Monday, May 17, 2004

So many idiots...

How many people with limited brainpower will read (assuming literacy, most of them probably just watch Fox News Channel) the article about the discovery of a single old pre-Gulf War 1 artillery shell with Sarin that had been made into an improvised bomb and say "A-ha! They found the WMD! I knew that scoundrel Saddam had something hidden!"?

Newsflash: One old artillery shell does not a chemical weapons program make. We already knew there were probably a few that fell between the cracks - we knew he had them before Gulf 1 and had even used them on his own people. But what was equally clear was that the vast majority of the weapons were either destroyed like they were supposed to be or (likely) smuggled out by army folks looking to make a few bucks in a Iraq that was squished by sanctions. I'm sure there will be a handful more that turn up one way or another - hopefully before other terrorists/insurgents try to use them on our troops or on innocent civilians.

What remains lacking is evidence of a systematic WMD program that was of the scope to justify an invasion. Given the political nature of this administration, though, if there are any more the discovery will probably wait until right around Halloween. What a coincidence.

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