Thompson: Iraq Had WMD Before U.S. Invaded

Des Moines Register:

Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson said today he was certain former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a point of contention in the 4.5 years since the war began.

"We can't forget the fact that although at a particular point in time we never found any WMD down there, he clearly had had WMD. He clearly had had the beginnings of a nuclear program," the former Tennessee senator told an audience of about 60 at a Newton cafe.

The question of whether Saddam had banned chemical and biological weapons, and plans to acquire nuclear weapons, has been the subject of intense debate in light of inspectors' failure to find such evidence since the war began.

Thompson made the statement while explaining why he felt the war was justified, despite the Bush administration's chief justification for the invasion turning out not to be verifiable.

Read the whole story: Des Moines Register

Comments

[glesslib]

10:44 AM on 10/03/2007

The explanatio­n that makes the most sense is something Gary Wills said in 2003 about this war. He said that Iran is/was jumping up and down over us being in Iraq. Saddam was a factor they really feared in the Middle East but could do nothing about. So we have spent billions and billions of dollars eliminatin­g their frightenin­g neighbor for them.

I would imagine that one of the reasons they feared Saddam so much is because he kept them off balance by scaring them with his "WMD" program which was probably little or nothing but made his big neighbor very edgy.

I am sure our government knew they weren't really there or weren't very advanced if they were. However, it certainly made for a good reason to go in. The thank you note from Iran will eventually be in the mail to Bush and Cheney. Carbon copies to our CIA and State Department­.

[wecouldbefamous]

10:12 AM on 10/03/2007

This is not the first time that Thompson has made this false claim. About a month ago he uttered a much more egregious misreprese­ntation of the facts, one that should it get a little bit of publicity, also invalidate­s his later attempts to backtrack from Monday's statement. Please go check out http://wec­ouldbefamo­us.blogspo­t.com and see for yourself. It shocks me that I can't find any discussion of his original gaffe anywhere else. It is linked. It was on CNN for the whole world to see. Check out:

http://wec­ouldbefamo­us.blogspo­t.com

[DrenchedOtter]

11:13 PM on 10/02/2007

Zowie! The Republican­s don't like people shooting their mouths off about Saddam's WMDs, that's one of those embarrassm­ents they'd just as soon sweep under the rug. A couple more gaffes like this one and old Freddie's going to be sent back to Hollywood.

[villastrangiato]

11:13 PM on 10/02/2007

mmm kay......h­ow do you top this?


Just think folks - this delusional asshole, if elected, would have access to the secret codes that launch nuclear weapons...­...

Maybe we shouldn't nominate and elect him - after all, if nothing else he would become a legal liability - other countries around the world would then have a justifiabl­e case of reckless endangerme­nt against us....

[Rubiconski]

09:18 PM on 10/02/2007

Order the flowers, call the undertaker­, freddie thompson has committed suicide.

"Hussein clearly had WMD"... hahahahaha­, another repub idiot hack.

[Chuckwheat]

04:48 PM on 10/02/2007

Fred finally got around to reading Curveballs­' report.

[Fernando]

04:14 PM on 10/02/2007

There were WMDs in the White House: War Monger's Disease.

[AntiFascistCanuck]

02:26 PM on 10/02/2007

Who knows? Maybe he has seen the bill of sale, after all it is a widely accepted and reported fact that Saddam purchased his arsenal from the U.S.A.

[white mende man]

01:45 PM on 10/02/2007

Fred's new movie: If I slept thru it.

[white mende man]

01:47 PM on 10/02/2007

or I Know What You Did In Your Sleep

[TotobiAyokoh23]

01:06 PM on 10/02/2007

I knew it: I have always insisted that Thompson is not only stupid but, sophomoric­.

[javagirl322]

01:02 PM on 10/02/2007

Where has Thompson been? Old grey-ass Fred should crawl back under his rock...and don't forget to take your medicine.

[white mende man]

12:34 PM on 10/02/2007

Look deeply into my eyes Fred and repeat after me:

I
"I"
will
"will"
not
"not
say
"say"
another
"another"
word
"word"
until
"until"
after
"after"
I
"I"
become
"become"
the
"the"
nominee
"nominee"
so's
"so's"
I
"I"
don't
"don't"
destroy
"destroy"
my
"my"
chances
"chances"
in
"in"
becoming
"becoming"
president
"president­"
of
"of"
these
"these"
United States
"United States"

[puhibay]

11:27 AM on 10/02/2007

Tell me if bush doesn't bomb Iran, that Thompson won't.
It's pretty obvious, that the republican­s are going to beat this drum of war paranoia for the next election, and many years beyond.
I remember in WW2, Japan was on the move towards Indo-china in the pacific. Germans were marching into poland, and took france.
So we are supposed to be afraid because
Osama is hiding in a cave, I don't think so.
Wake up america, the masses are being manipulate­d, for profit.
The Carlyle group (bush crime family) is making tremendous profits, by sending our boys to war.
They are greedy, and don't care about america, or americans. So they are trying to keep us frightened­, so we will pay their windfall profits. Look at blackwater­, bushco knew we didn't have the troops needed, so he has paid a militia group over a billion dollars.
This whole war is about oil, and money , and a pathetic little boy named george, a little boy who never grew up, all he was successful at was blowing up frogs with firecracke­rs. A very sad state of affairs. This war will cost future americans generation­s countless treasure.

[white mende man]

12:37 PM on 10/02/2007

hopefully he'll sleep thru his "presidenc­y", the one to be afraid of is Rudy that boy is rearing to become even "worst than Bush".

[Independent voter]

11:25 AM on 10/02/2007

It's convenient when the morons are self revealing.

[nefertiti]

11:08 AM on 10/02/2007

Iraq Also had the Best education and health System before they were destroyed by the US , and they had water , electricit­y , security and the Most Higher education degrees in the Middle East , now there is a shortage of proffessor­s , and 4 million refugiees are on the run . The weapons were destroyed in the early 90s he should talk to scott Ritter , obviously he has no Clue , just ready to make vicious comments and war plans .