OpinionJournal’s Political Diary could not be having their “open house” at a better time. While they still don’t archive them, I will archive this little gem from today’s edition:
Weapons of Mysterious Discovery
Saddam Hussein was lying when he claimed he had destroyed all his weapons of mass destruction. Since the Iraq Survey Group called off its search for WMD in Iraq in early 2005, some 500 artillery shells containing Sarin or mustard gas have been found, according to a newly publicized Pentagon intelligence report. Banned weapons continue to turn up. Why does the the Bush Administration seem allergic to discussing the fact?
House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra, who held a news conference yesterday on the weapons discoveries, said the findings raise questions about the years of weapons inspections that had not resulted in locating the fairly sizeable stash of chemical weapons. He also noted that it was unfortunate that Americans had been given the impression that the 16-month search by the Iraq Survey Group was the definitive statement on the existence of WMD in Iraq. After continuing to get leads on possible WMD sites, the Defense Department’s National Ground Intelligence Center took up where the ISG left off and discovered the 500 shells in a variety of sites.
The Pentagon is downplaying the weapons discovery because, in the words of a spokesman, they were “not the weapons we were looking for” when the 2003 invasion occurred. Then Secretary of State Colin Powell had mesmerized television audiences when he spoke at the U.N. Security Council in January 2003 detailing stockpiles of anthrax and other toxins he believed Saddam Hussein had.
Still, the discovery should prompt curiosity about what more digging might turn up. To date, there has been an almost pathological reluctance on the part of the U.S. intelligence community to translate and analyze 36,000 boxes of documents captured from Saddam Hussein’s government. “The information released today proves that weapons of mass destruction are, in fact, in Iraq,” said Senator Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Republican. “It is essential for the American people to understand that these weapons are in Iraq.” He pointed out that during yesterday’s debate on a troop withdrawal resolution, several Senate Democrats said that no WMD had been found in Iraq, a claim, Mr. Santorum said, the declassified document proves is untrue.
The tantalizing clues found in the tiny portion of the National Ground Intelligence Center’s report that has been declassified should serve as a wakeup call for the Bush administration to consider releasing more material from the treasure trove of Saddam documents. The Bush White House’s failure to defend and explain its Iraq policies has proven to be one of the major reasons support for the war has fallen so dramatically.
Folkbum, check your fax machine for new talking points :-)
