Tom wrote:
"If you pick an option, you have to pick one that explains why the United Nations, other nations with their own independent intelligence services, and Clinton's CIA, all arrived at the conclusion that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and the means to produce them in quantity. Otherwise, it doesn't hold up. Maybe they were all lying, or stupid."

Recall that the French, the Germans the Russians[etc] never claimed there were or were not WMD in Iraq- If they did, please provide source and quote and I will gladly revise my claim. And please, do not choose- as you put it- a minister of silly walks or underwater basket weaving or somesuch.

I think they were simply unsure and unconvinced that WMD either existed or did not exist. As such, they held their toungue.

Also, the main point of the ENTIRE (reasonable part of the) world was:

Granted, even if Saddam had WMD- an invasion of Iraq in that context was wrong and unwise

I like it how that, when it suits your rhetorical purposes (and those of your particular argumentative flavor), Germany, France etc are the axis of Weasels- total naive incompetents, not to be trusted etc.

But when it suits your purpose, they are to be taken seriously- namely a "they did it too so its not that bad" argument.

The same goes for your citation of the Clinton-era CIA data.

If I know a guy who commits murder arbitrarily, am I entitled to do the same?

"they were hauled out or destroyed in the long political slack period after our troops arrived and before they invaded, looks a lot more plausible. "

C'mon, Tom. Were both smart enough and know enough chemistry to know that Sarin, VX, Mustard etc are not easily destroyed- at all! Just look into the problem the Military is having with their old nerve gas stockpiles.

Tom wrote:
"Of those two, the idea that they were moved or hidden makes the most sense since their destruction on site would be expected to leave traces. "

Umm, wait. So the lack of evidence for X just means, logically speaking, that there is a conspiracy to hide X?

Where have I heard that before?

Davin L.