Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Will my conservative friends finally concede on NBC weaponry?

Search for Banned Arms In Iraq Ended Last Month

Given that Kay, Duelfer, and the final report say the same thing I wonder if my conservative friends will concede that there was no NBC weaponry in Iraq beyond some left over artillery shells from the 1980's. Key items from Duelfer's report:


• The former Regime had no formal written strategy or plan for the revival of WMD after sanctions.

Saddam Husayn ended the nuclear program in 1991 following the Gulf war. ISG found no evidence to suggest concerted efforts to restart the program.

While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991. There are no credible indications that Baghdad resumed production of chemical munitions thereafter, a policy ISG attributes to Baghdad’s desire to see sanctions lifted, or rendered ineffectual, or its fear of force against it should WMD be discovered.

In practical terms, with the destruction of the Al Hakam facility, Iraq abandoned its ambition to obtain advanced BW weapons quickly. ISG found no direct evidence that Iraq, after 1996, had plans for a new BW program or was conducting BW-specific work for military purposes. Indeed, from the mid-1990s, despite evidence of continuing interest in nuclear and chemical weapons, there appears to be a complete absence of discussion or even interest in BW at the Presidential level.

Curious if they still believe the canard

White House has been reluctant to call off the hunt, holding out the possibility that weapons were moved out of Iraq before the war or are well hidden somewhere inside the country

Will send this post off to ask for their comments.



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