SPINNING THE DAVID KAY REPORT

  "David Kay is presenting his report to Congress on his hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction. The CIA will release a summary later today. I'll save you a lot of time. Kay did not find any weapons of mass destruction. Bush's supporters are trying to spin what was supposed to be Kay's final report as only being a progress report, that Kay will go back to Iraq and stay there until he does find some weapons of mass destruction. Bush's supporters are going on about how Iraq did have WMDs because the US gave them to him, so there is no question that Saddam did have WMDs at one time.

  Except, of course, that was never the question. The question was whether Saddam had Weapons of Mass Destruction on March 18th, 2003, the date Bush sent a letter to Congress activating the Congressional authorization for the use of military force in Iraq. In that letter, Bush claimed to know for a fact that Saddam had working weapons of mass destruction, and that Saddam was linked to 9-11. The Bush administration has since backed off of that latter claim.  That leaves just the WMDs. And what Bush claimed was that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, ready to launch, that represented a real danger to people living in the United States. Not plans, not programs, not sketches, but real live, ready to drop in the missiles and launch against the USA, weapons of mass destruction. 

  It doesn't matter what Saddam was given by the US years ago. It doesn't matter what drawings or blueprints existed. It doesn't matter what facilities exist that maybe, sorta, could be, might someday, be reworked to turn them into weapons factories (because with enough work, ANYTHING, including the average kitchen, is a "duel use" facility able to be converted into a biological weapons lab).   The whole issue of the war in Iraq hinged on what Saddam was supposed to have had in hand on March 18, 2003, when Bush ignited the invasion. And what David Kay's report confirms, despite Bush supporter's spinning, is the same exact thing the UN weapons inspectors concluded, that Hans Blix concluded, that Scott Ritter concluded;  that Saddam had in fact complied with the United Nations and destroyed his weapons of mass destruction.

  Bush and his buddies are going to try to claim that Saddam fooled them, that Saddam claimed to have WMDs that he really did not, to try to look like more of a threat than he was. Frankly, I recall quite clearly Saddam telling everyone who would listen that he did not have WMDs, even allowing inspectors into his private homes to search for them. In hindsight, it is obvious Saddam was telling the truth and Bush was lying, but the latest spin is trying to make Saddam the liar, and Bush the poor innocent victim. The other spin, championed by Israel's supporters, is that Saddam gave his WMDs to those nations Israel just happens to want the US to bomb.

Nobody believes it. Bush's poll numbers prove it. Bush and his buddies lied about the Niger uranium. They lied about the balloon inflator trailers.

The public has finally figured out that Bush lied, with the support and cooperation of a great portion of the entire government, pouring our money and our children into a manufactured war.   

 And we're pissed about it."

Michael Rivero Commentary