No wonder Bush seemed particularly uncomfortable today on the campaign stump. It’s not about the debates or the polls; it’s about reality constantly seeping in and making him look bad.
Yesterday, it was Paul Bremmer announcing that America “paid a big price” as for Bush’s poor pre-invasion planning in Iraq. Today, it’s the Duelfer report.
The government’s most definitive account of Iraq’s arms programs, to be released today, will show that Saddam Hussein posed a diminishing threat at the time the United States invaded and did not possess, or have concrete plans to develop, nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, U.S. officials said yesterday.
The officials said that the 1,000-page report by Charles A. Duelfer, the chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq, concluded that Hussein had the desire but not the means to produce unconventional weapons that could threaten his neighbors or the West. President Bush has continued to assert in his campaign stump speech that Iraq had posed “a gathering threat.”
So much for Bush’s primary rationale for the invasion. I’m sure this comes as a big surprise to…absolutely no one.
Matt Yglesias raised a good point, noting that this is just the latest in a long line of reports that all same the exact same thing.
Nothing new here, really, but it’s interesting to see that the government keeps commissioning report after report after report into this subject only to see them all come back with the conclusion everyone has known to be true for over a year: The administration was wrong. It’s enough to make you think they don’t actually realize they were wrong. They think that maybe — just maybe — if they get one more report they’ll be vindicated.
It’s sad to see so many people in denial, especially when they’re running the country.