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Originally Posted by Tehvisseeus
Umm as far as I know the entire world believed Saddam had weapons.
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Grossly oversimplified.The truth is, nobody knew for certain.Nobody could find any proof that they existed[poison gas had been used on the Kurds, but all indications from eyewitnesses were that it was of a type used by Iran,not Iraq],the UN inspectors could find no trace of weapons at any of the sites earmarked for them to inspect by the world's intelligence services, and Saddam had made several claims to possess them, none of which he was prepared to back up with evidence.There was much talk of 'potential', and ' could' and 'may be' in CIA reports on the matter, but when these reports were put before the public, all traces of doubt were edited out.Bush invaded using the argument that in the absence of proof of such weapons not existing, his pre-emptive defence strategy had to assume that they did.
He was wrong, of course.I could just as easily say that there was a polar bear in Tehvisseeus' house,and ask him to prove that it didn't exist.If he showed us the rooms one by one, I could argue that he could have moved the polar bear out of the basement while showing me the attic, or that he had the polar bear stashed in a concealed room........It sounds preposterous, I know, but when Bush said it, people believed him.Hopefully they will know better next time.