[Lanny_MacDonald]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

I suppose I'm a fricken joke for saying this...and a sheep...and all the other derogatory monikers the self righteous, elitist anti-Bush people who post here would like to hurl at me but lets look at a couple of irrefutable facts here....

1. Al Zarqawi was in Iraq.

Al Zarqawi was in a part of Iraq that was NOT under Hussein's control. Al Zarqawi was in the part of Iraq that was under protection of the American no-fly zone. Hussein had no control over what took place in this region. Saying that Al Zarqawi was in Iraq proved there was a link between Al Qaeda and Iraq is like saying that because the 19 hijackers were living and training in the Arizona that John McCain was complicent to 9/11.

2. Because Hussein kicked out weapons inspectors on several occasions and did not dispose of his documented stockpile of WMD's in the manner provided for by various UN resolutions it is not unreasonable to assume that he still had WMD's in Iraq at the time. Actually, it would've been irresponsible to think otherwise.

It's extremely irresponsible to invade a country until you are 100 percent certain of the facts. The UN Weapons Inspectors all said there was no evidence of anything. The Americans working on the UN Weapons Inspections said the same things, but they were all ignored in favor of the shaky testimony of a ex-national, who turned out to be a planted Iranian spy. The Bush administration wanted this war and manufactured their way into it. There is no hiding that fact.

3. It took 17 UN security council resolutions and the subsequent disregard/violation of each of them for the US government to attempt the use of force in Iraq.

And use force without the blessing of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations. No one saw the Iraqis as a risk. The American military leaders did not see Iraq as a risk. The Bush administration and the neo-cons were the only ones that saw anything in Iraq that they liked, and those things were oil, a military foothold, and a chance to extend their power in the region. The invasion had ZERO to do with enforcing UN resolutions and suggesting as much is more of an insult to your intelligence than it is to ours.

I'm not happy with the way this thing has played out at all. The planning for post-invasion operations and transition to a new Iraqi rule has been horrnedous. However, to say that the administration LIED about WMD's in Iraq or Saddam's threat level or Al-Qaeda's presence there is just flat out wrong.

Sorry Dis, the administration lied out their ass. There is no denying that anymore. NONE. Its done. Its been proven in spades. The only ones not believing that anymore are those sheep that you do not want to be lumped in with. The intelligence community is coming clean and admitting it now. The military is spilling their guts. What the hell else do you want? Cheney himself to come out from behind the curtian and tell you that George W. really is the stuttering idiot he appears to be and that the administration just executed the plans they have been sitting on since the mid 90's? The evidence is all out there for anyone to see, and its not one of those wild "conspiracy theories" the right wingers like to claim everyone is "cooking up". The only thing "cooked up" was the intelligence to support the actions of a bunch of right wing wackos who played a little too much Risk while they were in college.