Monday, May 31, 2004
SADDAM AND AL QAEDA - Stephen F. Hayes is still convinced that there was in fact a link between Saddam's Iraq and al Qaeda. Hayes brings out some interesting tidbits of information, but he overstates in his conclusion. So, by the way, do those who claim that they are certain that no link ever existed. We simply don't have enough information at this time to prove either side positively correct or incorrect. New to me is Hayes' assertion that the Iraq-al Qaeda relationship was a given to media outlets like Newsweek and NPR in the late 90's and that the original source of claim was actually the Clinton Administration:
"In the spring of 1998--well before the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa--the Clinton administration indicted Osama bin Laden...The Clinton administration's indictment read unequivocally:
Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."
...but Bush is really responsible you know since he sneakily planted the rumor within U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies just in case some day he became President and had the chance to activate his plot (hatched back in Kindergarten) to invade Iraq and subsequently take over the world!!!
"In the spring of 1998--well before the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa--the Clinton administration indicted Osama bin Laden...The Clinton administration's indictment read unequivocally:
Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."
...but Bush is really responsible you know since he sneakily planted the rumor within U.S. and foreign intelligence agencies just in case some day he became President and had the chance to activate his plot (hatched back in Kindergarten) to invade Iraq and subsequently take over the world!!!
Thursday, May 20, 2004
THOSE PESKY WMDS - A former Iraqi nuclear scientists thinks the recent discovery of sarin nerve gas (and don't forget the mustard gas found a few weeks ago) in Iraq is just the beginning:
"Gazi George, a former Iraqi nuclear scientist under Saddam's regime, told Fox News he believes many similar weapons stockpiled by the former regime were either buried underground or transported to Syria. He noted that the airport where the device was detonated is on the way to Baghdad from the Syrian border.
George said the finding likely will be the first in a series of discoveries of such weapons.
"Saddam is the type who will not store those materials in a military warehouse. He's gonna store them either underground, or, as I said, lots of them have gone west to Syria and are being brought back with the insurgencies," George told Fox News. "It is difficult to look in areas that are not obvious to the military's eyes.
"I'm sure they're going to find more once time passes," he continued, saying one year is not enough for the survey group or the military to find the weapons. "
...Clearly the story on WMDs in Iraq is an evolving one.
Meanwhile Collin Levey criticizes the media for down-playing the story (link via Instapundit):
"It wasn't the nasty stuff itself that was curious - as Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld intimated, some stray chemical munitions could signify any number of things, or not much at all. The extraordinary part was the tizzy the media and various noteworthies were in to discount it.
It hadn't been but a few hours since the news broke when former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix grabbed a microphone somewhere to huff that the discovery meant nothing. Others briskly offered that the shell was more likely the bounty of a scavenger hunt by yahoos who didn't even know what they had.
Fair enough to be sure: At this point, none of us knows. But even forgetting the potency of one drop of liquid sarin, when did the prospect of the accidental use of loose WMDs become reassuring?"
"Gazi George, a former Iraqi nuclear scientist under Saddam's regime, told Fox News he believes many similar weapons stockpiled by the former regime were either buried underground or transported to Syria. He noted that the airport where the device was detonated is on the way to Baghdad from the Syrian border.
George said the finding likely will be the first in a series of discoveries of such weapons.
"Saddam is the type who will not store those materials in a military warehouse. He's gonna store them either underground, or, as I said, lots of them have gone west to Syria and are being brought back with the insurgencies," George told Fox News. "It is difficult to look in areas that are not obvious to the military's eyes.
"I'm sure they're going to find more once time passes," he continued, saying one year is not enough for the survey group or the military to find the weapons. "
...Clearly the story on WMDs in Iraq is an evolving one.
Meanwhile Collin Levey criticizes the media for down-playing the story (link via Instapundit):
"It wasn't the nasty stuff itself that was curious - as Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld intimated, some stray chemical munitions could signify any number of things, or not much at all. The extraordinary part was the tizzy the media and various noteworthies were in to discount it.
It hadn't been but a few hours since the news broke when former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix grabbed a microphone somewhere to huff that the discovery meant nothing. Others briskly offered that the shell was more likely the bounty of a scavenger hunt by yahoos who didn't even know what they had.
Fair enough to be sure: At this point, none of us knows. But even forgetting the potency of one drop of liquid sarin, when did the prospect of the accidental use of loose WMDs become reassuring?"
Thursday, May 13, 2004
SOME PERSPECTIVE - The abuse at Abu Ghraib does not change the fact that good news continues to percolate out of Iraq (link via Instapundit):
"JUST IN THE OFF CHANCE THAT THE EVENT doesn't attract much attention from the print media, sovereignty passed today from the CPA to Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This makes the Foreign Ministry the eighth Iraqi ministry to quietly, and successfully, assume autonomy in the hands of the Iraqi people."
I guess all those detractors who continue to insist that democracy can't work in Iraq did miss the news about the hand-over... and about elections already held in Iraq... and about Iraqi women learning to organize...
"JUST IN THE OFF CHANCE THAT THE EVENT doesn't attract much attention from the print media, sovereignty passed today from the CPA to Iraq's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This makes the Foreign Ministry the eighth Iraqi ministry to quietly, and successfully, assume autonomy in the hands of the Iraqi people."
I guess all those detractors who continue to insist that democracy can't work in Iraq did miss the news about the hand-over... and about elections already held in Iraq... and about Iraqi women learning to organize...
Thursday, May 06, 2004
FINISHING THE JOB - Jonah Golberg compares Iraq reconstruction to open heart surgery:
"...the important thing to keep in mind is that in a major operation - on a person or a nation - the patient is the most vulnerable, and looks the most horrible, halfway into the procedure, not at the beginning or the end. And if, in your horror, you screamed, "Stop what you're doing right now!" you'd be saying you want the patient to die."
THE POW ABUSE - The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib documented in those infamous photos is appalling and the soldiers involved should do jail time. Period. I won't try to blame the victim as so many on the left did after 9/11 ("yes this was a barbaric act...BUT": "didn't we invite this with our foreign policy", "let's look at the root causes of terrorism", etc.). The Bush Administration has done the right thing by apologizing and promising to continue the process of investigation and punishment that started back in January when one prison guard ratted on the thugs he worked with. I am surprised that Iraqis (so far...) seem to be taking this better than the rest of the world. The recent protest outside Abu Ghraib only drew about 2,000 people. This lack of outrage was noted by the Iraqi blogger Omar from Iraq the Model:
"I was surprised when I saw that the reaction of Iraqis to the subject of prisoners abuse by some American soldiers was not huge as we all expected to see, even it was milder than the one in other Arab countries and especially than that in the Arab media. I mean about a month ago, we had considerable reactions and somewhat large demonstrations in response to the killing of Hamas leader, and in the mid of maniac reactions from Arab media and people, the absence of large demonstrations and outrage on the streets of Iraq becomes really strange and give rise to questions. Why the Iraqi people are not really upset with this issue?"
"...the important thing to keep in mind is that in a major operation - on a person or a nation - the patient is the most vulnerable, and looks the most horrible, halfway into the procedure, not at the beginning or the end. And if, in your horror, you screamed, "Stop what you're doing right now!" you'd be saying you want the patient to die."
THE POW ABUSE - The abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib documented in those infamous photos is appalling and the soldiers involved should do jail time. Period. I won't try to blame the victim as so many on the left did after 9/11 ("yes this was a barbaric act...BUT": "didn't we invite this with our foreign policy", "let's look at the root causes of terrorism", etc.). The Bush Administration has done the right thing by apologizing and promising to continue the process of investigation and punishment that started back in January when one prison guard ratted on the thugs he worked with. I am surprised that Iraqis (so far...) seem to be taking this better than the rest of the world. The recent protest outside Abu Ghraib only drew about 2,000 people. This lack of outrage was noted by the Iraqi blogger Omar from Iraq the Model:
"I was surprised when I saw that the reaction of Iraqis to the subject of prisoners abuse by some American soldiers was not huge as we all expected to see, even it was milder than the one in other Arab countries and especially than that in the Arab media. I mean about a month ago, we had considerable reactions and somewhat large demonstrations in response to the killing of Hamas leader, and in the mid of maniac reactions from Arab media and people, the absence of large demonstrations and outrage on the streets of Iraq becomes really strange and give rise to questions. Why the Iraqi people are not really upset with this issue?"
Saturday, May 01, 2004
CONSISTENCY PLEASE - So far, the knee-jerk Bush-bashers haven't seemed troubled when shrieking that "Bush lied about WMDs" without providing a shred of evidence to support this claim. Now that Bob Woodward has put this particular slander to rest in his tell-all book I'm sure all those who have accused Bush of lying will apologize with haste...Since we know that these same folks consider the negative Clarke and O'Neil (and Woodward!) anecdotes gospel, they must be prepared to do the same with the positive:
"The President continued, "I've been told all this intelligence about having WMD and this is the best we've got?" At which point Mr. Tenet is said to have thrown his hands in the air and remarked, "It's a slam-dunk case!" Mr. Bush pressed again, "George, how confident are you?" Mr. Tenet: "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk!"
It isn't a shock, of course, that the CIA believed Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. The Clinton Administration bombed Iraq for four days in December 1998 based on that assessment. Every other major intelligence agency in the world believed the same. What is new in the Woodward account is the extent to which Mr. Bush appears to have been a thoughtful and critical consumer of such intelligence. The President reportedly told Mr. Tenet several times, "Make sure no one stretches to make our case." (emphasis added) All of which puts the "Bush lied" crowd in a rather awkward spot. "He misled every one of us," John Kerry has said. "He lied to me personally." Ted Kennedy: "Week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie."
The fact that the Massachusetts Senators didn't have the benefit of Mr. Woodward's account when making such serious allegations isn't much of an excuse for these false claims, since as Hillary Rodham Clinton has recently attested, "The consensus was the same, from the Clinton Administration to the Bush Administration." New York's Junior Senator may owe Mr. Bush a little apology herself for suggesting he wasn't "intellectually curious" enough on this matter to seek out "contrary points of view."
"The President continued, "I've been told all this intelligence about having WMD and this is the best we've got?" At which point Mr. Tenet is said to have thrown his hands in the air and remarked, "It's a slam-dunk case!" Mr. Bush pressed again, "George, how confident are you?" Mr. Tenet: "Don't worry, it's a slam dunk!"
It isn't a shock, of course, that the CIA believed Iraq possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. The Clinton Administration bombed Iraq for four days in December 1998 based on that assessment. Every other major intelligence agency in the world believed the same. What is new in the Woodward account is the extent to which Mr. Bush appears to have been a thoughtful and critical consumer of such intelligence. The President reportedly told Mr. Tenet several times, "Make sure no one stretches to make our case." (emphasis added) All of which puts the "Bush lied" crowd in a rather awkward spot. "He misled every one of us," John Kerry has said. "He lied to me personally." Ted Kennedy: "Week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie."
The fact that the Massachusetts Senators didn't have the benefit of Mr. Woodward's account when making such serious allegations isn't much of an excuse for these false claims, since as Hillary Rodham Clinton has recently attested, "The consensus was the same, from the Clinton Administration to the Bush Administration." New York's Junior Senator may owe Mr. Bush a little apology herself for suggesting he wasn't "intellectually curious" enough on this matter to seek out "contrary points of view."
