Saddam's WMDs: Greatest Hits of the 80s edition

I was all set to write a snarky post linking to this amusing post by Running Scared (HT The Reaction) about how silent the Right Blogisphere has been about the simmering Sunni discontent over suspected election fraud in Iraq. But then I made the mistake of clicking on one of the conservatives he linked to. Then I compounded my mistake by starting to read the comment thread. Now I have no choice but to abandon my original post, post the comments, and look for the jaw I dropped on the floor somewhere.

Sane people who put country above politics know and understand that Iraq under Saddam was a threat to the world. On to Iran and Syria.
Posted by: Ned at December 24, 2005 08:23 AM

The entire "missing WMD in Iraq" story has got to be the biggest joke in the history of war time stories. How this story grew legs and became so powerful is beyond me.

I had a guy that served his apprenticeship at my firm; this man had just returned to civilian life after serving one term. Marc told us about his duty serving as part of the WMD inspection force in Iraq following Desert Storm; he was in a warehouse that contained stacked drums full of chemical weapons, he estimated over 500 drums in that warehouse; Marc also told us of other discoveries made regarding WMD in Iraq. We all saw pictures of stored WMD following Desert Storm. All Saddam had to do was to provide proof that these weapons had been destroyed, & or allow the UN inspectors to destroy the WMD; if Saddam had followed this path, he would still be in charge of Iraq today. Saddam refused any and all attempts made by the entire world to answer for the WMD we all knew he had; resolution after resolution after resolution; threat after threat after threat.

The entire missing WMD - Iraq story is just plain weak...... No question that he had them; what happened to them remains the question. If they were destroyed and Saddam lost his country because his pride or ego wouldn't allow him to provide the evidence, then I can live with that; however, if these weapons still exist today in some hidden location, we then remain in trouble of these weapons getting in the hands of the bad guys.
Posted by: Keemo at December 24, 2005 09:37 AM

Keemo

He had them, and I believe that his ego prevented him from destroying them and admitting it. He also believed his partners, the French and Russians, when they told him that Bush wouldn't dare attack him without a specific blessing from the UN and they guaranteed Saddam they would veto any UN resolution of that nature. He gambled that Bush was a pushover just as every american president since Carter. He lost.
Posted by: Ed Poinsett at December 24, 2005 10:39 AM

There's more, oh, much much more chez Mon Capitain. People who think Saddam smuggled his WMDs to Syria. People who forget that we backed Saddam in the Iraq-Iran war despite the reports that he was using chemical weapons. You see, he was our SOB then.