I really thought that by now there would be posts all over the blogosphere addressing the Saddam Tapes, but the silence is deafening. Why? Perhaps bloggers don't know where to find the Intelligence Summit and the published transcripts available.
Listening to the tapes, you are left with one of two choices: you either believe Saddam was a self-important (though largely internationally impotent) iron-fisted ruler who posed no threat to the US, for all his bluster to the contrary; or else you believe him to be precisely the man he’s always been: a murderous tyrant who would use whatever means at his disposal—including alliances of convenience—to attack the US and its interests. But there’s more even than that. Not being talked about much are the stories of two former Iraqi commanders who insist weapons stockpiles—which, critics of the Bush administration are forced to argue, either never existed (which the Kurds would naturally dispute) or else were voluntarily destroyed under orders from Hussein (or, if you prefer, by those risking their lives by hiding from him the fact of their destructions) shortly after the Gulf War—were removed to Syria and the existence of the programs scrubbed before the invasion, a story that is consistent with some of the findings by inspectors: equipment buried in rose gardens, dual use facilities sanitized, etc.
Also not being talked about is a story from the Intelligence Summit detailing a claim by former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw claiming that Russia helped Saddam move his weapons to Syria and hide evidence of their existence. From Newsmax (which, regardless of what you think of it as a source, is here simply reporting on the Summit): [CONT'D HERE]
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