"Mark Browne" wrote in message
news:by%8b.442621$o%2.199255@sccrnsc02...
snip
And because they reported it, it must be true.

Sounds good to me; it does dovetail rather nicely with what I have
personally experienced when traveling in the middle east. This is in rather
sharp contrast with much of what has been said by people of the PNAC
persuasion.

Lets see, the story talks about the 1980's. Even Iraq admitted to having
WOMD in the
1990's in their reports to the UN.

So where did they go Mark?

They said they destroyed them, and so far, it seems to be the truth.

So how did Saddam earn credibility in your eyes? Was it his rape and torture chambers
or his mass killings of his own citizens?

You do
seem to think a lot of your opinion about how clueless the inspectors are.

Where did I say or infer that?

Perhaps you wish to go over to the middle east and show these stupid
inspectors how to search of the "missing" WMDs. I have a shovel, if you
want to go over and dig up the missing weapons I would be happy to borrow it
to you. Until then, the preponderance of evidence is that the weapons are
destroyed.

How do you borrow a shovel to another person Mark?

Regardless, even Hans Blix thought the WOMD existed as late as February of this year:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/14/sprj.irq.un/

"In their third progress report since U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 was passed
in November, inspectors told the council they had not found any weapons of mass
destruction, but they urged Iraq to be more cooperative.

Hans Blix, executive chairman of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission, and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency, said they were still investigating and had not ruled out the possibility that
Iraq does possess chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Blix said perhaps the most important inspection issue is determining what happened to
stores of anthrax, VX nerve agent and long-range missiles that Iraq previously was
known to have.

One document suggests that "some 1,000 tons of chemical agent were unaccounted for,"
but Baghdad has begun to provide more information that could help lead to answers, Blix
added.

He said it is Baghdad's responsibility -- "not the task of inspectors" -- to find such
evidence, he said.

He said Iraq's al-Samoud 2 model of missile exceeds the range of 93 miles (150
kilometers) allowed by U.N. resolutions. Iraqi officials have said the missile does not
yet have a guidance system, which would reduce its range.

Blix also said a small number of empty chemical munitions had been found, "which should
have been declared and destroyed."


Have you been sleeping through the last twenty or so years? I am not
normally a fan of clip and paste politics, but your question does not
merit
the work of personally answering:

Translation: I am not able to.