So? The CIA did not actually go to Iraq and look. The DIA sent a team of experts FOR THE EXPRESS PURPOSE of making the determination of whether they were WMD labs. They hand picked experts THEMSELVES to do it. The experts the DIA hired said no way. So, you have hand picked experts sent to Iraq to look versus the CIA, which never went and looked.

So, as you stated above there were indeed conflicting opinions, but one opinion was far more solid than the other. Besides, here's the larger point regarding the lie: Bush NEVER stated there were conflicting opinions did he? Hell no. He simply kept stating the trailers were WMD labs. That is a flat out wrong. If he were telling the truth he would have claimed there were conflicting opinions. But, of course, he never claimed that. And it goes to his competence that nearly every time there were conflicting opinions regarding Iraq he chose the wrong side. If I had the same batting average at work I would have been let go a long time ago.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Hmm....I believe the article said it was a Pentagon-sponsored group. I don't know who they were....and YOU don't either. For you to believe this group (whom you know nothing about) would be the ultimate decision-maker about these labs is a bit unrealistic though. Even analysts within each of these entities believe they were most likely for wmd and others thought not. David Kay....who wrote the first Report on Iraq's wmd believed they WERE most likely for wmd. And he's an EXPERT as well. Most people do NOT believe Saddam was gathering "weather" information. In fact, that is laughable.

More solid than David Kay's? I think not. You just like their conclusions better and that's why you've deemed them the best.

Well, heck....here YOU are stating they were WITHOUT A DOUBT NOT biological labs. Tell you what Stekim: Would you have BET your kids' live on it? Are you THAT sure? So....EXPLAIN what they WERE purchased for? Come on...I want to hear you tell us about how Saddam was studying the weather over there.

For God's sakes man: use some common sense.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

There were 3 teams of experts, stekim. 2 of them said the trailers were biological weapons labs.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

The bottom line remains the same: There was credible doubt that the labs were used to make WMD's yet Bush stated with certainty that they were. End of story. What he stated was not the case (again).

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

The labs were for generating hydrogen for Iraqis military weather balloon program.

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Classic American liberal

Hey you are right. The orogninal intelligence was from Curveball which was a highly dubious source. Yet was cited by powell and others as fact. Then when these trailers were found, amateurs did not know what to make of them and thought they COULD be WMD labs. The experts picked by the DOD then says they are not. And then Bush goes and says that they definitely are.

Even if he did not see the last report from the experts given the job to evaluate the labs, he still did not have any reliable source to make that claim.

To think that in incident after incident like this that the President was just "misled" is niave. To think that the DOD which setup the "office of special plans" to bypass the normal intelligence channels was not an attempt to distort and cherry pick intelligence is just naive.

But as you say "It's called being naive. It's called being willing to believe the "best" of some really bad people." Those bad people being Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield.

YOU don't KNOW that. One of them was brand new. Saddam bought it for something......nobody knows for sure what. David Kay......the EXPERT who was responsible for the first 1/2 of the Iraqi Survey group report said it didn't even pass the smell test to speculate that it was for some of the other benign uses.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

This is exactly what did not happen. The administration systematically ignored all evidence that conflicted with its prior view, that Saddam had WMD and intended to use them. They cherry picked intelligence rejecting what did not serve their purpose - to prove Saddam was a threat. Rather than try to objectively decide on the basis of the data, they started with the view that he was a threat and then manipulated the data to show this was the case. They deliberately distorted intelligence findings, presenting to the US public that the case for WMD was very strong (in fact there was almost no hard data for WMD) and that the intelligence community was in agreement on it (which they certainly were not).

The only point that the intelligence community was in general agreement on was that Saddam was very unlikely to attack the US. The administration said the exact opposite.

Its true its to late to undo the distortions the administration made. But they are in the process of again vastly distorting a WMD threat in Iran. Hopefully this time the American public will see through the distortions of the administration. But they may not....

when you pass someone loading fertilizer on a truck you assume they are making a bomb?

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the memories of a man in his old age
are the deeds of a man in his prime

roger waters

Just because you are 8000 miles away and Saddam had no delivery system whatsoever

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the memories of a man in his old age
are the deeds of a man in his prime

roger waters