WMD search "exhausted" (BR)

CIA says 'Persistence is futile,' in so many words

Head weapons inspector Charles Duelfer announced yesterday the wrapping up of the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Story from the Tuscon Citizen

God, it feels so good to be right! Not in the political sense, but in terms of correctitude. This wouldn't even be news, because I, along with all my college friends could have told the President this was a lost cause before the war even started, but it has some interesting implications. All those detainees, being held in Iraqi prisons for their intelligence value?

Yesterday, Duelfer said there is no purpose in keeping detainees who are in custody because of their knowledge on Iraq's weapons, although he did not provide any details about the current number. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the ultimate decision on their release will be made by the Iraqi authorities.

Duelfer also said that it was impossible to know whether some actual weapons were smuggled out of Iraq because of "the deteriorating security situation" (whose fault is that?).

But think about this! Before the US-led invasion, ousted President Saddam Hussein provided the UN and US with thousands of pages and hundreds of CD-ROMs attesting that all illegal Iraqi weapons systems had been dismantled. 'There must have been something missing,' said the Administration, 'after all, we know Iraq has these weapons, but they're not in the report!'

Who do you trust?

By the way, we lost our 1,569th brave soldier yesterday. Semper Fi, yo.