THE BIG LIE

March 27, 2003 11:07 AM

Colin Powell Lied To The World By Omission! When Colin Powell went before the UN Security Council on February 5 to present evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction he said and I quote "It took years for Iraq to finally admit that it had produced four tons of the deadly nerve agent VX. A single drop of VX on the skin will kill in minutes. Four tons. The admission only came out after inspectors collected documentation as a result of the defection of Hussein Kamel, Saddam Hussein's late son-in-law." What Powell didn't bother to say was this very same Hussein Kamel had personal knowledge that Iraq had "destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons stocks and the missiles to deliver them." Not only that Bush referred to Hussein Kamel on numerous occasion to bolster his case for war in Iraq. Kamel was being used by our government as the one of the central arguments as to why we should invade Iraq! We've been lied to folks. Even if going into Iraq is the right thing to do. Our government still LIED to us the American people and the rest of the world!
posted by tljenson (10 comments total)

it wouldn't be the first and the last time that US government lied to its taxpayers
i think the truth is very complicated and Americans don't have time to hear it....
posted by bureaustyle at 11:14 AM on March 27, 2003

Our government still LIED to us the American people and the rest of the world!

The administration hasn't been able to keep it's story straight about why we're going to war at all. The story changes every time they think they've found a more effective PR strategy.

Oddly enough, it's this very strategy that has made me have a complete and total lack of trust for the current administration, and in turn for my opposition to the war.

I'd love to have access to the polling data, to find out if this was an effective strategy overall, and what it's negative effects were.
posted by mosch at 11:17 AM on March 27, 2003

Well duh! You think most people want to hear the truth?
posted by michaelonfs at 11:20 AM on March 27, 2003

jesus, read the article this one is citing

Kamel said Iraq had not abandoned its WMD ambitions. The stocks had been destroyed to hide the programs from the U.N. inspectors, but Iraq had retained the design and engineering details of these weapons. Kamel talked of hidden blueprints, computer disks, microfiches and even missile-warhead molds. “People who work in MIC (Iraq’s Military Industrial Commission, which oversaw the country’s WMD programs) were asked to take documents to their houses,” he said. Why preserve this technical material? Said Kamel: “It is the first step to return to production” after U.N. inspections wind down.

This was 8 years ago. We don't doubt that Iraq destroyed much of the weaponry previous to weapons inspcectors being kicked out in 98. It's the potential WMD made in the intervening 5 years that have the administration up in arms

hmm nice credible news source too.
posted by bitdamaged at 11:24 AM on March 27, 2003

I thought you were going to say: we knew the Iraqis have chemical weapons because we know we sold the chemical weapons to them!

America's government has been lying to us for many years. It's a game in which integrity has no part. I honestly cannot say I'm "shocked and awed" anymore about the behavior of our elected officials, though the current administration seems to be trying to set a new record.

IANAL, but I don't believe it's against the law anywhere to lie to the American public. The only place politicians can't legally lie is in court, where purjury carries a mild to moderate sentence. Of course, companies that produce food and drugs are not allowed to lie per se, but they certainly seem to do their best to obfuscate as much as possible.

Wouldn't the world be a nicer place if we could throw the bastards in jail for lying to us?
posted by Jonasio at 11:24 AM on March 27, 2003

"we knew the Iraqis have chemical weapons because we know we sold the chemical weapons to them!"

Saying that a thousand times doesn't make it true. Any proof of that?
posted by Jos Bleau at 11:29 AM on March 27, 2003

Bitdamaged what is the point your trying to make? Colin Powell did NOT REFER to "had retained the design and engineering details of these weapons" He specifically made a reference to "produced four tons of the deadly nerve agent VX." Kamel said that had been destroyed. So he still lied Powell should have specifically made the point that Iraq had retained engineering details of these weapons with intentions to use them in the future to make chemical and other weapons of mass destruction. Not lied about the point of Iraq having four tons of VX nerve agent. So in effect he was lying!!!
posted by tljenson at 12:04 PM on March 27, 2003

Saying that a thousand times doesn't make it true. Any proof of that?

Remeber that whole Iran/Iraq war thing (Iran Contra, etc)? Yeah, well, we were arming both sides with chemical and regular weapons.

So this isn't one of those things you can dispute. It's a fact.
posted by SweetJesus at 12:06 PM on March 27, 2003

SweetJesus what is your point? Powell wasn't talking about arming Iraq or Iran. He was talking about what Kamel had said
posted by tljenson at 12:09 PM on March 27, 2003

The point is that between this interview with Kamal in 1995 and when Powell adressed the United Nations, Iraq had the plans and technical materials to produce Nerve Agents.

So in effect he only used the information from Kamal That was still currently relevant. Kamal (who is apparently dead) has no idea what the Iraqi's have produced since he left the country at that time.

Ultimately what it boils down to is that Powell had the opportunity to say "We have information that in 1995 Iraq destroyed their WMD but since the inspectors left we're pretty sure they've been making a hell of a lot more"

And quite frankly that doesn't mean much and is nowhere near the "BIG LIE" you're looking for
posted by bitdamaged at 12:14 PM on March 27, 2003