No WMD? Whatever."We found the weapons of mass destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or ," insisted President Bush in a May 29, 2003 interview on Polish national television. "We found biological laboratories.... They're illegal. They're against the United Nations resolutions, and we've so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." Mr. Bush was referring to the discovery of two aging semi-trailers that supposedly served as mobile bio-weapons labs. It was later learned that they contained equipment used to generate hydrogen for use in spotter-balloons which monitor artillery artillery, originally meant any large weaponry (including such ancient engines of war as catapults and battering rams) or war material, but later applied only to heavy firearms as opposed to small arms. fire. In early October of this year, chief U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer released his final report, concluding that Saddam's regime had no WMDs, had not produced any since 1991, and didn't have the capacity to produce any. After spending years clotting clotting /clot·ting/ (klot´ing) coagulation (1). clotting the formation of a jellylike substance over the ends or within the walls of a blood vessel, with resultant stoppage of the blood flow. the air with dire warnings about Saddam's vast and expanding arsenal of WMDs, the president and vice president reacted to Duelfer's report by insisting that it offered a new rationale lot the war. Specifically, while Saddam wasn't producing WMDs, he was undermining UN sanctions Sanctions is the plural of sanction. Depending on context, a sanction can be either a punishment or a permission. The word is a contronym. Sanctions involving countries: tr.v. pro·hib·it·ed, pro·hib·it·ing, pro·hib·its 1. To forbid by authority: Smoking is prohibited in most theaters. See Synonyms at forbid. 2. weapons. "The Duelfer report showed that Saddam was systematically gaming the system, using the UN oil for-food program to try to influence countries in an effort to undermine sanctions," Mr. Bush said on October 7. "He was doing so with the intent of restarting his weapons program once the world looked away." "The headlines all say 'no weapons of mass destruction stockpiled in Baghdad,'" complained Cheney during a campaign stop in Miami. "We already knew that." That last comment is remarkable, given Cheney's repeated claims that Saddam had "reconstituted" nuclear weapons. In any case, Cheney went on to insist that Saddam "had every intention of going back" to his weapons program once sanctions were lifted. Thus the Bush administration's case for war has evolved again--from enforcing UN Security Council disarmament disarmament Reduction in armaments by one or more nations. Arms reductions may be imposed by a war's victors on the defeated (as happened after Germany's defeat in World War I). resolutions, to punishing pun·ish v. pun·ished, pun·ish·ing, pun·ish·es v.tr. 1. To subject to a penalty for an offense, sin, or fault. 2. To inflict a penalty for (an offense). 3. Saddam's regime for abusing the UN's oil-for-food program. This newly minted rationale actually insulates the UN from criticism for its role in the oil-for-food scandal. |
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