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Upvoted but how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs if they actively resisted and subverted all of the internationally san

Upvoted but how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs if they actively resisted and subverted all of the internationally sanctioned inspections? Perhaps they could have attached some probability to each possibility but I have yet to find good evidence that they knew. Second, in a war with China wouldn’t the elites and their families be just as dead as everyone else after nuclear bombs land on major US cities? I can imagine elites or private companies encouraging political movements toward war or tangential to war but I can’t imagine them wanting war to actually happen.

the-dude 5y ago
> how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs if they actively resisted and subverted all of the internationally sanctioned inspections? Blix said they were clean : https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/30/world/meast/iraq-weapons-inspections-fast-facts/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/30/world/meast/iraq-weapons-... Also, as far as I remember, Scott Ritter claimed the same.
- supperburg 5y ago
  I read that and blix never said they were clean
mikem170 5y ago
> how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs Powell, on behalf of the U.S. government, said they were certain, and was wrong. I guess one could wonder if it was on purpose or not, but credibility is damaged either way.
handrous 5y ago
> Upvoted but how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs if they actively resisted and subverted all of the internationally sanctioned inspections? Perhaps they could have attached some probability to each possibility but I have yet to find good evidence that they knew. At the time, an awful lot of current and past weapons inspectors who'd worked in Iraq, including US nationals, said US claims were complete bullshit. [EDIT] Oh and then there's how they relaxed their resistance to inspections in the face of imminent invasion, such that we'd have been able to uncover anything they'd somehow managed to hide, but disarming them was never the point, invasion was, so we withdrew the inspectors and invaded anyway. If anyone had any doubts left, that should have erased them.

the-dude 5y ago

> how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs if they actively resisted and subverted all of the internationally sanctioned inspections? Blix said they were clean : https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/30/world/meast/iraq-weapons-inspections-fast-facts/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/30/world/meast/iraq-weapons-... Also, as far as I remember, Scott Ritter claimed the same.

supperburg 5y ago
I read that and blix never said they were clean

mikem170 5y ago

> how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs Powell, on behalf of the U.S. government, said they were certain, and was wrong. I guess one could wonder if it was on purpose or not, but credibility is damaged either way.

handrous 5y ago

> Upvoted but how could anyone have known whether or not iraq had or was about to have WMDs if they actively resisted and subverted all of the internationally sanctioned inspections? Perhaps they could have attached some probability to each possibility but I have yet to find good evidence that they knew. At the time, an awful lot of current and past weapons inspectors who'd worked in Iraq, including US nationals, said US claims were complete bullshit. [EDIT] Oh and then there's how they relaxed their resistance to inspections in the face of imminent invasion, such that we'd have been able to uncover anything they'd somehow managed to hide, but disarming them was never the point, invasion was, so we withdrew the inspectors and invaded anyway. If anyone had any doubts left, that should have erased them.