What I find amusing about all this (SARCASTIC AMUSING) is that every screems the US is not providing information. The US provides information, because everyone is screaming, and boom, the information is bad. Now we can accuse the US of lying and of being decietful. Every think that the information was not fabricated by the US? Ever think it may have been a bad source? No, we will assume the worst of you even though we have been saying you do not share information.
As it stands, I still believe that Iraq is not innocent in the development of nuclear weapons. Again, most peopel here forget he built one already, but was missing only one component.
Thanks to his "murdered" son-in law, the inspectors found out a lot about Iraq's WMD programs. Let's not forget, Saddam might have had a clean bill of health, had his son-in law not ratted him out.
Anyway I promised the Powell response. We can now begin tearing his character apart as well. I promised the clip from the show, here it is:
MR. RUSSERT: Your testimony before the United Nations has now been directly challenged by members at the United Nations. This is what the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohammed ElBaradei said. ?In recent months, the administration and Britain have alleged Iraq illegally sought high-strength aluminum tubes for a centrifuge-based uranium enrichment program and had sought uranium from Niger.? He said ?Experts had concluded the tubes were for a rocket engine program, as Iraq had said, and that the documents used to allege the connection between Iraq and Niger were fabricated. Overall, he concluded, there is no evidence that Iraq has revived a nuclear weapons program.?
Mr. ElBaradei saying that you and the president misled the world on the aluminum tubes and that the documents in terms of Niger and Iraq were fabricated. Those are very serious charges.
SEC?Y POWELL: Well, with respect to the aluminum tubes, we still believe the case is out. The CIA has done a great deal of analysis on those tubes. They are not persuaded that they?re just for rockets. In fact, another nation this week, a European nation, came forward with additional information that still I think leaves it an open question as to what the purpose of those tubes was.
With respect to the uranium, it was the information that we had. We provided it. If that information is inaccurate, fine. We?re continuing to examine this issue, and as Dr. ElBaradei said, it?s still an open issue to be looked at. Well, we have to be a little careful about the nuclear weapons program. We saw the IAEA almost give Iraq a clean bill of health in the early ?90s only to discover that they had a robust nuclear weapons program that they had not discovered.
And if you just looked at Iran this week, right now, the IAEA is discovering, as a result of information and intelligence made available, that Iran has a far more robust program for the development of nuclear weapons program than the IAEA thought. So while I respect Dr. ElBaradei?s opinion?he?s a very dedicated international civil servant?I think we have to keep an open book on this as more information comes forward.