Kay Resigns from WMD Investigation

David Kay is leaving Iraq. The Ranting Profs surmise that this will lead Bush critics to the conclusion that there were no WMDs to be found. But a key point that I'm sure the mainstream media will continue to bury or altogether ignore is that,

[i]f ultimately no actual WMD is found, critics of the war will jump all over that. But his interim report carefully explained why what they had found already placed Iraq clearly in breach of the UN resolution (in particular 1441, which was supposed to be the trigger for war).

Absolutely. And this is what the media has insisted on ignoring since Kay's report was released. Even now, note the snide editorializing in the WaPo article (which is not on the Opinion page) linked to above:

The move comes as more of Kay's staff has been diverted from the weapons hunt to help search for Iraqi insurgents, and at a time when expectations remain low that any weaponry will be discovered.

Whose expectations? The media's? And this:

When he accepted the job in June, [officials] said, he expected to quickly find the expansive evidence that the administration had claimed as its primary reason for going to war. Rather, Kay's preliminary report in October said the group had so far discovered only that Iraq was working to acquire chemical and biological weapons, had missile programs under various stages of development and possessed only a rudimentary nuclear program.

Well, now we know what the WaPo thinks was found, and finds such easily dismissed. But what about Kay himself? After all, he, you know, actually did the searching. Conveniently, the article does not mention that Kay "discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002." Or that,

[w]ith regard to biological warfare activities, which has been one of our two initial areas of focus, ISG teams are uncovering significant information - including research and development of BW-applicable organisms, the involvement of Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) in possible BW activities, and deliberate concealment activities. All of this suggests Iraq after 1996 further compartmentalized its program and focused on maintaining smaller, covert capabilities that could be activated quickly to surge the production of BW agents.

In fact, all the article mentions is that Kay concluded before even going to Iraq that Saddam had violated U.N. sactions:

Kay publicized his expectations on Iraq in January, in a Washington Post article, before he was appointed: "When it comes to the U.N. weapons inspection in Iraq, looking for a smoking gun is a fool's mission. That was true 11 years ago when I led the inspections there. It is no less true today. . . . That's because the answer is already clear: Iraq is in breach of U.N. demands that it dismantle its weapons of mass destruction."

What about what he stated that he found in his report? I guess they don't want us to know. You can read the whole interim report here.

Comments

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[Will]

You're living in a ideological dream world if you think 1441 had the automaticity to trigger an automatic invasion.