The former UN weapons inspector who was leading the search for illegal weapons in Iraq, Mr. David Kay himself, has released a draft report stating that they kind of failed to find any of those weapons we went to war over. Whoops.
This is just a draft report. The CIA is making sure to remind us that even though he’s back home after four months of searching that they’re not going to “rule anything in or out.” After all, any day now he might be getting himself a cup of coffee in his nice little Virginia office when he’ll suddenly remember how that camel in An Najaf was sitting on a pile of anthrax, not sand. Though I’m not sure how something like that could have escaped either him or the 1,400 other members of the Iraqi Survey Group. Then again, given that “The Sopranos” is one of the most watched shows on television, I wouldn’t be surprised if he suddenly “remembers” in the next couple of weeks.
Sure he found evidence of some “dual-use equipment” in his search of chemical plants, but you use the same type of petri dish for chemical weapons as you do for little Timmy’s lima bean-and-coke third grade science project. And what does the Bush administration have to say so far? It’s been months since they’ve brought up the trailers that supposedly showed illicit weapons in Iraq. Except for Cheney, who in a recent interview brought them up saying they made anthrax, smallpox, or something else he wasn’t sure of, but definitely a weapon. Given that a few weeks ago he was the one talking about a link between Iraq and September 11, forcing Bush to publicly deny it, one starts to doubt the accuracy of Vice President Cheney’s statements. It’s almost as if “inform the Vice President” ranks very low on the Administration’s “to do” list, right under “change the linen.” He almost merits an oversight committee of his own.
Other than that it was last Monday when President Bush stated that Saddam Hussein probably buried or dispersed all his weapons of mass destruction, and that Mr. Kay would take “a while” to figure out what happened to them. To his credit, two days to answer the question “well, did you find anything?” does actually count as “a while,” though it’s interesting to note how Kay didn’t give even this preliminary view until Wednesday, right after Bush’s Tuesday appeal to the UN which clearly mentioned Hussein’s illegal weapons. Without that stirring argument, Bush may not have been able to sway those two or three people who somewhat believed him.
So what happens now? In all probability, a few months of the CIA watching slideshows of Kay’s entire trip until election time comes. What’s troubling is how a recent Fox news poll showed that 64% of Americans believe the next international issue we need to deal with is the possibility of Iran having nuclear weapons. Iranian Foreign Minister Kharrazi just declared that Iran has the means to make nuclear power, not nuclear weapons.
Sure, and we believed that other guy. Lets just hope Iran doesn’t need liberating any time soon.
Endre Enyedy is a senior and can be contacted at endre_enyedy@yahoo.com.