Not even The Pope can help you out on this one
We’ve written about the lies of the Wall Street Journal editorial page in the past, but today brings yet another serving of an often repeated, thoroughly debunked, claim:
And not just the CIA. Believers included the U.N., whose inspectors were tossed out of Iraq after they had recorded huge stockpiles after the Gulf War. [Emphasis added]
The WSJ editors don’t say when Iraq “tossed out” UN inspectors. Perhaps, one guesses, because Iraq never did. Iraq’s cooperation with the inspection regime was deficient, obstruction was typical, deceptions abounded, attempts to hide were plentiful, etc, etc… But did Iraq ever “toss out” UN weapons inspectors? Sadly, No!
War on Terror Ally (WOTA) Britain provides a comprehensive history of the UN inspections and assorted resolutions here. Under the heading “Withdrawal of the Inspectors, it writes:
15. By the end of 1998 UNSCOM was in direct confrontation with the Iraqi Government which was refusing to co-operate. The US and the UK had made clear that anything short of full co-operation would make military action unavoidable. Richard Butler was requested to report to the UN Security Council in December 1998 and stated that, following a series of direct confrontations, coupled with the systematic refusal by Iraq to co-operate, UNSCOM was no longer able to perform its disarmament mandate. As a direct result, on December 16 the weapons inspectors were withdrawn and Operation Desert Fox was launched by the US and the UK a few hours afterwards. [Emphasis added]
Is Peggy Noonan in charge of fact checking at the WSJ?
Bonus points: Watch Robert Kagan & William Kristol repeat the lie and fuck up the time line in the process:
But one effect of Operation Desert Fox was that Saddam expelled the U.N. inspectors altogether. [The Weekly Standard, Oct. 10, 2003]
A reminder boys:
As a direct result, on December 16 the weapons inspectors were withdrawn and Operation Desert Fox was launched by the US and the UK a few hours afterwards.
FAIR has more here.
You’re not being fair to GWB.
When he says, “inspectors were tossed out of Iraq,” he is obviously referring to the UN tossing out it’s own inspectors….
You forgot the allegations Saddam made about the CIA infiltrating UNSCOM and using weapons inspections to spy on the Iraqis which caused “UNSCOM [to be] in direct confrontation with the Iraqi Government which was refusing to co-operate”. Rolf Ekéus, former chief inspector (91-97), said that he fought constantly to keep the US from inserting spies into the weapons inspection team. After Ekéus resigned he found out that the CIA had covertly infiltrated the inspection team with operatives.
Butler denied that there were any spies in UNSCOM. Scott Ritter told the world that Richard Butler was a liar. Saddam refused to let inspectors in without assurances that there would be no spying, preferably without American inspectors because he believed they might be covert operatives. The deadline set for Saddam to accept inspect without any conditions passed. The UN pulled the inspectors. Then Operation Desert Fox was carried out.
Don’t forget Preznit Turkee’s little on-camera epizoody yesterday (01/27/04). He again claimed that Saddam wasn’t letting inspectors in. Funny story (true story): the UN inspectors searching for WMDs in Iraq in late March/03 had to leave at Commander Codpiece’s insistence because he wanted to drop tons of WMDs on Iraq.
Arrant lunacy
The blogosophere is all over slanted, misleading coverage of Bush’s remarks at a press conference yesterday, where he continued to pitch the ridiculous canard that Saddam wouldn’t let inspectors in. This time around, he’s being a little more subtle abo…
“Is Peggy Noonan in charge of fact checking at the WSJ? ” Yeah……. it sound like the whole bunch of them have been taking turns drinking Rush’s urine.