The estimable Victor Davis Hanson explains how - as Khidhir Hamza has so convincingly detailed in the book "Saddam's Bombmaker" - it was Saddam himself who was the real Weapon of Mass Destruction.

There were four unique factors in the calculus involving Saddam Hussein and his so-called weapons of mass destruction: (1) Saddam Hussein had petrodollars to buy such strategic weapons; (2) He had acquired and stockpiled such arms and used them in war against Iran and in peace against his own people; (3) He had a long history of aggression against the United States — from Gulf War I to trying to assassinate an American president; and (4) His Baathist police state had a systematic policy of hiding such weapons, from both the United States postwar intelligence gatherers and the U.N. inspectors.

Therefore as long as Saddam Hussein was in power it mattered little what the professed status of his chemical and biological arsenal was at any particular time, since our only certain knowledge was that he had a proven desire and ability to purchase, recreate, and use them on any given day — and that day would be mostly unknown to everyone outside of Iraq

Most of the U.S. electorate essentially agrees; one reason the "absence" of WMDs isn't a winning issue for Kerry.

Props to Burton Terrace, keeping an eye on Cuba and more.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at February 18, 2004 10:15 AM

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