> The international experts on the ground would probably not agree with that, as they were clearly stating there were no WMDs from the very beginning.
They didn't state that there no WMD, but they did refute many of the US/UK claims of specific evidence of WMD. (Some of which the Western press had actually published the receipts on, like the supposed mobile WMD labs that weren't WMD labs, and that the US and UK especially knew weren't WMD labs because the UK has sold them to Iraq.)
They also reported not finding evidence of current WMD or WMD work, but that the Iraqis were not in all aspects fully cooperative.
And the internal UK memos about how the intelligence was being fixed around the policy were also published by the press in the runup to war, among other internal leaks about the way support for the war was being manufactured by propaganda.
> They also reported not finding evidence of current WMD or WMD work, but that the Iraqis were not in all aspects fully cooperative.
Inspection work restarted just a few months before the war. It was an absurd situation where the US was saying they weren't cooperating, and the inspectors saying they haven't had enough time to actually do their job.
It's been a while, but I thought it was German Intelligence that confirmed the existence of the WMDs. I also recall there being an issue with Saddam allowing Al-Qaeda free passage and the ability to train. Hence the thinking this would lead to more attacks not only on the U.S. but other Western nations as well.
Thank you for this comment. It is a rare, accurate summary, in contrast to the usual, uninformed “lies about WMDs” sputtering. The lies about the mobile labs are the only unambiguous, deliberate lies on the part of US officials, about WMD stuff, that I know about. The rest, as you say, amount to manipulation of information, and attaching a particular narrative to thin scraps of evidence.
They didn't state that there no WMD, but they did refute many of the US/UK claims of specific evidence of WMD. (Some of which the Western press had actually published the receipts on, like the supposed mobile WMD labs that weren't WMD labs, and that the US and UK especially knew weren't WMD labs because the UK has sold them to Iraq.)
They also reported not finding evidence of current WMD or WMD work, but that the Iraqis were not in all aspects fully cooperative.
And the internal UK memos about how the intelligence was being fixed around the policy were also published by the press in the runup to war, among other internal leaks about the way support for the war was being manufactured by propaganda.