Iraq WMD, Case for War
What was the case for war? How was it justified?
Sunday, October 10, 2004
AxisofLogic/ Letters from Palestine
AxisofLogic/ Letters from Palestine: "Annihilation and Celebration are Strange Bedfellows: The Israeli-Jewish way of Atonement | By Anne Gwynne* | Oct 6, 2004, 20:44
So here is how the Israelis celebrated the Jewish Holy Season to 30th September in Palestine. I have included the US equivalents pro-rated for population, for comparison.
Palestinian children killed - 32 / Israeli children killed - 2 / US equivalent ……..………….. 2880
Palestinian civilians killed - 108 / Israeli civilians killed - 2 / US equivalent…………………….. 97,200
Palestinian civilians wounded ... 740* / *i.e. those who reached hospital only / Israeli civilians wounded. 0 (those who reached hospital only) / US equivalent ………………….. 66,600
Palestinian civilians arrested - 350 / Israeli civilians arrested … 0 / US equivalent …………...... 31,500
Palestinian homes demolished - 400 / Israeli homes demolished …0 / US equivalent …………………. 36,000
Israelis are thus responsible for irreparably damaging the lives of some 3,600 Palestinian families over 20 days.
US equivalent would be 324,000 families destroyed - that is 90 times more than those affected by the attack on the Twin Towers.
AxisofLogic/ Letters from Palestine: "Annihilation and Celebration are Strange Bedfellows: The Israeli-Jewish way of Atonement | By Anne Gwynne* | Oct 6, 2004, 20:44
So here is how the Israelis celebrated the Jewish Holy Season to 30th September in Palestine. I have included the US equivalents pro-rated for population, for comparison.
Palestinian children killed - 32 / Israeli children killed - 2 / US equivalent ……..………….. 2880
Palestinian civilians killed - 108 / Israeli civilians killed - 2 / US equivalent…………………….. 97,200
Palestinian civilians wounded ... 740* / *i.e. those who reached hospital only / Israeli civilians wounded. 0 (those who reached hospital only) / US equivalent ………………….. 66,600
Palestinian civilians arrested - 350 / Israeli civilians arrested … 0 / US equivalent …………...... 31,500
Palestinian homes demolished - 400 / Israeli homes demolished …0 / US equivalent …………………. 36,000
Israelis are thus responsible for irreparably damaging the lives of some 3,600 Palestinian families over 20 days.
US equivalent would be 324,000 families destroyed - that is 90 times more than those affected by the attack on the Twin Towers.
American Politician�s Moral Blind Spot Toward Israel: Kerry, Edwards, Bush & Cheney
American Politician�s Moral Blind Spot Toward Israel: Kerry, Edwards, Bush & Cheney: "American Politician�s Moral Blind Spot Toward Israel: Kerry, Edwards, Bush & Cheney | Sam Hamod |
10/06/04 'ICH' --
John Edwards, in his �debate� with Richard Cheney, made many good points, Unfortunately, he like Kerry last week, have a moral blind spot when it comes to Israel and the killing and maiming of hundreds of Palestinians every week. This killing has been going on for months, but none of our vaunted politicians or media have screamed with outrage about this ongoing massacre of Palestinians in their own land.
Let�s get some points straight for the sake of history.
The series of suicide bombers from Palestine did not begin until Israel invaded Palestinian lands, killing and maiming people and destroying water, electrical and hospital works. All of this is illegal under international law.
Yes, some Palestinians did commit moral crimes by attacking civilians. This was bad, but they used the only major weapon they had, their bodies as human bombs. Remember, Israel has, as gifts from America, F15s, F16s, Abrams Tanks, Apache and Blackhawk Helicopters which they use, on a daily basis, to kill and maim Palestinians.
How is it that an Israeli death is worse than the death of 30 or more Palestinians? That�s what�s going on. How can this be called �defending Israel� when Israel is the one doing the major killings and maimings?
Obviously, Kerry, Edwards, Bush and Cheney prefer not to see the illegal, immoral and brutal acts of Sharon�s Israel�they keep glossing over these actions with, �Israel has a right to defend itself.� Kerry�s crocodile tears about the Israeli kids was too one-sided; how about the hundreds of Palestinian kids and mother"
American Politician�s Moral Blind Spot Toward Israel: Kerry, Edwards, Bush & Cheney: "American Politician�s Moral Blind Spot Toward Israel: Kerry, Edwards, Bush & Cheney | Sam Hamod |
10/06/04 'ICH' --
John Edwards, in his �debate� with Richard Cheney, made many good points, Unfortunately, he like Kerry last week, have a moral blind spot when it comes to Israel and the killing and maiming of hundreds of Palestinians every week. This killing has been going on for months, but none of our vaunted politicians or media have screamed with outrage about this ongoing massacre of Palestinians in their own land.
Let�s get some points straight for the sake of history.
The series of suicide bombers from Palestine did not begin until Israel invaded Palestinian lands, killing and maiming people and destroying water, electrical and hospital works. All of this is illegal under international law.
Yes, some Palestinians did commit moral crimes by attacking civilians. This was bad, but they used the only major weapon they had, their bodies as human bombs. Remember, Israel has, as gifts from America, F15s, F16s, Abrams Tanks, Apache and Blackhawk Helicopters which they use, on a daily basis, to kill and maim Palestinians.
How is it that an Israeli death is worse than the death of 30 or more Palestinians? That�s what�s going on. How can this be called �defending Israel� when Israel is the one doing the major killings and maimings?
Obviously, Kerry, Edwards, Bush and Cheney prefer not to see the illegal, immoral and brutal acts of Sharon�s Israel�they keep glossing over these actions with, �Israel has a right to defend itself.� Kerry�s crocodile tears about the Israeli kids was too one-sided; how about the hundreds of Palestinian kids and mother"
Israel Oil Pipeline - Operation: Free Iraq Oil
Altermedia news U.S.A. � Israel Oil Pipeline - Operation: Free Iraq Oil: "8/26/2003 Filed under: Iraq War � @ 5:08 pm | Written by ANGELA VALKYRIE
The predicted plan to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to Israel are finally being released/advertised to the media. The plan utilizes the reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq’s northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria.
...
The revival of the pipeline was discussed between U.S. officials and by the Israeli Minister for National Infrastructures, Joseph Paritzky, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. The paper quotes Paritzky as saying that the pipeline would cut Israel’s energy bill drastically - probably by more than 25 per cent - since the country has been largely dependent on 8 billion dollar donations from the U.S. so Israel can afford to purchase expensive imports from Russia.
US intelligence sources confirmed that the project has been discussed and is now being revealed to the media, finally.
One former senior CIA official said: ‘It has long been a dream of a powerful section of the people now driving this administration [of President George W. Bush] and the war in Iraq to safeguard Israel’s energy supply as well as that of the United States. The Haifa pipeline was something that existed, was resurrected as a dream and is now a viable project.”
Altermedia news U.S.A. � Israel Oil Pipeline - Operation: Free Iraq Oil: "8/26/2003 Filed under: Iraq War � @ 5:08 pm | Written by ANGELA VALKYRIE
The predicted plan to build a pipeline to siphon oil from newly conquered Iraq to Israel are finally being released/advertised to the media. The plan utilizes the reconstruction of an old pipeline, inactive since the end of the British mandate in Palestine in 1948, when the flow from Iraq’s northern oilfields to Palestine was re-directed to Syria.
...
The revival of the pipeline was discussed between U.S. officials and by the Israeli Minister for National Infrastructures, Joseph Paritzky, according to the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. The paper quotes Paritzky as saying that the pipeline would cut Israel’s energy bill drastically - probably by more than 25 per cent - since the country has been largely dependent on 8 billion dollar donations from the U.S. so Israel can afford to purchase expensive imports from Russia.
US intelligence sources confirmed that the project has been discussed and is now being revealed to the media, finally.
One former senior CIA official said: ‘It has long been a dream of a powerful section of the people now driving this administration [of President George W. Bush] and the war in Iraq to safeguard Israel’s energy supply as well as that of the United States. The Haifa pipeline was something that existed, was resurrected as a dream and is now a viable project.”
US presidential and vice-presidential debates: semi-silence on the subject of what is going on in the Gaza Strip: Zionism's great moral crisis
The Australian: Israelis occupy state of denial over Zionism's great moral crisis [October 11, 2004]: "William Pfaff | October 11, 2004
A GENERALLY unremarked note in the US presidential and vice-presidential debates so far has been their glacial semi-silence on the subject of what is going on in the Gaza Strip, and on its implications for declared US foreign policy.
This silence very likely will continue in the lead-up to election day on November 2. However, there are new and extremely important questions on this subject that could be asked, and that now excite intense controversy inside Israel itself.
The Gaza affair is another act � and possibly a culminating one � in a great moral crisis for Israelis, and for Israel's friends elsewhere. Most Israelis sense this. "
...
Sharon and his colleagues are acting out something the radical and brilliant American Jewish journalist I.F. Stone wrote many years ago.
He said Zionism had from the start involved the physical displacement of the Palestinians from what became Israel, but achieving that would require a psychological act of denial of the existence of the Palestinians. "Jewish life", he said, "went on as if the Arabs weren't there". "In a profound sense, the yishuv, the Jewish community, had to pretend the Arabs weren't there, or confront ethical problems too painful to be faced."
Sharon's entire life has been devoted to Israel's expansion, and to the physical realisation of the forbidden and denied Zionist wish, that the Arabs are not there.
The Australian: Israelis occupy state of denial over Zionism's great moral crisis [October 11, 2004]: "William Pfaff | October 11, 2004
A GENERALLY unremarked note in the US presidential and vice-presidential debates so far has been their glacial semi-silence on the subject of what is going on in the Gaza Strip, and on its implications for declared US foreign policy.
This silence very likely will continue in the lead-up to election day on November 2. However, there are new and extremely important questions on this subject that could be asked, and that now excite intense controversy inside Israel itself.
The Gaza affair is another act � and possibly a culminating one � in a great moral crisis for Israelis, and for Israel's friends elsewhere. Most Israelis sense this. "
...
Sharon and his colleagues are acting out something the radical and brilliant American Jewish journalist I.F. Stone wrote many years ago.
He said Zionism had from the start involved the physical displacement of the Palestinians from what became Israel, but achieving that would require a psychological act of denial of the existence of the Palestinians. "Jewish life", he said, "went on as if the Arabs weren't there". "In a profound sense, the yishuv, the Jewish community, had to pretend the Arabs weren't there, or confront ethical problems too painful to be faced."
Sharon's entire life has been devoted to Israel's expansion, and to the physical realisation of the forbidden and denied Zionist wish, that the Arabs are not there.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Rewriting History [...Straussian lies?]
MSNBC - Rewriting History: "Rewriting History | In his debate with John Edwards, Dick Cheney had a brand-new version of the events that led to war |
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball | Newsweek | Updated: 4:32 p.m. ET Oct. 6, 2004
With virtually all of the administration’s original case for war in Iraq in tatters, Vice President Dick Cheney provided shifting and sometimes misleading arguments in last night’s debate with John Edwards about Saddam Hussein’s ties to terrorists and his access to weapons of mass destruction.
...
Cheney, challenged by Edwards, insisted last night that “I have not suggested there’s a connection between Iraq and 9/11.” But that claim is belied by an array of interviews and public comments in which Cheney has done precisely that—by repeatedly invoking claims that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had met in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence agent. That allegation was also debunked by the 9/11 commission after the panel found abundant evidence that Atta was actually in the United States at the time the rendezvous supposedly took place.
Cheney, for example, called the claim of an Atta meeting with an Iraqi official in Prague “pretty well confirmed” in a Dec. 9, 2001, “Meet the Press” interview. In a Sept. 8, 2002, “Meet the Press” appearance, just weeks before the congressional vote on authorizing President Bush to go to war, Cheney again returned to the issue: “We’ve seen in connection with the hijackers, of course, Mohammed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center.” Even after CIA and FBI officials had already concluded the claims of the meeting were almost certainly false, Cheney was still referring to it in a Sept. 14, 2003 “Meet the Press” appearance. “The Czechs alleged that Mohammed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraq intelligence official five months before the attack, but we’ve never been able to develop anymore of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don’t know.”
MSNBC - Rewriting History: "Rewriting History | In his debate with John Edwards, Dick Cheney had a brand-new version of the events that led to war |
By Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball | Newsweek | Updated: 4:32 p.m. ET Oct. 6, 2004
With virtually all of the administration’s original case for war in Iraq in tatters, Vice President Dick Cheney provided shifting and sometimes misleading arguments in last night’s debate with John Edwards about Saddam Hussein’s ties to terrorists and his access to weapons of mass destruction.
...
Cheney, challenged by Edwards, insisted last night that “I have not suggested there’s a connection between Iraq and 9/11.” But that claim is belied by an array of interviews and public comments in which Cheney has done precisely that—by repeatedly invoking claims that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had met in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence agent. That allegation was also debunked by the 9/11 commission after the panel found abundant evidence that Atta was actually in the United States at the time the rendezvous supposedly took place.
Cheney, for example, called the claim of an Atta meeting with an Iraqi official in Prague “pretty well confirmed” in a Dec. 9, 2001, “Meet the Press” interview. In a Sept. 8, 2002, “Meet the Press” appearance, just weeks before the congressional vote on authorizing President Bush to go to war, Cheney again returned to the issue: “We’ve seen in connection with the hijackers, of course, Mohammed Atta, who was the lead hijacker, did apparently travel to Prague on a number of occasions. And on at least one occasion, we have reporting that places him in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official a few months before the attack on the World Trade Center.” Even after CIA and FBI officials had already concluded the claims of the meeting were almost certainly false, Cheney was still referring to it in a Sept. 14, 2003 “Meet the Press” appearance. “The Czechs alleged that Mohammed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraq intelligence official five months before the attack, but we’ve never been able to develop anymore of that yet either in terms of confirming it or discrediting it. We just don’t know.”
U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons (washingtonpost.com)
U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons (washingtonpost.com): "Report on Iraq Contradicts Bush Administration Claims | By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus | Washington Post Staff Writers | Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A01
The 1991 Persian Gulf War and subsequent U.N. inspections destroyed Iraq's illicit weapons capability and, for the most part, Saddam Hussein did not try to rebuild it, according to an extensive report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq that contradicts nearly every prewar assertion made by top administration officials about Iraq.
Charles A. Duelfer, whom the Bush administration chose to complete the U.S. investigation of Iraq's weapons programs, said Hussein's ability to produce nuclear weapons had 'progressively decayed' since 1991. Inspectors, he said, found no evidence of 'concerted efforts to restart the program.' "
U.S. 'Almost All Wrong' on Weapons (washingtonpost.com): "Report on Iraq Contradicts Bush Administration Claims | By Dana Priest and Walter Pincus | Washington Post Staff Writers | Thursday, October 7, 2004; Page A01
The 1991 Persian Gulf War and subsequent U.N. inspections destroyed Iraq's illicit weapons capability and, for the most part, Saddam Hussein did not try to rebuild it, according to an extensive report by the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq that contradicts nearly every prewar assertion made by top administration officials about Iraq.
Charles A. Duelfer, whom the Bush administration chose to complete the U.S. investigation of Iraq's weapons programs, said Hussein's ability to produce nuclear weapons had 'progressively decayed' since 1991. Inspectors, he said, found no evidence of 'concerted efforts to restart the program.' "
Former US weapons inspector Kay: 'denial' is not just a river in Egypt.'
Yahoo! News - Bush administration in denial about lack of Iraq WMD: Kay: "Thu Oct 7,12:07 PM ET Politics - AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s administration is in denial over the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (news - web sites) before the US-led invasion in 2003, ex-chief US arms inspector David Kay said.
A report by the Iraq Survey Group that Kay ran until he quit at the start of the year found Iraq had no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons when Bush was saying that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was a growing threat.
The White House has insisted Saddam was a threat to the United States and had weapons of mass destruction capability, but Kay told NBC television: 'All
I can say is 'denial' is not just a river in Egypt.'
'The report is scary enough without misrepresenting what it says,' he added. "
Yahoo! News - Bush administration in denial about lack of Iraq WMD: Kay: "Thu Oct 7,12:07 PM ET Politics - AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s administration is in denial over the lack of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (news - web sites) before the US-led invasion in 2003, ex-chief US arms inspector David Kay said.
A report by the Iraq Survey Group that Kay ran until he quit at the start of the year found Iraq had no chemical, biological or nuclear weapons when Bush was saying that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was a growing threat.
The White House has insisted Saddam was a threat to the United States and had weapons of mass destruction capability, but Kay told NBC television: 'All
I can say is 'denial' is not just a river in Egypt.'
'The report is scary enough without misrepresenting what it says,' he added. "
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Gaza: Israeli 'Days of Penitence' tank shells into block of flats: 2 Pal dead, 9 children wounded
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Tanks fire shells into family homes: "Tanks fire shells into family homes
Chris McGreal
Thursday October 7, 2004
The Guardian
An Israeli tank fired two shells into blocks of flats yesterday, killing a Palestinian father and his son in one home and wounding nine children asleep in another.
The most seriously hurt was 18-month-old Wisal Obed Felfel, who doctors fear will not survive brain injuries from shrapnel.
Her eight siblings, aged from seven months to 11 years, have shrapnel wounds and burns.
The attack came on the seventh day of the army's 'Operation Days of Penitence' in northern Gaza, which has so far killed more than 80 Palestinians, about a third of them civilians, according to an Israeli human rights group.
The injured children's mother, Sumaya, who had wounds on her face and body, said bulldozers had come to tear down the family's citrus trees on the edge of Beit Lahia. "
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Tanks fire shells into family homes: "Tanks fire shells into family homes
Chris McGreal
Thursday October 7, 2004
The Guardian
An Israeli tank fired two shells into blocks of flats yesterday, killing a Palestinian father and his son in one home and wounding nine children asleep in another.
The most seriously hurt was 18-month-old Wisal Obed Felfel, who doctors fear will not survive brain injuries from shrapnel.
Her eight siblings, aged from seven months to 11 years, have shrapnel wounds and burns.
The attack came on the seventh day of the army's 'Operation Days of Penitence' in northern Gaza, which has so far killed more than 80 Palestinians, about a third of them civilians, according to an Israeli human rights group.
The injured children's mother, Sumaya, who had wounds on her face and body, said bulldozers had come to tear down the family's citrus trees on the edge of Beit Lahia. "
Bush Cheney move to justify war because Saddam was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food program.
Excite News: "Bush, Cheney Concede Iraq Had No WMDs | Oct 7, 11:22 PM (ET) | By SCOTT LINDLAW
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush and his vice president conceded Thursday in the clearest terms yet that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, even as they tried to shift the Iraq war debate to a new issue - whether the invasion was justified because Saddam was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food program.
Ridiculing the Bush administration's evolving rationale for war, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry shot back: 'You don't make up or find reasons to go to war after the fact.'
Vice President Dick Cheney brushed aside the central findings of chief U.S. weapons hunter Charles Duelfer - that Saddam not only had no weapons of mass destruction and had not made any since 1991, but that he had no capability of making any either - while Bush unapologetically defended his decision to invade Iraq.
Excite News: "Bush, Cheney Concede Iraq Had No WMDs | Oct 7, 11:22 PM (ET) | By SCOTT LINDLAW
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush and his vice president conceded Thursday in the clearest terms yet that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, even as they tried to shift the Iraq war debate to a new issue - whether the invasion was justified because Saddam was abusing a U.N. oil-for-food program.
Ridiculing the Bush administration's evolving rationale for war, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry shot back: 'You don't make up or find reasons to go to war after the fact.'
Vice President Dick Cheney brushed aside the central findings of chief U.S. weapons hunter Charles Duelfer - that Saddam not only had no weapons of mass destruction and had not made any since 1991, but that he had no capability of making any either - while Bush unapologetically defended his decision to invade Iraq.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
U.S. Vetoes UN Plan to End Israeli Operation [... now has more Israel based vetoes than US based.]
Yahoo! News - U.S. Vetoes Plan to End Israeli Operation: "2004/10/05
UNITED NATIONS - The United States on Tuesday vetoed an Arab-backed resolution demanding an immediate end to military operations in the northern Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 in favor and one against, with Britain, Germany and Romania abstaining.
...
"Once again, the resolution is lopsided and unbalanced," [U.S. Ambassador John] Danforth told the council just before voting "no."
...
After the vote, Algeria's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Baali, the only Arab member of the council, thanked the resolution's supporters and noted that the measure got more than the minimum nine "yes" votes needed for adoption.
"It is a sad day for the Palestinians and it is a sad day for justice," Baali said.
The resolution would have condemned "the broad military incursion and attacks by the Israeli occupying forces in the area of northern Gaza Strip, including in and around the Jabaliya refugee camp, resulting in extensive human casualties and destruction and exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation."
Israel launched the operation six days ago after a Palestinian rocket killed two children in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. The Gaza thrust has left 68 Palestinians dead.
Yahoo! News - U.S. Vetoes Plan to End Israeli Operation: "2004/10/05
UNITED NATIONS - The United States on Tuesday vetoed an Arab-backed resolution demanding an immediate end to military operations in the northern Gaza Strip (news - web sites) and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 in favor and one against, with Britain, Germany and Romania abstaining.
...
"Once again, the resolution is lopsided and unbalanced," [U.S. Ambassador John] Danforth told the council just before voting "no."
...
After the vote, Algeria's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah Baali, the only Arab member of the council, thanked the resolution's supporters and noted that the measure got more than the minimum nine "yes" votes needed for adoption.
"It is a sad day for the Palestinians and it is a sad day for justice," Baali said.
The resolution would have condemned "the broad military incursion and attacks by the Israeli occupying forces in the area of northern Gaza Strip, including in and around the Jabaliya refugee camp, resulting in extensive human casualties and destruction and exacerbating the dire humanitarian situation."
Israel launched the operation six days ago after a Palestinian rocket killed two children in the southern Israeli town of Sderot. The Gaza thrust has left 68 Palestinians dead.
Doubts raised on Saddam theory in 2001
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Doubts raised on Saddam theory in 2001: "Oliver Burkeman in New York and Rory McCarthy in Baghdad | Monday October 4, 2004 | The Guardian
The Bush administration knew as early as mid-2001 that a central plank of its argument about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction was regarded by its own nuclear experts as probably untrue, it was reported yesterday.
The energy department experts said thousands of aluminium tubes purchased by Iraq, and cited by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, as 'irrefutable evidence' of Saddam's nuclear ambitions, were more likely destined for small-arms manufacture, according to the New York Times.
The experts conveyed their doubts to the administration in an intelligence memo dated August 17 2001, but were disregarded in favour of a junior CIA analyst who championed the idea that the tubes were to be used in uranium enrichment, the report said. ...
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Doubts raised on Saddam theory in 2001: "Oliver Burkeman in New York and Rory McCarthy in Baghdad | Monday October 4, 2004 | The Guardian
The Bush administration knew as early as mid-2001 that a central plank of its argument about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction was regarded by its own nuclear experts as probably untrue, it was reported yesterday.
The energy department experts said thousands of aluminium tubes purchased by Iraq, and cited by the vice-president, Dick Cheney, as 'irrefutable evidence' of Saddam's nuclear ambitions, were more likely destined for small-arms manufacture, according to the New York Times.
The experts conveyed their doubts to the administration in an intelligence memo dated August 17 2001, but were disregarded in favour of a junior CIA analyst who championed the idea that the tubes were to be used in uranium enrichment, the report said. ...
