Have We Been Overlooking The Obvious?
There have been so many developments in the last couple of weeks that I haven’t commented upon that it’s almost useless to go back and try to catch up. But, there are a couple of things that I simply have to say something about before moving on to the important matters of Kobe’s penchant for rough sex and the burning question of whether they actually had the poor taste to airbrush J-Lo’s ample bottom on the Gigli poster.
I haven’t seen any mention of Wesley Clark’s obscure little comment on Meet the Press that Bob Sommerby mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Clark said something that I haven’t heard other commentators even suggest, but in light of the recent revelations by Rumsfeld that we had no new intelligence whatsoever since 1998, this seems to me to be a very interesting possibility.
Here’s what Clark said:
RUSSERT: Was there an intelligence failure? Was the intelligence hyped, as Senator Joe Biden said? Was the president misled, or did he mislead the American people?
CLARK: Well, several things. First of all, all of us in the community who read intelligence believe that Saddam wanted these capabilities and he had some. We struck very hard in December of ’98, did everything we knew, all of his facilities. I think it was an effective set of strikes. Tony Zinni commanded that, called Operation Desert Fox, and I think that set them back a long ways.
I think I remember that. I believe it had something to do with Bill Clinton smoking a cigar in a blue dress while his wag was dogging. Or something.
I refreshed my memory:
MISSION: To strike military and security targets in Iraq that contribute to Iraq’s ability to produce, store, maintain and deliver weapons of mass destruction.
MISSION GOALS: To degrade Saddam Hussein’s ability to make and to use weapons of mass destruction. To diminish Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war against his neighbors. To demonstrate to Saddam Hussein the consequences of violating international obligations.
PRIMARY MISSION ASSETS: The operation employs U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft flying from the decks of the USS ENTERPRISE; U.S. Air Force and Royal Air Force aircraft operating from land bases in the region; and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from U.S. Navy ships at sea and United States Air Force B-52s.
You can read the British report on the operation here. (PDF file.)
After the operation, General Zinni briefed the press:
I think I mentioned before, you can look at this in whole numbers. I mean I can tell you we had 100 targets, and I can tell you, take the WMD, the command and control, the most significant targets. We struck and damaged significantly 85 percent of those. But what does that mean?
Within those target sets there were what we call target elements that are critical. You went after this building for a special reason. Maybe there was a test facility within the building. Maybe there was a wind tunnel. Maybe there was a special piece of machinery or equipment. To get that critical piece of equipment then made the effect greater in our mind. It was not only the damage to the building and the infrastructure and how long it would take to replace that. But now you’ve got a one and only one unique piece of equipment necessary for missile development. As we’re beginning to see those effects come in, we’ve upped our estimate because of the success we’re getting and the confirmation of those kinds of results.
Obviously, I have no idea whether Operation Desert Fox more or less eliminated Saddam’s WMD capabilities. But, Rummy and the Neocons now admit that they didn’t have any new information beyond what we knew at the time, either. General Clark suggested that it may have been decisive in eliminating the remaining programs at the time.
Is it possible that there are no WMD in Iraq today because Bill Clinton led a coalition of the willing and disarmed Saddam Hussein 5 years ago?
nah…impossible…he had oral sex…
Just as a little reminder, this is what Trent Lott said when Clinton launched Operation Desert Fox:
“While I have been assured by administration officials that there is no connection with the impeachment process in the House of Representatives, I cannot support this military action in the Persian Gulf at this time. Both the timing and the policy are subject to question.”