WMD = Willfully Managed Duplicity

The White House line on supposed Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction" has undergone another shift, this one subtle enough that so far as I'm aware, no one has commented on it.

As everyone knows, prior to invading Iraq, George Bush and his minions insisted loud and long that Iraq was in possession of massive stocks of biological and chemical weapons - even to the point of specifying types and their amounts. Just over one year ago, on January 9, 2003, Ari Fleischer said "We know for a fact that there are weapons there." Of course, events since have proved that to be a large pile of bull hockey to the point where even the mass print media will routinely mention that no such weapons have been found despite months of searching.

It was also widely noted last spring that in the immediate wake of the attack, as supposed weapons finds repeatedly turned out to be nothing of the sort, the line segued into Iraqi WMD programs rather than actual weapons. The Kay survey, which was supposed to save the White House's bacon, instead was forced to admit in a "preliminary" report - issued a couple of weeks after the original date for a "final" report, which is now maybe another six months off - that no trace of weapons could be found. The straw it offered the Bushites, to which they have tenaciously clung, is that Kay's team had uncovered some evidence of some low-level research. The fact that they were unable to point to an actual facility where these programs were supposedly pursued was ignored.

But even that fallback position is proving difficult to maintain. The Washington Post's important January 7 article (now archived, the archive link is here), showing that not only was Saddam's "arsenal" nonexistent but that his "plans" were mostly paper sketches sung to the tune of "Wouldn't It Be Nice," shook the foundations of the argument. So the references to the supposed programs have become vaguer and vaguer, the connection to the original main justification for the war ever more distant. As CNN reports it on January 21,

[i]n his address, Bush did not talk about specific weapons but cited Saddam Hussein's WMD "related programs," saying: "Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day."

Not only do the weapons disappear, but weapons "programs" become - here's the stutter step - weapons related programs, which could be made to include any research with any potential WMD application, whether or not that was the point or even the expectation. Someone studying the aerodynamics of birds could be accused of "weapons related research" since the results theoretically could be used to improve missile flight. In the on-going search for a justification the White House can make stick, the net again gets cast wider. (As BOSS once said "I do love a really juicy mixed metaphor.")

Meanwhile, Bush's pet prime minister, Tony Blair, is relying on the "time is an illusion" defense. From the same article:

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has followed U.S. President George W. Bush's State of the Union address by insisting there was "absolutely no doubt" about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. ...

"There can be no doubt at all that those weapons existed, absolutely no doubt, because that is said not just by this government or the United States government, it was set out in detail over 12 years by the United Nations and by United Nations inspectors," Blair said.

In other words, because it's known Saddam Hussein had now-banned weapons in 1991, therefore he also had them in 2003. And, like the GOP dodge that Bush never actually used the particular word "imminent" in describing the "threat" from Iraq, if pinned to the wall, Blair can deny that he specifically said anything about 2003.

Then again, if some others have their way, neither he nor Bush will have to deny or explain anything; no matter that the prosecution has no exhibits to present, they can just keep saying "Just you wait and see."

Washington (CNN, January 21) - It could take years before investigators are able to uncover the details of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs under Saddam Hussein, according to the House Intelligence Committee's chairman.

"Every day is a new day for the intelligence people," said Rep. Porter Goss, R-Florida. "I would say that we are probably a couple of years away from getting through all the material and talking to all the people we need to talk to about exactly what was going on...."

A couple of years being the time necessary, they hope, for people to stop caring about this altogether - or at least long enough to make it politically irrelevant "old news." And so "He's got them and we know where!" can fade to "He had them and we'll find them!" through "The search is still on!" and finally to "Are you still on about that?"

Well Said Dept.: Some people were unimpressed by Bush's references to Iraq.

"Iraqis are not convinced by what Bush has to say," Abdul Hadi al-Husseini, a delegate at a meeting of Iraqi political parties, told Reuters.

"And we are tired of feeling like a piece of gum that Bush is chewing on so that he can advance himself."

Unfortunately for both us and Iraqis, it's a piece of gum on which Bush may yet choke.

Update January 24: Okay, now it seems everyone is talking about the "weapons-related programs" dance. One columnist - forgot who, so no link, sorry - called it an early entry for "weasel words of 2004."

But you still read it first, dammit. So there.