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fiend
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quote:
Powell no longer sure that Iraqi trailers were weapons labs
Top U.S. diplomat concedes presentation to U.N. may have been wrong
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell speaks to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday.
The Associated Press
Updated: 9:27 a.m. ET April 03, 2004WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Colin Powell conceded Friday evidence he presented to the United Nations that two trailers in Iraq were used for weapons of mass destruction may have been wrong.
In an airborne news conference on the way home from NATO talks in Brussels, Belgium, Powell said he had been given solid information about the trailers that he told the Security Council in February 2003 were designed for making biological weapons.
But now, Powell said, “it appears not to be the case that it was that solid.”
He said he hoped the intelligence commission appointed by President Bush to investigate prewar intelligence on Iraq “will look into these matters to see whether or not the intelligence agency had a basis for the confidence that they placed in the intelligence at that time.”
Powell’s dramatic case to the Security Council that Iraq had secret arsenals of weapons of mass destruction failed to persuade the council to directly back the U.S.-led war that deposed the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But it helped mobilize sentiment among the American people for going to war.
As it turned out, U.N. inspectors were unable to uncover the weapons, but administration officials have insisted they still might be uncovered.
David Kay, who led the hunt for the weapons, showed off a pair of trailers for news cameras last summer and argued that the two metal flatbeds were designed for making biological weapons.
But faced with mounting challenges to that theory, Kay conceded in October he could have been wrong. He said he did not know whether Iraq ever had a mobile weapons program.
Powell: ‘I probed and I made sure’
Powell told reporters that as he worked on the Bush administration’s case against Iraq U.S. intelligence “indicated to me” that the intelligence was solid.
“I’m not the intelligence community, but I probed and I made sure, as I said in my presentation, these are multi-sourced” allegations, Powell said.
The trailers were the most dramatic claims, “and I made sure that it was multi-sourced,” he said.
“Now, if the sources fell apart we need to find out how we’ve gotten ourselves in that position,” he said.
“I have discussions with the CIA about it,” Powell said, without providing further details.
The trailers were the only discovery the administration had cited as evidence of an illicit Iraqi weapons program.
In six months of searches, no biological, chemical or nuclear weapons were found to bolster the administration’s central case for going to war: to disarm Saddam of suspected weapons of mass destruction.
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fiend
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quote:
Originally posted by Wezil
I was sadly disappointed in Powell when he decided to abandon his own integrity and shill for the Bush admin.
I know he is unlikely to serve a second term but one term was enough to destroy a good man's credibility. |
Why would you say the man abandoned his own integrity? I feel that he really might have believed that Iraq possessed WMDs. You have to understand that everyone around him either truly believed or atleast pretended to believe the same thing. Its called group-think. If I was in the same position I'm sure I could have believed the same thing.
Plus, he probably had no clue back in 2000 how bad the Bush administration would turn out.
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mrmitchell
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quote:
Funny how it's always Powell that gets the rotten jobs. |
Bush is using the black man as cannon fodder.
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Bush has let his lies run away with themselfs...were he to come out tomorrow and admit he cheated in 2000, he ignored warnings pre-9/11, he lied about WoMD, etc., etc., I doubt half of the group of ultra-rabid followers he has would ever notice.
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Tripledoc
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Are you sure he was not asked/ordered to lie?
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Dauphin
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Caught in a tuna net
Jan 1970
time: 05:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Wezil
Sorry I didn't have the access to the evidence you appear to have had. |
Yes you did. I'm talking about the evidence that the Bush admin (and others) provided. It wasn't convincing evidence to many people.
quote:
Like the vast majority in this world I had to rely on what I was told by the various factions. I tend not to put dictators and tyrants too high on my credibility scale, hence the choice I made. |
Forget what Saddam may or may not have said, have you no ability to critically evaluate what you are told by a government?
quote:
It was AFTER the fact that evidence starting putting the lie to the Bush admin claims. |
In the minds of many the Bush admin never proved their case. That is the important point. The fact that he was 'proven' to be lying after the war, just re-iterates the point.
quote:
That said, I could have supported the war for a number of other reasons (you know the list by now). Sadly, these were not the arguments used to mobilise public opinion. This war is being fought on false pretenses (WMD, 'war on terror', etc). |
I'm not questioning whether it was right or not, I just feel your justification seemed a bit weak. If you said you had listened to the arguments and agreed with them, that would be understandable, but you seem to be saying you are a headless chicken who just follows the guy in charge because he wouldn't lie.
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03-04-2004 23:11
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