Submitted by Robert Arsenault(United States), Jun 10, 2003 at 13:29
Good afternoon;
I am surprised by the volume of comments that actually oppose Mr. Pipes' viewpoint in this article, and well-amused by the one using the word "quagmire" to describe a 3 week war that has ended. I believe a few things need to be cleared up.
While speaking of 'moving the goalposts', the patience of those who favored providing the UN with years to find WMD has strangely vanished now that the US is doing the searching. Whatever happened to that "let's take all the time necessary" attitude?
Even if Bush were proven to be Satan, this wouldn't change the fact that Iraq's possession & use of WMD is documented fact, not suspicion, & the responsibility to account for this material was Hussein's alone. There need not have been fudging or misrepresentation on the part of any member of the Bush administration to justify the war, despite the protestations of those among the audience who would have preferred that Powell had taken actual WMD into UN headquarters.
Those who insinuate that WMD was a false fear would have us believe that Hussein subjected himself, his administration & his people to UN sanctions, economic hardship, & starvation for 12 years to hide...nothing. Now, who is being disingenuous?
Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.