WMD’s, Bush, Iraq War (Part Deux) and Democrats

In this heated election season much is being made about the propriety of the Iraqi War (Part Deux) and the Bush administrations “Lies” over Saddam Hussein and the alleged “WMD’s.”

It seems that people have a visceral reaction and the target of their anger is President Bush. They champion slogans like the “Illegal War”, or “Bush Lied” or one of my favorites “Weapons of Mass Distortion.”

But to look at Bush as he is the one solely responsible for this is simply not morally honest. Let me take you back to the year 1998. For those of you who don’t recall, this was the 2nd year of Clinton’s 2nd term.

Here are a few comments and the identity of those making the comments:

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." --President Bill Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." --Madeline Albright, Secretary of State, Feb 18, 1998

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." --Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18, 1998

"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."Letter to President Clinton, signed by: -- Democratic Senators Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others, Oct. 9, 1998

"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." --Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998

Now I bring this up not to support President Bush or the war, but to show in plain black and white the level of dishonesty politicians can and have risen to. If Bush lied, what did Clinton, Pelosi & Kerry do?

It seems lately that the war is the political cause “du jour” and the democrats are fond of portraying McCain as a Bush Holdover and someone who would continue this “wrong war.”

But is it a wrong war and were there never any WMD’s?

I guess the answer is what do you know about WMD’s and what Saddam Hussein said & did in the past. Let me give you a little foundational information:

(Disclaimer) – This is foundational information and is not mean to be the start all / end all. If you want to learn the complete cause and effects of WMD’s and have the stomach for it knock your socks off!!

Simply put a weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a one which can kill or seriously injury large numbers of humans, cause severe damage to structures (man-made and natural) or the biosystem in general. The term covers several weapon types, including nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC), and radiological weapons. When you think of WMD’s this is what should come to mind.

Now what are some examples? Let’s get rid of the first two right away: Nuclear & Radiological. Why you ask? Because those are easy. Think explosions with some really nasty ramifications and you have the gist of them. (Please See Disclaimer)

Now to the ones that will definitely NOT give you the warm and fuzzies. Biological and Chemical weapons. When I think of WMD’s these are the two that keep me tossing and turning at night and replace counting sheep with little grim reapers.

Biological Weapons – These are odorless, tasteless and invisible to the human eye. The lists of these types include: Anthrax, Botulism, Plague, Smallpox, Viral hemorrhagic fevers [e.g., Ebola].

Chemical Weapons – These include: Biotoxins, Blister Agents/Vesicants, Blood Agents, Caustics (Acids), Choking/Lung/Pulmonary Agents, Nerve Agents, & Vomiting Agents.

I don’t want to be overly stress the “nastiness” of these items, so I won’t do a line by line analysis on everyone. I’ll take three:

Viral Hemorrhagic Fever - Viral hemorrhagic fever is the collective name given to the diseases caused by a group of viruses such as Ebola virus and Marburg virus.

Symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, sore throat, rash and chest pain may occur. The disease may also affect internal organs and the ability of blood to clot. When the blood fails to clot, the patient may bleed into internal organs and from body openings. The mortality rates are 50-80% for Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever and 30% for Marburg virus hemorrhagic fever. Understand this, death by hemorrhagic fever is GRUESOME.

It has been alleged that that the former Soviet Union experimented extensively with use of Ebola as a biological weapon. Given the current flexing of Russia’s muscle, I’d keep this in the forefront of my mind.

Anthrax – Anthrax is an acute infectious disease caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Because anthrax is considered to be a potential agent for use in biological warfare, all active duty military personnel who might be involved in conflict are vaccinated. There are three ways of exposure to Anthrax.

Cutaneous: Most (about 95%) anthrax infections occur when the bacterium enters a cut or abrasion on the skin, such as when handling contaminated objects. Skin infection begins as a raised itchy bump that resembles an insect bite but within 1-2 days develops into a vesicle and then a painless ulcer, usually 1-3 cm in diameter, with a characteristic black necrotic (dying) area in the center. Lymph glands in the adjacent area may swell. About 20% of untreated cases of cutaneous anthrax will result in death.

Inhalation: Initial symptoms may resemble a common cold. After several days, the symptoms may progress to severe breathing problems and shock. Inhalation anthrax is usually fatal.

Intestinal: The intestinal disease form of anthrax may follow the consumption of contaminated meat and is characterized by an acute inflammation of the intestinal tract. Initial signs of nausea, loss of appetite, vomiting, fever are followed by abdominal pain, vomiting of blood, and severe diarrhea. Intestinal anthrax results in death in 25% to 60% of cases.

VX Nerve Agent - VX is the most toxic nerve agent ever synthesized for which activity has been independently confirmed.

Symptoms of skin exposure include: Eye pain, Drooling and excessive sweating, Chest tightness, Rapid breathing, Diarrhea, Increased urination, Confusion, Drowsiness, Weakness, Headache, Nausea, vomiting, and/or abdominal pain, Slow or fast heart rate, Abnormally low or high blood pressure, Loss of consciousness, Convulsions, Paralysis & Respiratory failure possibly leading to death

The lethal dose for humans is estimated to be about 10 milligrams through skin contact. Think about that for a moment, 10mg. Amounts small enough to fit on a pin head can prove fatal in less than two minutes.

I say this because people seem to be unaware of just how little of this stuff it takes to kill.

9/11 finally brought terrorism to the forefront of people’s thoughts. Sadly it seems that with each passing day that appreciation for our safety diminishes in leaps and bounds. People would rather not think about because honestly it is just too damn scary.

But a result of 9/11 was a lot more training for the nations first responders and what that training produced was an understanding of just how vulnerable we actually are. I remember an instructor explaining that if we responded to a scene where we observed numerous victims and certain conditions that basically we [the first responders] were walking dead men and the best we could do was too alert those enroute to stay back until properly suited. That was and still is our life.

At the same time they began running “drills” in which they would create a scenario that officers would respond to and see what resulted. I recall one in which patrol officers were directed to an average size van in the parking lot of a sports facility. Upon observing the contents, which while small in stature appeared quite nefarious, they requested the response of specialized units.

The responding units took the necessary precautions and sealed off the area. They then began relaying information back for a “threat assessment” and evacuation protocols. The experts agreed that the threat level was extremely high. But what happened next physically shocked everyone. When asked how far they should evacuate they were off-handedly told Baltimore……….. Which was 200 miles away. In other words, when this thing goes off your already dead.

I say this because people seem to be unaware of just how little of this stuff it takes to kill. People want to think that they are safe. Like the Ostrich who buries his head in the sand at the first sign of danger, people believe ignorance is safety. They don’t want to look at the mini-van next to them and realize that at detonation they would simply be “vaporized.”

People want to believe that there simply were no WMD’s and therefore they are safe. Really, and just how many mini-vans can you hide in a country comprising an area of 437,072 sq km or roughly twice the size of Idaho?

There is no question that Saddam Hussein HAD weapons of mass destruction. During his reign of several decades, he was well known for his use of chemical weapons in the 1980s against his own citizens as well as in the Iran–Iraq War. Following the 1991 Gulf War he also engaged in a decade long confrontation with the United Nations and its weapons inspectors. The United Nations located and destroyed large quantities of Iraqi WMD throughout the early 1990s, with varying degrees of cooperation. Throughout this period of time, and afterwards, Saddam Hussein attempted to bully cajole, impede, confront, lie and anything else he could do to muddy the inspecting waters. In view of such adversarial actions, how could anyone take him at his word?

The real question is where they are now. There is an ancient Arab proverb that says: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. So while Saddam Hussein might have had warm fuzzy feeling for some of his fellow Arab neighbors, he certainly had no love for us and neither did they. Therefore they became his friends in the battle against the great Satan by virtue of their common foe. Where are the WMD’s: Syria, Lebanon, Iran,……? Take your pick.

Understand this though; Iraq did have an active WMD program. They informed the UN as much and related “approximate” numbers produced: over 3,000 tons of mustard gas, 250 tons of tabun, and 800 tons of sarin. Iraq began to produce VX nerve gas in 1985. Iraq admitted to having produced VX but claimed only token amounts of 3-4 while the UN estimated it could have produced over 200 tons. Iraq denied ever having weaponized VX. Yet UNSCOM found evidence of VX contamination on fragments of missile warheads. Iraq never provided an adequate explanation for this evidence, insisting instead that weaponization never occurred. Consider this, a ton equals two thousand pounds. Even Iraq’s claim of 3-4 tons of VX equals eight-thousand pounds of nerve agent.

Consider for a moment that you had a child whom you confront over an allegation that the child has used drugs. The child lies and accuses the accuser of lying. You ask to search his room and he consents. You find some drugs and he then admits to having some, but no more. You begin to look through the rest of the room and he changes his mind about the search and he kicks you out of the room. After some time he announces no more drugs exist and that he “threw them away”. You ask for proof but he cannot offer anything, just his word. He invites you back to the room, with the proviso that you will be able to search where he takes you. If you want to search any place else you must notify him in advance………. Do you see how utterly ridiculous this sounds? You wouldn’t stand for it with your child, but some people seem to be ok accepting this from a maniacal psychopath who has a history of possessing biological weapons.

My friends, to quote the military tactician Carl von Clausewitz, "The best defense is a good offense.” You might not believe in the propriety of the Iraq war but the bottom line is that this country must understand that we are a target and act appropriately. The battle against terrorism will either be fought there, or fought here, but it will be fought. Understand that 9/11 was not the first attack, but only the latest in a long list. In the twenty years prior to 9/11 there were 18 foreign terrorist attacks aimed at the United States both here and abroad.

Oct. 2000 - A terrorist bomb damages the destroyer USS Cole in the port of Aden,
Aug. 1998 - Terrorist destroy U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
June 1998 - Rocket-propelled grenades explode near the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
June 1996 - A bomb explodes outside a U.S. air force installation in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Nov. 1995 - A car-bomb in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills American military and civilian advisers. February 1993 - A bomb in a van explodes in the parking garage at the World Trade Center
Dec. 1988 - A bomb destroys Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
April 1986 - An explosion damages a TWA flight as it prepares to land in Athens, Greece.
April 1986 - A bomb destroys a discotheque in West Berlin directed at US Military personnel.
December 1985 - Ssuicide attacks against U.S. and Israeli check-in desks at airports.
October 1985 - Palestinian terrorists hijack the cruise liner Achille Lauro
August 1985 - A car bomb at a U.S. military base in Frankfurt, Germany
June 1985 - A TWA airliner is hijacked over the Mediterranean,
June 1985 - El Salvador, machine gun attack at an outdoor café, killing four U.S. Marines
April 1985 - A bomb explodes in a restaurant near a U.S. air base in Madrid, Spain,
November 1984 - A bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in Bogota,
October 1983 - A suicide car bomb attack against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut
April 1983 - A suicide car bombing against the U.S. embassy in Beirut

That list doesn’t even count the Iranian Hostage Crisis where 52 U.S. diplomats were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981. Those who don’t remember that should understand that the current President of Iran, Ahmadinejad, was an active particpant in that.

We cannot simply sit by idly and hope the terrorists, and nations who support them, will change their point of view. I believe that diplomacy should be exercised in situations until you reach the point where it fails. But when you reach that point diplomats & politicians must move aside and allow the soldier to act.

Failed diplomacy and squeamish politicians are more a cause for the current situation than anything else. You cannot wage a war with a leashed military. You cannot prevent war by appeasing maniacal dictators. The enemy has seen no resolve on the part of the American people or their politicians. They have seen that the American’s at home have no stomach for war and will simply wait till we pull our troops out. All that will happen is that we will send the message to them loud and clear that we will not defend ourselves. Singing Kumbaya and holding hands around a campfire is no defense against terrorism. Mark my words, if we do not put the terrorist world on notice that we can and will defend ourselves we will face car bombs and suicide bombers on our streets.

Don’t believe that will ever happen? On 9/10 who could have possibly envisioned what would ever happen that next fateful day?

You ask where the WMD’s are and my answer is I don’t know. But I do know that Iraq produced them, admitted they produced them and now someone has them. Right now the best we can hope for is to make whoever that is terrified of ever using them against us.

Andrew,
The Angry American