Brits want to know where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction

Folks in the UK are upset that no weapons of mass destruction have
been found in Iraq, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Tony
Blair on the theory that he lied to Parliament about Iraqi
capabilities.  People have a difficult time believing that
intelligence reports could have been so wrong.  This is ironic because
Berlin, The Downfall 1945 is currently on the UK
bestseller charts, an authoritative work by the British historian
Antony Beevor.  Page 171 discusses the Soviet belief that the Germans
would use nerve gas to defend against the Red Army’s attack across the
river Oder.  Russian soldiers were ordered to drill and sleep with gas
masks on based on reports from multiple sources in multiple countries.
Top German leaders made grand claims about their Wunderwaffen (“Wonder Weapons”) and appeared unconcerned about the fact that their
forces were outnumbered by more than 10:1.  In the end it turned out
that the Germans hadn’t ever had a very large nerve gas supply and
apparently destroyed nearly all of their chemical weapons as the
Russians advanced.


[The historical analogy only goes so far.  Nobody back in Russia ever
called for Comrade Stalin’s resignation over his misestimation of the
German capabilities.  Nor were there mass protests against Russian
occupation following the victory.  At first a few Russian soldiers
were picked off by German die-hards (“partisans” then but today we’d
call them “illegal combatants”).  The Russians presumed that the
partisans could not operate without some support from local villagers
so they simply killed everyone in any village where one of their
soldiers had been shot.  The German resistance evaporated.]


Here’s a snapshot from York, England:


People in York, England angry that weapons of mass destruction were promised but not found in Iraq.

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13 thoughts on “Brits want to know where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction

  1. Seems that the focus has shifted to how wonderful it is that there will be freedom, democracy, and human rights in Iraq. WMD? Well, for GWB opponents, it could be used as some election firepower, but I think most people feel so good about the humanitarian side that we don’t really care so much about what ever happened to the WMDs.

    By the way, I’ve enjoyed your commentary.

  2. This is quite interesting. The British don’t normally make a fuss about Government politicians lying. I’m rare in that I view it as a subvertion of democracy; Government has so much power over information that if it consciously lies it can obtain votes under false pretences. This attitude seems far more common in the US. Or did, up to now. Also, of course, the British took proportionally higher casualties, having the Iraqis and the US firing at them. To be sent to be shot by the US on the basis of a US untruth, amplified by your own givernment, is…typical I suppose.
    The world is still best described by 50s science fiction stories. In this case “The Liberation of Earth” by “William Tenn”.

  3. I don’t think the concern is that the intelligence might have been wrong (though some of it clearly was). It’s that the government may have “sub-edited” the intelligence reports for their own ends.

  4. The point is that in the UK the government’s entire case for war was WMDs – unlike Bush, Blair claimed that it wasn’t about Regime Change.

  5. The real point is that they are our ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES. (Well, barring the whole Florida thing…) Therefore they are accountable to us. And if they exaggerate, “sex up” and sometimes downright lie, that is cause for serious questions to be asked.

    The real cause for concern is the US, a nation run by an unelected ignorant fool who has his finger on the trigger of over 10,000 nuclear warheads – enough to blow the world up hundreds of times over.

  6. “People have a difficult time believing that intelligence reports could have been so wrong.”

    Actually, no. As Jeremy Hardy noted tonight, most people didn’t believe the intelligence reports when they were published in September in Tony’s ‘magic dossier’, and he’s now being called on it. ‘Fool me once, won’t get fooled again.’ as Dubya once said.

  7. At the time, Germany and the Soviet Union were already at war and had been so for years. This was a real war, one in which the Soviets lost as many people as Iraq has people.

    The Soviets weren’t trying to justify improper action, they were trying to win a fight to the death. The western powers had no such issues. Their leaders were trying to persuade ignorant citizenry within their own nations to permit action. The governments used the appropriate tools for their own publics.

    Do people in the U.S. really care?

  8. You wrote:

    “Folks in the UK are upset that no weapons of mass destruction have
    been found in Iraq, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Tony
    Blair on the theory that he lied to Parliament about Iraqi
    capabilities. People have a difficult time believing that
    intelligence reports could have been so wrong.”

    You miss the point. The intelligence wasn’t wrong – it was absent. It now seems that Tony DID NOT have intelligence saying the Iraqis had WMD ready for use, but he told Parliament that he did, to persuade Parliament to authorise the invasion. Lying to Parliament, if proven, will lose him his job as PM overnight.

  9. I think your photograph captures the intense passion we British feel for this issue far better than words ever could. Well done.

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