what are the WDM'S? Where are they?

Question

in what way were WMD'S related to the war in iraq?

Answer 1

'WMD' stands for 'Weapon of Mass Destruction'. It includes not only nukes but any other large-scale weapons such as biological weapons and possibly EMP bombs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_of_mass_destruction
They have a lot to do with the war in Iraq, because when Bush originally sent troops in, his claim was that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. It turned out that not only was this false, but that the american government had known it was false and forged documents that implied it was true, causing a huge controversy.

Answer 2

The US has the largest collection of WMD's in the world and, despite demanding everyone else open their facilities to international inspection, it has failed to open its own weapons facilities to international review.

As for Iraq, many of their WMD's were used during the Iran-Iraq war and some were used upon the Kurdish minorities in northern Iraq. Those that remained were destroyed either during or immediately after the first Gulf War; that's why so many American vets from that war are now sick with such a wide constellation of severe illnesses.

After the first Gulf War, there is no evidence that Iraq ever regained its ability to produce WMD's. WMD's in Iraq then are a mythical bogeyman manufactured by the Bush administration to justify an illegal invasion and occupation of a nation that was no active threat to the US at that time.

Answer 3

Weapons of Mass Destruction are generally defined as chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons.

Their relation to the war in Iraq, is that Iraq was known to possess and use chemical weapons (both against Iran and against Kurds in Northern Iraq). After the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein had a policy where he would ensure that there was no solid evidence that he had weapons of mass destruction, but enough evidence that he *might* have them. His hope was a vague threat was enough of a middle ground to prevent anyone from overthrowing him for having them, and prevent anyone from trying anything against him in fear that he'd use them.

In the book Cobra II, the authors note that most generals in Iraq were of the opinion that Iraq possessed WMD's. Saddam Hussein felt that the US would not invade if they were worried about WMD's, and that the threat of WMD's was why they did not invade Baghdad in the first war. Unfortunately, he was wrong - the US did not invade Baghdad in '91 because the President Bush (Sr.) did not want to have to deal with replacing Hussein, and he did not want to upset the balance that Saddam brought to the region - a valuable buffer between Shi'ite Iran and the Shi'a in the Arabian peninsula.

After Saddam's overthrow, it became clear that Iraq's WMD program was in fact dismantled and did not exist during the period that Bush claimed it did.

Answer 4

Weapons of Mass Destruction are things like nuclear weapons, and chemical and biological warfare weapons. These types of weapons are biggies because they have the capabilities of killing many many people at one time. For example, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the end of WW2 killed around 140 000 people by the end of 1945 (that's with ONE weapon)

Originally, the US was convinced that there were WMDs hidden in Iraq and used that 'knowledge' to invade. Even though the UN cautioned for temperance and to wait until they had sent inspectors first, the US basically ignored the UNs (and hence the world's) wishes and invaded Iraq (and they are still the city on the hill when it comes to fighting terrorism?).

BUT what most people mistakingly conclude is that there were never any WMDs because the US didn't find any. That is absolutely illogical. Just because they didn't find any doesn't mean they were never there. That would be like me saying I've never seen the city of San Diego in real life, therefore it does not exist.

Answer 5

Don't listen to Green Meklar. There is no proof what-so-ever that the US gov't knew the claims were false. He is another conspiracy theorist (most likely a liberal). Both Democrats and Republicans (as well as leaders of other countries) felt that Iraq either had WMD or were very close to having WMD. Given that Al Queda hit the US, if I was Iraq and I had WMD I would do what I could to strike the US and let Al Queda get the blame for it. Given that there were plenty of reports that they had WMD and Saddam was playing games with letting the inspectors into Iraq then the only sensible conclusion was to hit them before they hit us. Of course, now your Monday morning quarterbacks come out of the woodwork saying that it either shouldn't have been done or they would have done it differently is truly the mark of a liberal. Now I have a plane to catch and I feel much safer flying today (on the 5 year anniversary of 9/11) thanks to our governments taking a stand.

Answer 6

The Weapons of Mass Destruction were in the minds of politically motivated people and were used as a ploy to justify the invasion. Of course the truth didn't surface till much later!

Answer 7

don't worry, they'll find 'em... yeah right!