Because the 75th Exploitation Task Force (the US group in charge of all WMD searches in Iraq) is finding nothing they're winding down the search without evidence to present (more). Now, I should remind people that Powell and Blair and everyone else claimed that they had solid evidence that not only did the Iraqis have hundreds of tons of banned munitions, but that they were launch ready (remember Powell's scare that a strike could be launched within 45 minutes?)… Not only that but Powell gave specific evidence and listed specific sites, none of which show even a trace of WMD residue… Anyway, some quotes from the team:
"I don't think we'll find anything"
- Capt. Tom Baird
"[Task force leaders] no longer think we're going to find chemical rounds sitting next to a gun... That's what we came here for, but we're past that."
- Col. Robert Smith
"Why are we doing any planned targets? Answer me that. We know they're empty."
- CWO Richard L. Gonzalez
"We thought we would be much more gainfully employed, or intensively employed, than we were..."
- Cmdr. David Beckett
Many people are claiming that this shortfall should have been obvious; after all, the mainstream intelligence agencies did not agree with the Bush regime's premise on WMDs — they pointed out that the intelligence did not in fact support that conclusion, but, in response to getting intelligence that didn't match their political goals, “The Cabal” (the new US government, described by the CIA as “crazed” and “on a mission from God”) simply created its own intelligence agency that would do politics first and intelligence second (more).
"Rumsfeld set up his own intelligence agency because he didn't like the intelligence he was getting."
- Larry Korb
Council on Foreign Relations
"Their methods are vicious... The politicisation of intelligence is pandemic, and deliberate disinformation is being promoted. They choose the worst-case scenario on everything and so much of the information is fallacious."
- Vince Cannistraro
former CIA chief of counter-terrorism
Do check out that article linked above the quotes; it lists in detail how intelligence was manipulated, misrepresented, and even forged in order to trick the US people into supporting this war — maybe that all should help explain why the US continues to block UN inspectors from entering Iraq (more). It's also important to listeto what Garth Whitty, a former UN inspector from the first wave, points out in regard to the fact that most of the Iraqi military and nuclear power sites were looted long before the US ever got there:
"It means the weapons would now be proliferating, which is exactly what the war was meant to stop."
Villagers in Iraq are suffering from radiation sickness (more), and at least seven nuclear sites have been looted (more). While these sites did not contain bombs or direct weaponry, they did contain an enormity of technical documents as well as nuclear fuel. As you know, Iraq is now largely under the control of religious extremists sympathetic to the cause of al Qaeda and other larger terrorist groups who are seeking to target America… And guess what — now we know they have all the supplies they need to create dirty nukes.
But don't worry, Bush's buddies are getting richer all the time (more)!
I almost don't know why I bother mentioning this, but this ridiculous tax cut of Bush's is getting more and more support from the US mainstream (more) — up ten percent in the last two weeks. Now, if you're rich and actually have dividend earning stocks, you will save some money; Bush's buddies will be saving millions a year, and the average top 1% of the population will save well over $10,000… But how much does the bottom 80% of America save? Less than thirty dollars (more, MORE).
It's very weird watching people cheer the rulers who are screwing them over, but I suppose history has seen it happen over and over and over.
The next election is the deciding one I suppose; if the Cabal is put back into power, I can't see how it doesn't herald the end of the United States, and possibly more. My father said to me a few days ago, “I envy you… These are going to be amazing times to live through, watching a great civilization crumble.”
