I am amazed by the cultural amnesia regarding Iraq and al-Qaeda and weapons of mass destruction. It seems that once an idea has become a punch-line on Leno and repeated as a political talking point that that qualifies it is a historical fact. Marilyn Lloyd declares in her pro-Obama opinion piece, "However, there were no weapons of mass destruction or documented ties from 9-11 to this war." Her statement is a popular one and rhetorically effective in this election season, but it just doesn't hold up to anyone with access to any news services.

Let me jog your memory. Saddam Hussein provided funds, shelter and/or training to a variety of terrorist organizations including Abu Nidal, Ansar al-Islam, the Arab Liberation Front, Hamas, the Kurdistan Workers Party, the Mojahedin-e Khalq and the Palestine Liberation Front. There are also well-documented meetings, training sessions and funding of al-Qaeda operatives. I am not suggesting that Iraq was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, but the claim that there was no connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is ahistorical.

As for the "weapons of mass destruction," the case is even more compelling. The intelligence services of France, Britain, Spain, Australia, Japan, Germany, Israel, as well as Jordan, Egypt, Iran and NATO all confirmed the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. As did, I might add, President Clinton, Vice President Gore, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Sen. John Kerry, Sen. Bob Graham, Sen. Barbara Boxer and other prominent Democrats.

One of the most interesting sources about WMD's in Iraq is Saddam himself. The invasion of Iraq yielded 3,000 hours of taped meetings of Hussein and his war cabinet as well as reams of documents related to WMD. In the tapes, Saddam gives instructions on transporting WMD's out of Iraq in the event of an invasion or UN inspections. The tapes also contain Saddam discussing Iraq's "special weapons" programs and quips about fooling UN weapons inspectors.

So where are all the weapons of mass destruction? Demetrius Perricos, president of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and successor to Hans Blix, confirmed in June 2004 that Saddam had indeed smuggled WMD's out of Iraq before the war. Fifty-six sorties of commercial jetliners, with their seats removed, transported "aid" to Syria in 2002 when a dam burst there. This is where the WMD's are. Remember, our "diplomacy" via the United Nations provided Saddam with over two years to hide, dismantle and transport his WMD's. All of this information is a few clicks away on from sources like the AP and Reuters and the BBC.

It seems we have forgotten Associated Press stories like the 2003 discovery of 3,000 chemical suits found in military bases in central Iraq and the discovery of nerve gas antidote injectors in An Nasiriyah, Iraq. These types of news stories were commonplace at one time. I remember reading in USA Today about the discovery of schematics from U.S. elementary schools found on a CD-rom in a bunker in Iraq. News stories like this are easy to come by for anyone that is willing to read. Poland purchased 17 chemical weapons warheads for $5,000 each from the Iraqis to keep them off the market. These warheads were found to contain cyclosarin, a nerve agent more deadly than sarin. As recently as August 2005, U.S. troops discovered 1,500 gallons of chemical agents in a warehouse in Mosul, Iraq.

All of the liberals that want to champion the "fact" that no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq should be profoundly disturbed by that fact along with the rest of us. Hans Blix reported that there are 6,500 chemical weapons and four tons of biological agents that are unaccounted for. It's not a question of "if" Saddam ever had weapons of mass destruction, it's a question of where they are now and who will be in office when they turn up.

John Daum
Chattanooga
johndaum@hotmail.com