WMD Found: In case you missed it
In a heated discussion the other night with a group of friends, the topic of Iraq hit the table. Of course, anytime you're talking about Iraq there's bound to be some polarization of thought.
I have been one who staunchly supports our mission there and the policies of the Bush administration. I believe most of those who oppose our actions in Baghdad simply don't understand the connections this country had/has to Islamic radicals. There are arguments all across the board about why going into Iraq was a mistake and why we should "bring the troops home now." But none of the reasons serve any logic or rational thought.
The discourse I had with my friends was over WMD and their insistence Saddam didn't possess them. Remember, this has been the #1 talking point of the anti-defend America set. It's what John Kerry made as the backbone of his campaign and what most politicians are using in the upcoming midterm elections. I believe the term was "Bush lied, people died."
But something peculiar happened just under two months ago. Members of the Senate House Intelligence Committee declassified documents from the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, showing coalition forces had recovered approximately 500 chemical weapons munitions since 2003. Low and behold, Saddam still had WMD in his possession when U.S. forces invaded Iraq.
The conversation I was having took a turn at this point, as everyone in the group stated they had never heard of such a discovery. To which I replied, "of course you didn't. The mainstream media ignored the report." The obvious bias ignited a firestorm from the bloggers and was even the topic of one of my blog postings. On a day when one of the biggest arguments against Bush was debunked, the media fell silent.
So just to update those who missed the report, which is probably everyone who doesn't watch Fox News or read blogs, here are a few links to check out...
Fox News: Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq
Washington Times: Chemical arms found in Iraq, report reveals
Media Research Center: So why aren't top media reporting new facts on Iraq's WMD?
Defense Department: Munitions Found in Iraq Meet WMD Criteria, Official Says
Strategy Page: Why Iraq WMD Finds Were Kept Secret
And Instapundit has the actual declassified documents right here.
The sad part of this story is I don't really think it matters what we find in Iraq at this point. After this particular report came out, the anti-defend America blowhards were down-playing the threat of these munitions as degraded. I've even heard some idiots over at Huffpuff suggesting these weapons were planted by Rumsfeld and Cheney. I'm not kidding!
The fact is, these weapons could still kill a large number of people...making them WMD. These weapons could still be planted in IED's and could still get in the hands of terrorists, which was one of the fears the Intel community had prior to declassifying the report. These weapons were illegally possessed by the Saddam and they constituted the vast lies of the Hussein regime.
But none of that matters now. Too much money has been put into the anti-defend America policy to accept the truth. Michael Moore wouldn't be able to make any more movies. Cindy Shameham wouldn't get to travel the world. George Soros would have to invest in, god forbid, something other than attacking Bush. But no, this futile stance is too important. We could find a cave under Fallujah with thousands of chemical warheads tonight, and the left would be conjuring up an endless array of conspiracy theories on how they got there. No matter what is found, some - if not most - from the left will refuse the facts out of pure hatred for the man who has kept them out of the White House for six years and counting.