Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
Saddam Hussein has developed weapons of mass destruction, he has used weapons of mass destruction, and has not destroyed these weapons. Over a decade ago the UN passed resolutions yet today Iraq is in breech of these resolutions.
“Since December 1998, Baghdad has refused to allow UN inspectors into Iraq as required by the Security Council resolutions. Technical monitoring systems installed by the UN at known and suspected WMD and missile facilities in Iraq no longer operate. Baghdad prohibits Security Council-mandated monitoring overflights of Iraqi facilities by UN aircraft and helicopters. Similarly, Iraq has curtailed most IAEA inspections since 1998, allowing the IAEA to visit annually only a very small number of sites to safeguard Iraq’s stockpile of uranium oxide.
In the absence of inspectors, Baghdad’s already considerable ability to work on prohibited programs without risk of discovery has increased, and there is substantial evidence that Iraq is reconstituting prohibited programs. Baghdad’s vigorous concealment efforts have meant that specific information on many aspects of Iraq’s WMD programs is yet to be uncovered. Revelations after the Gulf war starkly demonstrate the extensive efforts undertaken by Iraq to deny information.” (quotes from the CIA)
Saddam Used Weapons of Mass Destruction
In northern Iraq, there is new evidence of Saddam Hussein’s genocidal war on the Kurds—and of his possible ties to Al Qaeda.
Read the New Yorker’s Account of Saddam’s use of WMD
Iraq’s Pattern of Deception
Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor to President Bush states, “Eleven weeks after the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution demanding — yet again — that Iraq disclose and disarm all its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs, it is appropriate to ask, “Has Saddam Hussein finally decided to voluntarily disarm?” Unfortunately, the answer is a clear and resounding no.”
Read her column from the NY Times in Why We Know Iraq is Lying.
They have sworn to allow inspectors before, then reject them, then allowed, and then rejected. Follow the time line of Deception and Defiance.
Iraq’s Myths
MYTH: Iraq is a poor country with no weapons of mass destruction (CIA)
MYTH: Sanctions are why Iraq’s people are suffering (State Department)
Human Rights Violations
“Over the more than 20 years since then, his regime has systematically executed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, terrorized and repressed Iraqi people. Iraq is a nation rich in culture with a long history of intellectual and scientific achievement. Yet Saddam Hussein has silenced its scholars and doctors, as well as its women and children.
Iraqi dissidents are tortured, killed, or disappear in order to deter other Iraqi citizens from speaking out against the government or demanding change. A system of collective punishment tortures entire families or ethnic groups for the acts of one dissident. Women are raped and often videotaped during rape to blackmail their families. Citizens are publicly beheaded, and their families are required to display the heads of the deceased as a warning to others who might question the politics of this regime. Saddam Hussein was also the first leader to use chemical weapons against his own population, silencing more than 60 villages and 30,000 citizens with poisonous gas.”
Read Iraq: A Population Silenced
“The Government continued to execute summarily alleged political opponents and leaders in the Shi’a religious community. Reports suggest that persons were executed merely because of their association with an opposition group or as part of a continuing effort to reduce prison populations. The Government continued to be responsible for disappearances and to kill and torture persons suspected of–or related to persons suspected of–economic crimes, military desertion, and a variety of other activities. Security forces routinely tortured, beat, raped, and otherwise abused detainees.”
Read full Human Rights Report