I’m one of those here that remember seeing the news loop of the plane hitting the tower and the building collapsing.
It was a defining moment and I think fixed in everyone’s mind the required response (other than it wasn’t quite clear who the target should be), just a Pearl Harbor was with WWII.
To some extent the “lies about WMD” is a bit of a misdirection/political spin. It is true that no stockpiles of biologic, chemical or development of nuclear weapons were ever found. Very likely never existed. But we can say the same about Iran today. At one point we could have said the same about North Korea. We do know that Iraq developed, stockpiled and used chemical (and I think some biological) weapons in the Iraq-Iran war. We also know they had a nuclear program (which I don’t think was monitored by the UN until after the war and Iraq was forced to dismantle it). So I think concerns about WMD were quite legitimate even if not quite current state reality.
And yes, Kerry nearly won and the whole “where are the WMD” (including using the old Wendy’s commercial “Where’s the beaf?” line) was frequently mentioned after the war and in the campaigns.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of the potential for some emergence of AI related policy stances with regard to any AI moment of realization as it were (something hits the AI fan). On that I might be more inclined to point to Higg’s Crisis and Leviathan line of thinking. Yes, we’ll see certain policy positions elevated but how beneficial that ultimate proves I’m less sure.
The admin claimed that the evidence in favor of WMD presence was much stronger than it actually was. This was partially because they were confused/groupthinky, and partially because they were aiming to persuade. I agree that it was reasonable to think Iraq had WMDs on priors.
Yes, the 80s would have been when the Iraq-Iran war happened, which I mention, so I don’t quite understand the link to the wiki. Maybe you’re emphasizing the “Very likely never existed.” but that was more about the claims used for the invasion that Iraq currently had large and dangerous stockpiles on hand at the time. None were found so either they didn’t really exist then or were well hidden/could be quickly dismantled without a trace. I suspect the former would be more likely—though there is a lot of empty space and finding needles in haystacks is hard.
I’m one of those here that remember seeing the news loop of the plane hitting the tower and the building collapsing.
It was a defining moment and I think fixed in everyone’s mind the required response (other than it wasn’t quite clear who the target should be), just a Pearl Harbor was with WWII.
To some extent the “lies about WMD” is a bit of a misdirection/political spin. It is true that no stockpiles of biologic, chemical or development of nuclear weapons were ever found. Very likely never existed. But we can say the same about Iran today. At one point we could have said the same about North Korea. We do know that Iraq developed, stockpiled and used chemical (and I think some biological) weapons in the Iraq-Iran war. We also know they had a nuclear program (which I don’t think was monitored by the UN until after the war and Iraq was forced to dismantle it). So I think concerns about WMD were quite legitimate even if not quite current state reality.
And yes, Kerry nearly won and the whole “where are the WMD” (including using the old Wendy’s commercial “Where’s the beaf?” line) was frequently mentioned after the war and in the campaigns.
I’m not entirely sure what to make of the potential for some emergence of AI related policy stances with regard to any AI moment of realization as it were (something hits the AI fan). On that I might be more inclined to point to Higg’s Crisis and Leviathan line of thinking. Yes, we’ll see certain policy positions elevated but how beneficial that ultimate proves I’m less sure.
My understanding is:
The admin claimed that the evidence in favor of WMD presence was much stronger than it actually was. This was partially because they were confused/groupthinky, and partially because they were aiming to persuade. I agree that it was reasonable to think Iraq had WMDs on priors.
Iraq had and used chemical weapons in the eighties.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_chemical_weapons_program
Yes, the 80s would have been when the Iraq-Iran war happened, which I mention, so I don’t quite understand the link to the wiki. Maybe you’re emphasizing the “Very likely never existed.” but that was more about the claims used for the invasion that Iraq currently had large and dangerous stockpiles on hand at the time. None were found so either they didn’t really exist then or were well hidden/could be quickly dismantled without a trace. I suspect the former would be more likely—though there is a lot of empty space and finding needles in haystacks is hard.