Reply #84: Lame, anyone in DC knows Tenet was always a political animal

[Texas_Kat]

Even many of those who voted NO to the war believed that Saddam had WMD. They understood (as did many others who couuseled against going to war) that having WMDs is not a sufficient reason to go to war. Many nations possess (or could quickly constitute) WMDs -- we're not planning on invading them. You can cook up anthrax or ricin in your kitchen.

Bush's argument for war gained traction ONLY because of the 'nuclear threat'. Knowledgeable people attempted to persuade the Senate and the House that it was unlikely that Iraq had such a program. Apparently -- according to Durbin-- the Intelligence Committee had even more information than was available in the public arena that the Bush spin was not likely reality.

BTW, you can't consititute a nuclear program without substantial infrastructure -- so that was always a specious argument. Remember the whole aluminum tubes deal? (note the date of the article)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A36348-2002Sep18?language=printer

You can't instantaneously build (or effectively hide) a nuclear weapons development program. You certainly can't hide it in a shoebox or under a tent. The Levin and/or Durbin amendments would have (and were designed to) slow the march to war. Edwards voted and co-sponsored and cheer-led so much that Bushbots posted his floor speech on the White House website.

I'm sure that Edwards regrets his vote, but I daresay, he is not as devastated as the parent who has lost a child in this war, or a child who will never know their parent. Edwards lost a son to an accident..... think how the families of those who have lost children, parents or spouses feel having to fight a war that was based on intelligence that wasn't faulty, but ignored.

Then think about what it is like for them to discover that those who enabled this war knew all along that the information wasn't 'the whole story'. Then multiply that by 3000+ dead. Then multiply that by 20000+ whose children, parents or spouses have received lifelong and severe injuries -- to the point that they will never be the same.

"Sorry" doesn't begin to cover it.