Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Bombed: The blogosphere has erupted over news that terrorists used some of Saddam Hussein's sarin gas in a roadside bomb and that mustard gas was found elsewhere in Iraq. The use of the chemical weapon was ineffective, but still noteworthy. Some people believe this is evidence that Saddam Hussein was continuing to develop WMD.

The press, for its part, has given little coverage to the little amount of WMD that has been identified. And this seems appropriate.

Conservatives say this vindicates the WMD claims. Liberals say not enough was found. And, you know what, they're both right.

This small sarin canister was not why we went to war. We were concerned about the missing stockpiles of WMD and that they might be handed off to terrorists. Since we got into Iraq, we've learned only that the WMD are still missing.

Some people concluded that Saddam Hussein must have never had them. These folks are just stubbornly ignorant, and there's nothing anyone can do to convince them. Saddam Hussein has been known to use WMD against his own people, and our troops got sick off them from the first Gulf War.

The issue now revolves around where the stockpiles are currently. It would be foolish to think that the few canisters of sarin and mustard gas were the extent of Saddam Hussein's WMD arsenal. More could be buried in a spider hole. Chances are, Saddam Hussein shipped them off to a place like Syria for the time being.

The point is, we don't know. That doesn't mean we should have never attacked Iraq. But it does mean that our intelligence agencies failed big time. Instead of calling Bush a liar, hold Bush accountable for not firing Tenet and whipping the intelligence agencies into shape. Sen. Kerry, I think we've found a focus for your campaign.