This morning’s Washington Times has a story on how Republican Lawmakers are claiming that the finding of 500 shells loaded with chemical agents proves that Presdient Bush was right to clam that Saddam had WMD’s. They are right, but only in a limited sense. Having 500 rounds buried and the capability to make more is not the same thing as having a military force equipped, trained and ready to use the WMD’s. The administration never showed – or even asked – if this was the case.
Townhall.com columnist Alan Reynolds is one of the few provide a balanced analysis of the import of the 500 rounds. He is right again. He gave the October 2002 NIE on Iraqi WMD a critical reading. If lawmakers and top level administration officials had done the same, they might not have started this war based on overstated claims about WMD’s.
There was – still is – a just war case to be made for this war. It should not have included WMD’s as an immanent threat
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