Didn’t they swear there were no WMDs?

The news last night was so horrifying I had to look away. But it brought back some memories I had long forgotten, and made me start thinking.

Quoting Merle Haggard:

That jackle, babblehead in a box, must think I’m dumb as a rock! He’s reading me the news while I’m kicking off my shoes, and it’s scaring me out of my socks!

Rewind to 1991. I remember sitting by my TV watching the first Desert Storm in progress. I distinctly remember watching as they showed satellite feeds of a caravan of heavy vehicles traveling across the Iraq border into Syria. I distinctly remember the news casters saying it was believed those heavy vehicles contained Saddam Hussein’s chemical warfare supplies. I remember there was a great deal of chatter about those caravans going to hide Saddam’s uranium centrifuges, and mobile labs just across the border in Syria. What did those caravans really carry?

The talking heads all chanted: “There are no WMDs.”

The years went by and they all stuck to their story.

I’ve since seen the reports and photographs of WMDs uncovered in Iraq and Syria but completely covered up by the U.S. media. I can still hear the mantra, chanted over and over … “There were no WMDs” poking fun at Bush and Powell. They still refer to them as “Bush’s WMDs” … chanted so often, it was the lie that became the truth.

Then last evening’s news came on and Scott Pelley is warning me the images may be disturbing. He’s telling us about Syria’s use of chemical weapons on their own people. Sickening, sad imagery of people including children suffering badly. But Scott! You, Brian, George and Katie all assured me there were no WMDs.

It does make one wonder. They had told the lie so many times over the years that they didn’t dare utter the term WMD. So tonight, they’re calling them “Chemical Weapons.” Could they dare suggest that Syria would eventually use Saddam’s WMDs?

I’m not really that smart, but I’m wondering why I’m the only one asking that question? Why does the media seem so surprised that this happened?

… I just don’t know.

Reference:

• Colin Powell
• Desert Storm & The Gulf War
• Saddam Hussein
• Saddam’s WMDs : Former Iraqi general Georges Sada claimed that in late 2002, Saddam had ordered all of his stockpiles to be moved to Syria. He appeared on Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes in January 2006 to discuss his book, Saddam’s Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein. Anticipating the arrival of weapon inspectors on November 1, Sada said Saddam took advantage of the June 4 Zeyzoun Dam disaster in Syria by forming an “air bridge”, loading them onto cargo aircraft and flying them out of the country.
• A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humansSyria and weapons of mass destruction
• Syria and Weapons of Mass Destruction

I quoted Merle Haggard in the beginning because his way of defining the talking heads is the best I’ve heard in some time: “Jackle, Bobblehead in a box” … he sings it in Willie Nelson’s recent hit “It’s All Going To Pot”