> Colin Powell, 15 May 2001:
> [...] There's no question that they have some stockpiles of some of these sorts of weapons still under their control, but they have not been able to break out, they have not been able to come out with the capacity to deliver these kinds of systems or to actually have these kinds of systems that is much beyond where they were 10 years ago."

> So the question becomes: who, exactly, in the government thought that Iraq actually had WMDs, if not the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor nor the Intelligence service thought he even had a conventional army worth speaking about?

In the Powell quote you've supplied (I've requoted only the relevant part) Powell makes it clear that he believed Hussein had some WMD -- just that he felt the program's capabilities were limited compared to its pre-Gulf capabilities.

As for the CIA, in 2002 it published an intelligence analsysis on the program. Among the key findings:

"We judge that Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions. Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions. If left unchecked it probably will have a nuclear weapon within this decade."

(Check out http://www.factcheck.org/article358.html)


> I supported the Iraq War for the good it would do for the Iraqi people and the Middle East in general, despite the obvious fact that Iraq was in no serious way a military threat. I now feel like I was cheated, and if I could go back, I'd have been on the anti-war marches.
>
> wintermute

I'm in a similar position. Before the war began, I supported it both as a matter of security (regardless of all else, Hussein was an aggressive kook) and as a matter of my belief that spreading democracy is a good idea.

I too am sorely disappointed by how poorly the administration has performed in the aftermath. In a way it's not surprising -- my biggest pre-war misgiving was our total failure in Afghanistan to set up a stable government -- but it's still saddening.

It's lead me to question whether you can actually spread democracy by forcefully demolishing other regimes. There are some examples of it working out (mainly Japan) but by no means does it seem to be easy.

Stephen