Security Council members to support US policy. The transcript also revealed that Saddam had offered to go into exile if he was allowed to keep $1 billion and information on weapons of mass destruction.
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February 26, 2003
* Hans Blix states that Iraq still has not made a "fundamental decision" to disarm, despite recent signs of increased cooperation. Specifically, Iraq has refused to destroy its al-Samoud 2 long range missiles. (These are not a WMD, and Iraq is permitted "battlefield" missiles. However, Iraq's missiles were limited by UN instruction to a diameter of 600mm, and the Al-Samoud II has a diameter of 760mm). These missiles are deployed and mobile. Also, an R-400 aerial bomb was found that could possibly contain biological agents. Given this find, the UN Inspectors have requested access to the Al-Aziziyah weapons range to verify that all 155 R-400 bombs can be accounted for and proven destroyed. Blix also expresses skepticism over Iraq's claims to have destroyed its stockpiles of anthrax and VX nerve agent in Time magazine. Blix said he found it "a bit odd" that Iraq, with "one of the best-organized regimes in the Arab world," would claim to have no records of the destruction of these illegal substances. "I don't see that they have acquired any credibility," Blix said
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February 26, 2003
* Saddam Hussein, in an interview with Dan Rather, rules out exile as an option.
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March 4, 2003
* Iraq destroys three more Al Samoud 2 missiles, bringing to 19 the number Baghdad has crushed out of 100 ordered destroyed by the UN. Iraq also destroys a launcher and five engines in a rush to prove it is disarming before a crucial U.N. report on March 7. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan calls the new actions "a positive development" while the White House remains unconvinced saying, "Despite whatever limited head-fakes Iraq has engaged in, they continue to fundamentally not disarm."
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March 5, 2003
Secretary of State Colin Powell says that US intelligence has indicated that Hussein has ordered the production of more Al Samoud 2 missiles parts and engines. The Iraqi government does not deny the claim but simply says once again that they considered the missiles to be legal. Powell also points out that Iraq has delivered "some documents that have not been found before"
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March 6, 2003
* United States intelligence reports that the Iraqi government has ordered US military uniforms with plans of carrying out attacks on Iraqi citizens which would then be blamed on US soldiers. (Reuters) [22]
* Iraqi exiles testify in Washington about the brutal crimes committed against Iraqi citizens by the Hussein government. One Iraqi woman says that the Iraqi people are "patiently waiting" for the US to liberate the country. Another woman says that war protesters are "ignorant and misinformed".[23]
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March 7, 2003
* The Washington Times publishes a report detailing recent US intelligence showing that France has been secretly selling spare parts to Iraq for its fighter jets and military helicopters during the past several months. Other intelligence reports indicate that Iraq had succeeded in acquiring French weaponry illegally for years.[25]
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March 11, 2003
* Iraqi fighters threaten two US U-2 surveillance planes forcing them to abort their mission and return to base. Iraqi officials describe the incident as a "technical mistake" by the U.N. inspectors. Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for UNMOVIC, says that Iraqi officials had been notified about the flight beforehand.
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March 17, 2003
* In a televised speech, U.S. President George W. Bush gives Saddam Hussein 48 hours to go into exile or face war.
* U.S. Intelligence reports that Iraqi soldiers in Southern Iraq have been armed with chemical weapons.
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March 19, 2003
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* British defense sources claim that Saddam Hussein may use chemical weapons on his Iraqi people and blame the attacks on coalition forces as part of a propaganda war. Earlier in the year, Hussein equipped part of the Iraqi military with look-alike U.S. uniforms.
* U.S. warplanes bomb Iraqi artillery in range of U.S. soldiers.