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Patriot Voices
George W.
Bush’s Puzzling WMD Coverup
By Rick Santorum
How to prevent the president from deceiving Congress the American
people, regardless of who controls the White House.
The most shocking revelation by The Daily Beast, The New York Times and
other news sources in reporting on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
is that the Bush Administration so aggressively fought to suppress the
truth about them.
The entire world was understandably focused on finding chemical and
biological forensics after toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003, as it was a
top argument for the operation. Yet investigations supposedly uncovered
no evidence of older weapons or an active program.
We now know with more certainty that at least one of those conclusions
was wrong. Media reports from various sources indicate that vast
quantities of old stocks of WMD were scattered throughout the country
and endangering members of the U.S. military.
It isn’t exactly news to those of us who had been investigating the
issue. Nearly a decade ago, a declassified Pentagon intelligence report
determined that coalition forces had recovered some 500 munitions
containing degraded mustard or sarin nerve agents. In reality we now
know that the numbers of munitions was actually much higher.
But for reasons we may never fully know, elements of the Bush White
House did not want to acknowledge their existence. They were engaged in
a forceful and effective campaign to keep this information from
Congress, the press and the American people.
The U.S. military didn't effectively support efforts by the
multinational Iraq Survey Group to locate evidence of WMD, saying that
they lacked the resources to become involved. Despite repeated and
specific questioning, the military never acknowledged facts or
implications of troops locating the dangerous WMDs that are now in the
news.
The administration itself routinely discounted and dismissed leaked
reports and unverified accounts.
Future researchers may eventually discover a full understanding as to
why the Bush Administration fought to downplay the reports and rumors
for so long. For now we can only speculate as to their reasons.
For the rest of this article and more, go to The Daily Beast
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