Those 500 Chemical Munitions: the Unasked Question

When U.S. troops discovered a Mig-25 fighter aircraft buried in the Iraqi sand, no one argued that it proved that Iraq’s forces were trained and ready to fight in 2002. (Go here for photo and story.) An Air Force can only be ready if its aircraft are maintained and its pilots have extensive flying time.

In 2002 the Bush administration, charged with the duty to protect the country against another 9/11 attack, was determined to prove that Iraq had an active WMD program. Administration defenders are still trying to prove the existence of WMD’s in Iraq. They failed to ask the right question.

Now we learn that the Iraq survey group has discovered hundreds of degraded munitions.  We will now see long arguments that this proves Bush was right and did not lie. What it proves is that he was half right. Iraq had weapons and programs in 2002. No one seems to have asked if Iraqi troops were equipped organized and trained to use WMD. Had they done so, the war might have been fought differently. The administration would not have had to defend itself against the “Bush lied, people died.” meme. Support for the war might be much higher now.

An Iraq with obsolete, degraded chemical shells and incomplete biological and nuclear programs was still a threat - but a very diffrent threat from the one the administration portrayed. The potential of undiscovered chemical munitions raises the specter of a terrorist attack, even if those munitions are so degraded as to be marginally effective. Clearly a continuing response is required.

NOTE: This is not a new argument for me. I wrote both my Senators and my Representative in September, 2002. I published a letter in the WaPo in February, 2004.

NOTE: This post linked to Beltway Traffic Jam for 06/22/2006