Not EVERYONE agreed with Bush on Iraq/WMD

I heard this on TV a short time ago and I wanted to make sure it made it here onto this blog.

Not EVERYONE believed that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Distruction. Take a look at this. It's an interview between Wolf Blitzer and the Prince of Darkness himself, Robert Novak. About half way down the page we see this interchange:

BLITZER: We're going to get to the CIA leak and other issues in a few moments. Let's talk about some of the issues right now on the agenda, the president of the United States, George W. Bush, he's been in office now for five years, approaching his sixth year. You've been a good conservative all these years. Are you satisfied with the way he's conducted himself? Has he been a good conservative, from your perspective?

NOVAK: I think it's a mixed bag, Wolf. I think his tax policy has been terrific. I think we would be in the depths of the economy if it weren't for the fact that he took a tough stand, a courageous stand in cutting the capital gains cuts, tax, the dividend tax, other income taxes.

I think, like most -- all Republican presidents, he hasn't done enough to reduce the size of the government. Nobody wants to bite that bullet.

The thing that I took issue with him, I didn't think we should have gone into Iraq. It was a few of us conservatives that thought it was a bad idea. Once we get there, you can't bug out. You can't...

BLITZER: What was so bad about going in and getting rid of Saddam Hussein?

NOVAK: It was wonderful getting rid of him. I'd like to get rid of a lot of dictators, but we can't send the U.S. military around the world to get rid of every dictator.

The question was, was it necessary in the national interest?

BLITZER: Was it?

NOVAK: I didn't think it was. I didn't think it at the time. Because I said several times on this network that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

BLITZER: How did you know that and the president of the United States, the vice president of the United States were convinced that there were apparently?

NOVAK: Because my sources -- I don't run my own CIA. My sources didn't think there were, in the military, people I trusted.

And the indication by the inspectors indicated there was no weapons. But the point...

BLITZER: Do you -- let me...

(CROSSTALK)

NOVAK: Sure.

BLITZER: Was the president sold a bill of goods on Iraq?

NOVAK: I think they got in a mindset where they really wanted change of government, and then it was a need to find reasons for a change of government.[emphasis added]

So what have we learned?

1. Bob Novak didn't think that going into Iraq was in the national interest,
2. Bob Novak said there were no WMD in Iraq, and
3. Bob Novak said that the idea for regime change came first and then the administration went about finding reasons (which Novak knows to be untrue) to justify that regime change.

Hey, didn't the Downing Street Memo say something about how the "intelligence was being fixed around the policy" or something?

Just checking.

So the next time anyone disagrees with me or the Other Political Junkie about Iraq/WMD, remember they're not just disagreeing with us, they're also disagreeing with The Prince of Darkness. They should do so at their own peril, I heard he can be a sonovabich.

IMPEACH