This article provides nothing but a rehash of the old debate. The UN says the war was not justified. The administration says it was because Saddam did not comply with the resolutions giving him a last chance to come clean, or else.
CNN, again, improperly quotes VP Cheney's interview with Tim Russert last March:
"We believe [Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein] has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons. I think Mr. ElBaradei, frankly, is wrong," Cheney said. "And I think if you look at the track record of the International Atomic Energy Agency in this kind of issue, especially where Iraq's concerned, they have consistently underestimated or missed what Saddam Hussein was doing."As I've noted before, this was clearly a misstatement that does not jive with the rest of Cheney's statements in the interview:
Cheney (later, same interview): "it’s only a matter of time until he acquires nuclear weapons."Shame on CNN for their sloppy and/or biased reporting. They didn't even have the courtesy to tell us which Cheney interview they're referencing.
Cheney (earlier, same interview): "And I think that would be the fear here, that even if he were tomorrow to give everything up, if he stays in power, we have to assume that as soon as the world is looking the other way and preoccupied with other issues, he will be back again rebuilding his BW and CW capabilities, and once again reconstituting his nuclear program. He has pursued nuclear weapons for over 20 years. Done absolutely everything he could to try to acquire that capability and if he were to cough up whatever he has in that regard now, even if it was complete and total, we have to assume tomorrow he would be right back in business again."