A kind of cynicism has developed around the question of why America invaded Iraq. Some people believe the Iraq campaign was about lucrative contracts for American companies, control of oil, and the militarism of pro-Israeli "neo-con" warmongers. According to President Bush, the war was about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. In his 2002 State of the Union Address, the president hinted, "I will not wait on events." He spoke of "an axis of evil" that might supply terrorists with weapons of mass destruction.
As of this writing, no Iraqi WMDs have been found. Late last year, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that Iraq had moved its WMDs to Syria. But those who are cynical about Bush's pronouncements are doubly cynical about Sharon's.
Many who opposed the war, who denounced President Bush as a "criminal," would like us to believe that Bush lied about Iraqi WMDs. This interpretation is integral to their thesis that the United States acted as an imperialist aggressor. For the record, let us look back to an unclassified 2002 CIA report to Congress. In the section dealing with Iraq, we read how Saddam was in violation of Security Council Resolution 687, that "Baghdad continued to deny UN inspectors entry into Iraq...." The report further explained: "Iraq has engaged in extensive concealment efforts and has used the period since it refused inspections to attempt to reconstitute prohibited programs." According to the CIA: "All intelligence experts agree that Iraq is seeking nuclear weapons."
With reference to chemical weapons, the CIA noted: "We believe that, since December 1998, Iraq has increased its capability to pursue chemical warfare programs." With regard to biological weapons, the CIA reported that Baghdad had an ongoing BW [biological warfare] program. In 1995 Iraq officially admitted to having such a program, "but UNSCOM was unable to verify the full scope and nature of Iraq's efforts."
As for weapon delivery systems, the 2002 CIA report stated: "Iraq has developed a ballistic missile capability that exceeds the 150 kilometer range limitations established under UN Security Council Resolution 687."
So how does the CIA explain the fact that no WMDs have been found since Iraq's liberation?
On 11 August 2003, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet eloquently defended the CIA's previous assessments of the Iraqi WMD threat. "A great deal has been said and written about the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction," wrote Tenet. "Much of this commentary has been misinformed, misleading, and just plain wrong."
Tenet said the CIA stood by its 2002 estimates, offering the following explanation: "Building upon ten years of analysis, intelligence reporting, and inspections that had to fight through Iraq's aggressive denial and deception efforts, including phony and incomplete data declarations to the UN and programs explicitly designed with built-in cover stories, the Intelligence Community prepared the NIE on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. In it we judged that the entire body of information over that ten years made clear that Saddam had never abandoned his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction."
What is more important in terms of repudiating today's growing cynicism toward the administration, is what DCI Tenet added near the end of his statement: "We stand by the soundness and integrity of our process, and no one outside the Intelligence Community told us what to say or not to say in this Estimate."
We ought to be reminded that George Tenet was a Clinton appointee. He is not George Bush's political hack. Tenet's defense of the CIA's 2002 NIE is reasonable, clear and consistent with previous CIA statements. We would have to question Tenet's truthfulness if he suddenly contradicted what the CIA had been saying for seven years.
A team led by former CIA Deputy Director Richard Kerr, tasked with writing a classified report on Iraq WMD intelligence, said of past CIA warnings about Iraqi WMD development, "It is unlikely that even the most critical review of reporting would have led to the conclusion that [Saddam's WMD] programs were not being continued."
We don't know what happened to Saddam Hussein's WMD programs. Perhaps he buried their components in the desert or shipped everything to Syria. Perhaps he was bluffing and lacked the resources to build such weapons after his defeat in 1991. Whatever the explanation, dishonesty on the part of the president is not indicated.
Critics of the White House have settled on the notion that the Bush administration "lied" to the American people about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. A case has been made that American officials acted on imperialist impulses. Economic motivations, "corporate greed," blood lust, etc. have been attributed to a clique of "warmongers" in Washington. Bush is allegedly the "puppet" of this clique. The cynics do not accept the simple explanation that the president was sincere in his declarations on Iraq. And yet, the simple explanation has the weight of the CIA behind it.
In 2002 President Bush believed what the CIA was telling him. As National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice explained to Bob Woodward, the administration felt it had few choices when it came to Saddam Hussein. As reported in Woodward's book, "Bush at War," Rice referred to the "nightmare" of an "aggressive tyrant ... armed with a nuclear weapon." This is what President Bush was left awake at night to think about in the wake of 9/11. Yes, there were people in the world crazy enough to attack the United States, regardless of the consequences to themselves. Saddam Hussein might be such a person. Rice further explained that the lesson of September 11 was clear: "Take care of threats early."
A close examination of the facts does not reveal a conspiracy to "lie" or "mislead" the American people. Whatever one thinks of CIA analysis on Iraq, the president did what he thought was right based on CIA information. It would not be reasonable to expect the president to act otherwise.
Regarding the Iraq WMD issue, the president deserves an apology from all those who have denounced him as a liar.
