Gaffney to the Rescue
Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the
Center for Security Policy, a right-wing think tank, tells us that facts are "stubborn things" in the current
Insight magazine.
Insight, of course, is part of the Washington
Times/Moonie publishing enterprise. Gaffney is a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy during the Reagan Administration and has been described as a protege of Richard Perle.
Fair Comment'Stubborn Facts' in Iraq Report Ignored by Bush Bashers: "While the president's critics may not wish to be bothered by the facts, they are, as the saying goes, 'stubborn things.' And those laid out by Kay and his colleagues paint a picture of Saddam as a despot relentlessly engaged in the pursuit of the most devastating weapons known to man. The ISG's inability to date to locate the weapons the United Nations previously determined were in Saddam's hands should be a matter of grave concern - and redoubled effort. Its report certainly is not cause for, as some have suggested, shutting down the ISG and reallocating its resources elsewhere."
Gaffney goes on to point out that
- Kay's team has only been able to examine 10 of 150 known ammo depots in Iraq,
- there is an unknown number of hidden ammo caches, and
- the things we're looking for are small (the "would fit in a two-car garage" talking point makes an appearance here).
All reasonable points, if one overlooks a few other "stubborn facts":
- Before the war, we were told by folks like Don Rumsfeld that we knew where the WMD were.
- The chemical weapons themselves may be small, but what about the facilities for producing them?
- What about all the cooperation we were told to expect from the top Iraqis we have in custody? Why hasn't even one of them rolled over and told us where the WMD are? After all, Bush said that more time was not what was needed, cooperation is what was needed.
