True or False or False or False or...

A pop quiz on the current WMD rhetoric.

By Ari Melber
Friday August 11, 2006

After the foiled terror plot in Britain, Americans have plenty of security threats to worry about. Yet many prominent Republicans are still trying to scare the public with threats that do not exist: those infamous weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that were never found in Iraq. Over the past few weeks, everyone from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to Right Wing pundit Sean Hannity have trotted out lies about WMD to prop up the unpopular Iraq war. Take MockU’s pop quiz on WMD lies and see if you can pick the real answers.

1. Which of the following did Senator Rick Santorum say in June 2006 press conference about WMDs in Iraq?

1. "Our agenda is clear. We will ban gay marriage, win the war on terror and find the WMDs in Iraq. And not, I should add, not necessarily in that order."


2. "I think we’re in the 8th inning of this search for weapons, and now it’s time for a closing pitcher."


3. "Actually, some generals say finding the weapons of mass destruction will protect us more than catching Bin Laden. Because those weapons could be used against us by someone else, and remember, Bin Laden is in a cave."


4. "We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons."

1. Binge drinking


2. Spoiled milk


3. Expired birth control pills


4. Household pesticides

1. Santorum’s decisions were based on intelligence so secret it appears as incorrect information to civilian media


2. Attempting to fact-check a pro-war Senator was detrimental to the War on Terror


3. Santorum was mistaken because Saddam’s WMDs are now believed to be in Syria, and we’d better go get them.


4. Santorum was referring to weapons that were "not the WMDs for which this country went to war."

1. "There are weapons there, and that is – people know, that is why we went to war, so either we will find them or Saddam destroyed them."


2. "We believe Saddam had WMDs. Our allies believe it, and his enemies, which I guess you could say includes us, but also others – we all believe he had them."


3. "We will find the weapons of mass destruction."


4. "We found the weapons of mass destruction."

1. "When did you know in your heart that President Bush would win the war on terror?"


2. "How awesome was it when the U.S. pulled Saddam out of his coward-hole?"


3. "How did you feel when the U.S. found Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan?"


4. "What do you think about WMDs being found in Iraq?"

1. Down 5% from last year to 30%
2. Down 8% from last year to 20%
3. Steady from last year at 40%
4. Up 14% from last year to 50%

Unfortunately, the answer to all of the above was D. Seriously.

Ari Melber, a former legislative aide in the U.S. Senate, has written for The Nation Online, The American Prospect Online, The Baltimore Sun, The Huffington Post and other publications.

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Comments

1. I sat with a gentleman from northern Iraq recently. He told of reports from family members who watched the cartage of WMD’s out of Iraq and into Syria. They watched as the weapons passed by, trailer, after trailer. Whom should I believe? The press? The goverment? Those who write for a website? I’ll take the account of those who were there.
   This gentleman I write of was able to flee Iraq in the dark of night after witnessing the death of so many around him…all at the hands of Sadaam Hussein. He told of those, primarily Kurds, who were taken from their homes and buried alive. Genocide was the goal. This gentleman dodged death himself when his mother forbade him from eating the bread delivered to his refugee camp. 1400 children died from eating this bread. It had been instilled with poison by Hussein’s men.
   My point? I would love to read your reports taken as first account from those who were there…those who are there…those who must remain there. Otherwise, I find it all pointless rhetoric—-be it from “the left,” or “the right.”

   — Dennis McCracken - Aug 14, 03:09 PM - #
   
   

2. Dennis, consider that David Kay was an administration appointee, accountable to only the President that had initiated this war, and he has repeatedly said that there are not now, nor were there at the time of the invasion, WMDs in Iraq. Given the choice between “a man from northern Iraq” and “Chief Weapons Inspector and Bush appointee David Kay,” I’m going to go with the opinion of the latter.

   — JR - Aug 17, 07:55 PM - #
   
   

3. McCracken, I doubt that a convoy of that magnitude could have eluded American spy satellites or other intelligence resources. Hey, that gentleman from Northern Iraq didn’t happen to go by the name “curveball”, did he?!! I’ll take my information from a vetted professional such as David Kay, thank you. As for you, it sounds to me like your purview falls in the range of mass hysteria and urban legends.

   — Phillip - Aug 24, 10:42 PM - #