Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Clairvoyance

re: Clairvoyance
TB — (archived)

What was know for sure prior to the invasion:

1) Saddam had, in the past developed WMD, and had actually deployed them in battles, and on civilians.

2) Saddam had an active nuclear weapons program before it was destroyed by Israel. After that, the nuclear weapons program was secretly reconstituted, and was only a few years from building bombs when it was discovered after the first Gulf War and dismantled. Prior to that, international nuclear authorities didn't have a clue that it was there.

3) Saddam had known connections to terrorist groups, including a terrorist organization within his own government. There was evidence of at least some contacts between Saddam and al Qaeda.

4) Saddam had a long record of deceiving inspectors. He routinely moved, destroyed, and concealed information and hardware. Prior to 2003, he developed a number of "dual use" programs, similar to those he used to disguise earlier active WMD research, and, according to the Duelfer Report, held them at the ready to restart as soon as the sanction heat was off. He was doing everything except cooperate with inspection and disarmament programs.

5) Saddam had a history of attacking his neighbor nations.

These are things that were known prior to the invasion. Things that were not known for sure were whether or not there were stockpiles, active programs, or things being hidden from the inspectors (again).

It looks very "slam-dunk" now that Saddam had no active weapons programs, or "deep cooperation" (apparently the current level of the bar for "contact") with al Qaeda, but this was verified only after the entire nation, and whatever records and equipment weren't destroyed, were open for inspection.

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