A Flawed Argument In the Case for War
By Glenn Kessler and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, February 1, 2004; Page A01
The information was so startling that CIA Director George J. Tenet, accompanied by Vice President Cheney, marched up to Capitol Hill to brief the four top Senate and House leaders the day after Labor Day 2002. The administration was gearing up to present its case against Iraq at the United Nations, and lawmakers were eager for any evidence that would prove Saddam Hussein was a grave threat.
In the briefing, Tenet and Cheney presented what one participant described as a "smoking gun": New intelligence showed Iraq had developed unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) that could deliver chemical or biological agents. In addition, Iraq had sought software that would allow it to produce sophisticated mapping of eastern U.S. cities. President Bush hinted at the evidence in a speech on Oct. 7, 2002.
And a year ago, when Secretary of State Colin L. Powell made a lengthy presentation before the U.N. Security Council, he echoed the concern: "Iraq could use these small UAVs, which have a wingspan of only a few meters, to deliver biological agents to its neighbors or, if transported, to other countries, including the United States."
Since Powell's speech, however, investigations by U.S. weapons inspectors have determined that the UAVs, or drones, were not designed to spread deadly toxins but to fly unarmed reconnaissance missions.
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Current Events » in reply to Kay: Intel Problems Hurt U.S. Credibility
A Flawed Argument In the Case for War
The whole thread (38 posts)
- Kay: Intel Problems Hurt U.S. Credibility
- As long as the credibity of our ability to make war is there, the rest does not matter.
- The word parsing you guys do with Kay makes clinton so proud
- A Flawed Argument In the Case for War
- You don't need a reason to depose a scumball like Saddam Hussein, just an excuse. And ANY excuse will do. (n/t)
- He said, she said........
- This cartoon says it all