Warring History

Rethinking the Iraq critics, By Michael Barone

Today we’re only beginning to learn about what went on behind the scenes in regard to Iraq. One important new source is the recently published War and Decision by Douglas Feith, the No. 3 civilian at the Pentagon from 2001 to 2005. [snip] One such narrative is, “Bush lied; people died.” The claim is that “neocons,” politicized intelligence to show that Saddam Hussein’s regime had weapons of mass destruction.

Not so, as the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Silberman-Robb Commission have concluded already.

Every intelligence agency believed Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, and the post-invasion Duelfer report concluded that he maintained the capability to produce them on short notice. There was abundant evidence of contacts between Saddam’s regime and al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Given Saddam’s hostility to the United States and his stonewalling of the United Nations, American leaders had every reason to believe he posed a grave threat. Removing him removed that threat...

READ MORE