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Did a little research for you and my benefit to know my sources and learn more:
- I didn't realize how much Saddam and Iraq were a threat.... They had quite a WMD program, chemical and biological, and had pursued nuclear (see http://www.iraqwatch.org/wmd/index.html). They had missiles and developed a super gun that could shoot 600 miles (that's Israel right?)
- Ties to terrorists... I found something: they had there Jihadist Terror Training Camps prior to 2002 training 2000 or so (probably the current insurgents) the article claims: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/006/550kmbzd.asp
- Saddam was a major supporter of Terrorism: http://www.husseinandterror.com/ and a threat to us, Israel, and the West according to this...
- I found the interview with Gen. Tommy Franks that his ground forces found the precursors elements of WMD that could be assembled in days, weeks, and maybe a few months: http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/News/040812a.aspx
- We know that Saddam had extensive WMD and had made efforts to develop WMD. The question is did he destroy them and stop production and R&D like he was supposed to according to UN mandates. What I knew was that there was evidence of significant unaccounted WMD before the war (and that is why I supported the war with Iraq before we went to war).
- "No Weapon of Mass Destruction" found simply is not true
- Turns out Iraq didn't destroy them all:
- Recently from declassified documents this year (June 22, 2006 article): ~500 munitions found with degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent (plus more likely exist)
- http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200499,00.html
- There was infrastructure to conduct R & D and the ability to ramp up production mentioned
- Note: even though these are likely weapons from before 1991 it does prove WMD did exist
- Recently from declassified documents this year (June 22, 2006 article): ~500 munitions found with degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent (plus more likely exist)
- We should know that Saddam would have been able to restart production of chemical weapons easily so he was a threat if he didn't have active production currently (http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/cw-isg.htm)
- A theory that I believe is possible as well: Weapons moved out of Iraq before the War (off the official Iraqi records so we can't prove it). Syria is the probable local for this. I saw an article says that sources within Syria claim that it was moved to locations controlled by Hezbollah such as the Becka Valley.
Even though the scale of WMD wasn't what we expected to find doesn't mean that they didn't exist or they weren't covertly moved. Saddam's regime was a threat to us because of his WMD and terrorist ties and potential ties. I agree it's better he's out, however I do agree that Islamic Fascism replacing him is not what we want. Iran now seems to be more frightening but the world is a safer place without Saddam's regime.
On another note the Bush administration may have gone too far with the initial evidence of WMD to make the case for a Regime change in Iraq according to some of the reading I found. Certainly there can be a case and there should be accountability. Perhaps the Intelligence community isn't to blame fully for the War in Iraq but the administration knew more then they wanted to share. In any case the regime change was done and I believe not done for purposes other than to create a free Democratic Iraq, remove a threat to the US and the region, and pre-empt any future threat of WMD to the US. No doubt Saddam would pursue the WMD and terrorism ties given the blind eye treatment by the West.
There could be other unspoken secondary motives for the administration... pinching Iran from the East (Iraq) and the West (Afghanistan). It does set us up for a good ground invasion given Iran is a stalling to become a nuclear threat and they are awful terrorism sponsors (Hezbollah).
David
