As with all administration cluster bombs, you never really know when the bomblets are going to explode. It’s too early to close the door on finding WMD in a country the size of California, where thousands of liters of banned substances could be stored in a single oil tanker. Dual-use facilities don’t make things any easier.

 

The elusive Saddam, master of secretion, had plenty of time to hide the Ark before the war started. (Pity about the Billion dollars.)

 

The burden of proof was always on Iraq to show compliance with UN resolutions and this they failed to do. Iraq had left, “Many unanswered questions about its non-conventional weapons, but this did not mean such dangerous arms still existed”, according to Hans Blix in a BBC interview Thursday.

 

The real (or manufactured) fear that a rogue state in possession of chemical or biological weapons might exact revenge on the US by simply giving a small vial to a terrorist group dictated words and deeds at the time.

 

However, if unbridled ideologues tailored classified information to suit their pre-emption agenda, the electorate needs to know about it. Hyping stockmongers and hyping warmongers are cut from the same cloth, except with one you only lose your shirt. Circular means/ends arguments don’t wash if the public and Congress are misled.

 

A bipartisan inquiry into how the technology-shy intelligence services handled the gathering, collating and presenting of information is the way to go.

 

Rum and Wolf and Martha are in a pickle.

 

 

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there were (was)*

 

25,000 liters of Anthrax

38,000 liters of Botulinum Toxin

29,984 prohibited munitions capable of delivering chemical agents

Material to produce 500 tons of Sarin, Mustard and VX Nerve agent                     

Several mobile biological warfare factories

Evidence from the British that Saddam sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa

Evidence that Saddam attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes for nuclear weapons production.

 

*President Bush, State of Union, January, 2003

 

 

“Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range of hundreds of miles -- far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, and other nations -- in a region where more than 135,000 American civilians and service members live and work. We've also discovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVS for missions targeting the United States. We know that Iraq and al Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases.” 

 

President Bush, Cincinnati, October, 2002. (Under pressure from the White House, speech carried live on networks.)

 

 

Blair inspired evenhandedness when dealing with the Mid-East may be one sign of positive payback by Bush. Peace, security and independence for two long suffering peoples is the aim.

In the context of suicide bombings, targeted assassinations, bulldozer diplomacy, daily humiliations, settler provocations and dead stone-throwers, the logic of smashing  Palestinian security forces and then asking an eviscerated Abbas to crack down on Hamas must be challenged.

The gelding Funny Cide is even money but Abbas is a long shot.

If Bush the Negotiator morphs into Bush the Honest Broker it will encourage Palestinian peaceniks, give heart to moderates sidelined for decades and go some way towards alleviating Arab alienation.

With Sharon finally recognizing the obvious, Israeli moderates will be emboldened to take on right-wing extremists. The bigoted self-righteous on either side need to be isolated and the pace of negotiations should not be set by violence. Abraham won’t demur.

Now that the President has decided to bat for peace, he had better be sure the bat is uncorked.    

9:07:24 AM