When will they find Saddam Hussein's enormous arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction?

"The scientist also told American weapons experts that Iraq had secretly sent unconventional weapons and technology to Syria, starting in the mid-1990s, and that more recently Iraq was co-operating with al Qaeda, the military officials said..."

This was front page of the world section in yesterday's New Zealand Herald, from a New York Times journo embedded with the 101st Airborne Division. Look how diligently she's digested and regurgitated the day's Pentagon press pack:

An unidentified secret source whose inside information Just Happens to coincide with the Pentagon's yet-unconfirmed and often dubious claims. A source no-one can interview further or check the credentials, credibility, or even the existence of, lest his identity be revealed to the Evil Scary Dictator that has apparently been deposed. Unidentified Expert even confirms those spurious al-Qaeda connections Colin Powell was vainly trying to convince the Sane World of months ago.

Uh, yeah.

Something tells me these Weapons of Mass Destruction will turn up just as soon as the Bush Admin declares the war over [and won, of course, even without capturing Saddam or finding the weapons or any of the reasons they gave to rationalise it in the first place] and the pesky embedded journalists are out of earshot. The press releases have probably already been written.

Cynical? Me?

The United Nations, and by extension its member states, don't have the jurisdiction to intervene within sovereign states, even when the leaders are evil dictator bastards. Heads of such States are automatically afforded rationae personae [immunity from prosecution] under International Law. The US couldn't even bring Saddam in front of the imminent International Criminal Court for his atrocities 'cause the US doesn't recognise the court. See, the realities of International Diplomacy are so much more complicated than the Bush Admin's nice, convenient fairy-tape concoctions.

this was the reasoning used to attack the Taliban

B-b-but what about the War On Terror^TM?!

(Hey now here's something to be cynical about: Th republicans have rescheduled their 2004 National convention so that the climax coincides with the 3rd anniversary of 11/9/01)

(Oh, the dangers of the missing comma...)

It's great to know that this threat to the whole world was insufficiently armed to even defend its cities.

i've started believing that too.

http://zone.artizans.com/images/previews/OLS262.pvw.jpg

I muttered this before on one of the war threads, but I'll say it again -- US loses either way:

US: "Er, no weapons found, sorry."
WORLD: "You morons."

US: "See, we found them!"
WORLD: "You planted them there."

The problem was that there could have always been a chance that they were there. As Ed and Martin cogently note, though, now that the fighting is over there's plenty of opportunities and reasons for people to start coming forward, and nothing of the kind has surfaced yet, so said chance's plausability is starting to suffer some.

The will to make war became its own justification. I'm inordinately disturbed by this. Polls consistently bore out the public's support for war against Iraq regardless of WMD. Maybe they found something in BushCo's patchwork of justifications that appealed—i.e. the shifting frameworks and total non-sequitur rationales put forward provided "somethin for everyone" to hang their war-makin hat on?

And the weapons of mass destruction? Whatever happened to them? I'm sure we'll find some," he laughs. "They're being flown in right now in a C-130.

Also notable for the phrase "my father crapped bigger ones than George Bush."

Yeah, but it was the subtle comic interplay between the information minister and Donald Rumsfeld that really made the war. Verbal slapstick at its finest! Those two have the goodnatured rivalry and sense of comic timing not seen since, oh, the Two Ronnies.

My favourite episode [news article, whatever] was the capture of Baghdad airport. On the 10pm Saturday (NZ time) news update, Uncle Don tells us that US marines have taken over Saddam International Airport and have made significant in-roads into Baghdad. Ali, playing the wacky larrakin yet again, denies it all. US troops are being fought off outside the airport, and are nowhere near Baghdad itself.

Twelve hours later, on Sunday's 10am news, real independent journalists on the scene reported that actually no, Coalition troops aren't yet in the capital, and were indeed meeting resistance at the airport. This after Ali takes the comic pratfall for lying to the world's media.

One of the networks should definitely look into a light-entertainment variety hour show hosted by these two comic genii.

I am being pushed into a corner re: compliance with 1441. I have undergone a rigorous inspection regime, which I have done everything in my power not to comply with. No weapons have been found by the UN, and they still want to continue inspections, but that's cool, because at least I'm still in power and alive. If they haven't found 'em by March they ain't gonna find 'em, because I'm not stupid and I have copies of their daily itinerary.

On the other hand, the US & UK want to stomp my ass regardless of the UNSC, and I don't have a chance against them. Let's see. If I use WMD, it's not really going to help my case any, because then the entire international community will turn against me, and it's not as if chemical weapons are going to be anything but a speed bump against the Coalition. Last I checked bombers flying at 55,000 feet and cruise missiles weren't affected by sarin gas. Hmm.

If I hold my own for a while, play up atrocities committed by the coalition against 'my' people, and use strictly conventional means to attack, I might be able to sit this out and the Coalition will bow to the wishes of the global opinion after they look bad enough. All I have to do is bog them down and show enough pictures of American soldiers being terrible.

Yeah. That's the plan. I just need another week to sort things out. Let me sit in this bunker and scheme with the kids. *whistling noise*

But Saddam isn't really cunning - never was, right - and I'm probably full of shit. It doesn't matter, does it? Stupid to even bother.

its just so hard to appreciate/understand their mentality, equally staggering is how now they've been proven to be so cowardly and inept how they could exert such control over the people.

Lots of bullies turn out cowardly and inept when they meet somebody bigger than them.

Genius. I think.

Stevem - maybe the question should be changed to "why did Tony Blair LIE to Parliament?"

John Humphrey's vs John Reid and his wild accusations has been some of the most entertaining radio in recent weeks.

http://www.cybernetic.demon.co.uk/images/ED209.jpg

"He didn't hear the gun drop!"

Still waiting.

As we wait, we can amuse ourselves by recalling all the horseshit Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld fed the world in terms of "we know where they are" and "the fact the inspectors can't find them only proves we need to go in with our army and get them" and "Saddam is buying yellowcake uranium" and "aluminum tubes that can only be for uranium enrichment" and so on and so forth. Tons of horseshit for the 8 months preceding the war.

they did find something in saddam's military hq fyi, as shown in this intelligence video: