The Pendragon's Hall

Is the Left ever going to quit? Congressional Democrats are on the rampage, declaring that while Bush is right, Clinton and company also believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, Bush's administration had far more intelligence and better intelligence on Iraq at its disposal than any previous Democratic administration. If it weren't so maddening, it would be downright hilarious. Democrats are actually telling the world that the Republicans have better information and intelligence than they do. This is not news to anyone with an eye on current events. But even this attempt at self-denigration falls flat because it simply is not true. Clinton was working with years of UN weapons inspectors reports at his disposal, with the civilized world free to come and go in Iraq as they would please. Bush was working with secret intelligence gathered during five years in which Saddam Hussein would permit no weapons inspection or outside influence into the country unless carefully guarded by his henchmen. The fact that both approaches yielded essentially the same answer is a tribute to the truth, not the falsehood, of the allegations. Saddm Hussein had WMD and he was prepared to use them if necessary. If he no longer had them by March of 2003, when his downfall occurred, it was not because he never had them or because he had complied with international regulations. How soon we forget: in October 2002 Saddam agreed to let UN weapons inspectors back in the country. I was afraid he'd slip through our hands again. But within a few months, as inspections were gaining steam and Saddam was telling the world he was destroying his illegal weapons, he again chose to kick inspectors out. Why? I'd venture a guess they were getting close. He still had time. Iraq is a country the size of California and covered in deep sands; porous borders between like-minded terrorist states Iran and Syria would prove useful and his allies in Europe like France, Germany and Russia tied the US and our allies up in useless diplomatic wrangling to buy him time. Furthermore, why is it terrorists are constantly targeting our troops, focusing all their attention on suppressing insurgency so they can do nothing else? I'd venture another guess: if our troops were not so occupied, they could search in earnest for the weapons, which might lead to uncomfortable situations. It's not hard to understand. Unless you're a PH.D educated at Berkeley.