I dug this up from the good ol' memory hole to help Karl Rove sell his new book

[Bozita]

Why We Went In: Version 10.0
By P.J. Crowley | March 19, 2004

In the year since the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration has repeatedly shifted its justification for going to war and constantly changed its story on intelligence, the United Nations, reconstruction, political transition and the cost to the American taxpayer. More than anything, the administration's war in Iraq resembles a software program that, at first, works brilliantly, but then catches the user in a cycle of "fatal error" messages.

Here then, in Silicon Valley terms, is a review of the Bush administration's year in Iraq:

Version 1.0 - Saddam Hussein is an imminent threat

Version 1.01 - Saddam Hussein is a gathering threat

Version 1.02 - Saddam Hussein poses a real and dangerous threat

Version 1.1 - The smoking gun will be a mushroom cloud

Version 1.2 - We can't afford to wait

Version 1.3 - We never said imminent

Version 1.3.1 - OK, maybe we did say it once or twice

Version 1.4 - We should have been more precise

Version 2.1 - Saddam has weapons of mass destruction

Version 2.2 - Saddam has nuclear weapons

Version 2.3 - Saddam has biological agents he's never accounted for

Version 2.3.1 - The trailers are mobile labs for producing chemical weapons

Version 2.3.2 - Unmanned aircraft are ready to spread Saddam's biological weapons

Version 2.4 - Saddam's going to make more of all these weapons

Version 2.5 - We all know where the weapons are

Version 2.5.1 - Well, Saddam has used weapons of mass destruction

Version 2.5.2 - Iraq is a big country. We'll find the weapons eventually.

Version 2.5.3 - Saddam had weapons of mass destruction programs

Version 2.5.4 - Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction program related activities"

Version 2.5.5 - David Kay? Who's David Kay?

Version 2.6 - It's not about misleading the American people - Saddam Hussein is gone and that's the most important thing

Version 3.0 - We based our statements on our available intelligence

Version 3.1 - Saddam tried to buy uranium ore in Niger

Version 3.1.2 - Well, that was what the British told us

Version 3.1.3 - Did we tell you about Joe Wilson's wife?

more...

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2004/03/b38989.html/index.html

[xxqqqzme]

1. need to add : Saddam Hussein

wouldn't allow the UN weapons inspectors in;

or in some instances 'kicked them out of the country'.

One of the earliest abandoned reasons, it probably wasn't polling very strong, 'Saddam Hussein had violated (insert number here) UN resolutions'.

[bleever]

2. +1.

[tridim]

3. Nuclear weapons parts buried in some random Iraqi guy's back yard. nt

[Echo In Light]

4. k/r

[rwork]

5. Please send

that to Keith or Rachael.

[Bozita]

6. Done. Sent to both.

[Blue Owl]

7. Dick Cheney calls this

being tough on terror.

Sounds like a bunch of lies, fabrications, and excuses to me.

[Bozita]

8. kick for the evening crowd