Defusing the smoking gun How did Colin Powell get so much wrong about Iraq

http://www.msnbc.com/news/951502.asp?0cv=CB20

In the middle of a fascinating article in Monday’s Los Angeles Times, which quotes several former Iraqi officers on why they lost the war so badly, the following passage leaps out: Commanders interviewed for this article said they were issued no orders regarding chemical or biological weapons. And they denied that Iraq ever possessed such weapons.

THE TRUTH OF this denial is, by now, close to inescapable. Too much time has passed, too many suspicious sites have been inspected, too many knowledgeable sources have been interrogated, for much doubt to remain on the matter. Maybe a ton of VX will be unearthed in Ahmed’s basement tomorrow, but this is unlikely — and, at this point, few would regard such a find as authentic.

Whatever officials and apologists may say about it in retrospect, the belief in Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” was the only compelling reason, really, to have fought this war. Yes, Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator and his toppling is welcome. But the same could be said of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il, with whom the Bush administration is now (properly) preparing to negotiate, or of Liberia’s Charles Taylor, whose exile didn’t strike Bush as worth the commitment of more than a handful of Marines. Even Paul Wolfowitz, the Pentagon’s intellectual architect of Gulf War II, admitted in his famous Vanity Fair interview that Iraqi human rights alone would not have justified the sacrifice of American soldiers.

So let us ask, one more time: Where are the Iraqi WMD? Or, more to the point now, since such weapons will probably never be found: Why did so many — including Bush officials, whose views on this issue, I think, were sincere, if hyped — believe Iraq had WMD in the first place?

When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. (Sherlock Holmes)

The only possible answer is they didn't believe it. It was a ruse to plunge us into a military quagmire to guarantee profits and political rule for the BFEE in perpetuity.

if Colin says WMDs exist ..we must believe Colin because he isn't like those other nasty men (perle, wolfie etc) we can trust Colin can't we??

on lies.

I am sorry to say. These people's hands are dripping in blood.

Here's the last paragraph the PNAC article:

Kristol believes the United States will be "vindicated when we discover the weapons of mass destruction and when we liberate the people of Iraq." He predicts that many of the allies who have been reluctant to join the war effort would participate in efforts to rebuild and democratize Iraq.

except for the continuing myth of powell being some kind of 'moderate' or a good guy duped by the RW cabal in the WH.

powell lied. he knew he was lying, but felt no compunction against lying to further the causes of his RW taskmasters. and while he may depart slightly with thier methods, powell approves whole heartedly with the goals of the RW maniacs.