BlackFive

Bush lied about WMDs so we could invade Iraq and steal their oil, that is pretty much gospel here in the Mad City. The problem I always had with it was if we were lying then why didn't we plant some to be found? I realize they think W is a fool, but if you are gonna cheat the system, then plant a few chem or bio weapons and voila. Now we have a leak of a Spanish transcript from W's meeting with Aznar, which has been used to imply that W was hellbent on war no matter what. Well Jose Guardia does a full translation and it actually shows just how hard we were working to avoid war, while maintaining the realistic view that Saddam was not likely to comply. He also notes this important tidbit.

Several areas of interest emerge in this memo, but perhaps the most interesting is this part concerning negotiations being conducted with Saddam. Bush told Aznar:

“The Egyptians are talking with Saddam Hussein. It seems he has hinted he’d be willing to leave if he’s allowed to take 1 billion dollars and all the information on WMDs.”

All the information on WMDs? What would that imply to Bush and to Aznar? And this was coming from Egyptian Intelligence in direct communication with Saddam. Wouldn’t the normal person assume from that that Saddam had WMDs or at the very least was seriously engaged in creating them? Why would he wish to preserve this information if he didn’t have any forbidden weapons programs is something that war critics should reconcile. I guess all the people who are trumpeting this leak will now stop saying that Bush lied and mislead us on the WMD issue. Can’t have it both ways. But I won’t hold my breath.

The billion dollars is interesting but the request to take all information on WMD's is fascinating. If Saddam had no weapons or programs then what was he asking for here? What reason could he have for making this request if he didn't have some naughty stuff either plans or parts? That right there is a stronger piece of evidence saying we had to take him out than anything else I have heard. He had many opportunities to destroy the stockpiles he had in a verifiable fashion and he refused. He was asking if he could take his plans and precursors with him into exile. Any President faced with that information would be duty bound to act on it and irresponsible if he did not.

Well even if the left is unable to believe Saddam had WMDs he believed it. I wonder where all that WMD info he was going to take with is now? Hmmmmm.