Say! Maybe that's why the Democrats have been so reluctant to Take Steps!

I hate to break it to you, but the tooth fairy and Santa don't exist.

The WMD was made up.

dead kurds were unavailable for comment

Nah. Saddam Hussein was POOSEYCAT! Dead Kurds just pigged out on aromatherapy.

Also dead Iranians, back in the day. Very heavy smokers, Iranians.

The US spent the best part of a billion dollars and many years funding the search for these WMD. The Syria theory was addressed by them, they found no evidence whatsoever.

Saddam was a psycho - personally I've no doubt if he WMD he'd have used them against attacking forces, or in the absence of delivery systems simply set them off in his own cities.

Saddam simply used the claim that he had MDWs to sound big. I think he hoped to develop some biological weapons, but he ended up with nothing.

I'm afraid "some military guys" are the worst conspiracy theorists in the world. They have low tolerance of uncertainty, and operate in an environment in which it is normal for large numbers of people to do things without reason simply because they are told to and to be (supposedly) bound to secrecy about the little information they have.

In the War on Terror, we are invited to regard lucky hits such as 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings as the direct and inevitable outcome of the machinations of a disciplined, multilayered, world-bestriding secret organisation. (There's no sign of it? It must be there but secret!) When they want to see what the enemy looks like, the first instinct of the conventional is to look in the mirror.

Saddam Hussein might have been un-cooperative over WMDs because he believed he had them, or was very near to getting them.

Imagine the interview with the WMD Project Director

Saddam: Ah, my friend, how is it going with the WMD programme?

Project Director: Very well Mr. President. We are very close to a finish.

Saddam: Excellent news. Then I won't have to shoot you for failing.

Iraq had possessed WMD at one time, as both Iranian soldiers and the people of Halabja experienced directly.

This doesn't necessarily prove that there was an active WMD program at the time of the second Gulf War.

I hate to break it to you, but the tooth fairy and Santa don't exist.

The WMD was made up.

How do you know that, mendicant?

Mendicant: The WMD was made up.

Umm, no, Saddam admitted to having several thousand tonnes of chemical and biological weapons. He handed over most of this material to UN inspectors for disposal. Hundreds of people saw, handled, and processed this material.

But the amount he admitted to having was much more than what he handed over. No one knows what became of the rest. Perhaps he lied about having much more.

One thing is certain, and that is some WMD material was retained. During the occupation, many small caches of poison gas shells were discovered. Most were primitive mustard gas shells. There was also an "IED" which was made from a "binary" shell and released Sarin nerve gas. (A "binary" chemical munition contains reservoirs of two chemicals which form the poison when mixed; the separation ruptures when the shell is fired, mixing the ingredients and producing the gas. The "IED" was made by someone who thought it was an explosive shell; it didn't go boom or mix properly.)

These finds were not significant quantities, but more than enough to prove Saddam had WMD.