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The media was under the same delusions the rest of the public was. All the intelligence said that he was indeed attempting to build weapons of mass destruction.



Don't forget that Sadam *had* WMD at one time, and it has never been questioned that he actually used them against the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq war.

After the end of Gulf War I the army discovered that Sadam had deployed WMD and released them to field commanders to use in specific circumstances (Allied entry into Baghdad). This incident is why there was so much emphasis on chemical warfare protection going into Gulf War II. Since the WMD were not in fact used I suppose this could be disputed but I haven't seen anyone do so.

That's why so many in the media and even government accepted the claims, perhaps why some such as Colin Powell didn't put as much critical thinking into it as they should have: it was well known Sadam had in fact used WMD 20 years earlier, and deployed them for use 10 years earlier. In that context it's easier to understand accepting the claim that he still had them.
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"If they can't picture me with a knife, forcing them to strip in an alley, I don't want any part of it. It's humiliating." - windsock