Al Gore says Bush, not Saddam is the dishonest one

By Mary Mostert

My first thought on seeing the picture of one of the thirty plus MiG-25s and SU-25 ground attack jets that were found four months after Australian forces captured the al-Taqqadum air field west of Baghdad, was “Why would anyone bury a $30 plus million dollar airplane in the sand?” That makes no sense.

My second thought was to wonder how anyone could possibly argue now that George W. was “lying” about the threat Saddam Hussein was to the world. If he could do such a good job of hiding aircraft in the sand, considering their size, how can any person claim that Bush’s decision to take down the regime was unwise? And after finding those airplanes, how could ANYONE be stupid enough to accuse President Bush of “lying” about the need to put an end to Saddam Hussein’s regime?

Well, I didn’t have to wait very long for the answer. In an article entitled: Bush Misleading the Nation” the Associated Press reported yesterday that Al Gore said in a speech that the administration “used false pretenses to launch the war against Saddam Hussein, including claims that the Iraqi leader was involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and was on the verge of providing terrorists with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.”

Actually, of course, President Bush never EVER said that “the Iraqi leader was involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks and was “on the verge of providing terrorists with chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.” Bush DID say, in his State of the Union speech:

“The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax — enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.

“The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin — enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hadn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.

“Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

“U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors recently turned up 16 of them — despite Iraq's recent declaration denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

“From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce germ warfare agents, and can be moved from place to a place to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.

“The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.

“The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary; he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.”

Now, what part of that is a “lie?” That Saddam Hussein was deceiving us? Did Saddam Hussein “hide” more than thirty MiGs or didn’t he? We are seeing pictures of them being dug out of the sand. These are not little airplanes. There are 8-9 men standing on them.

Gore was also quoted as saying the President “has also given false a impression about the results of tax cuts” and in “both Iraq and the economy, the common factor is a dishonesty in the dissemination of facts.”

I suggest that if President Bush had told us six months ago that Saddam Hussein had buried more than thirty MiGs out in the desert we would probably have laughed him out of the White House. No normal person is going to bury hundreds of millions of dollars worth of airplanes in the sand! How ridiculous!

Only, Saddam Hussein did and it’s taken us four months to find 30 huge aircraft buried in the sand on a piece of land we’ve been walking on? And there are still people out there who think Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction because we haven’t FOUND them yet?

I suggest if Saddam could successfully hide 30 MiGs under our very noses for months, he’s probably capable of hiding a few amall vials of anthrax than could kill millions of people.

© Mary Mostert