NYT Claims Saddam Had WMD Capability

The NYT - Looting at Weapons Plants Was Systematic, Iraqi Says

In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting...

Dr. Araji said equipment capable of making parts for missiles as well as chemical, biological and nuclear arms was missing from 8 or 10 sites that were the heart of Iraq's dormant program on unconventional weapons.

This hints that the world's intelligence agencies were not entirely wrong in claiming that Saddam was developing nuclear arms. It's pretty outrageous that these sites weren't top priority for the invasion force. Surely it wouldn't have taken a large number of soldiers to secure them.

In other news, NPR reported today that polls show for the first time a majority of Americans consider the invasion of Iraq to have been a mistake. Pretty incredible - successful elections in Iraq have triggered waves of popular dissent across the region, and there are promising signs of change in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain and even Saudi Arabia. Apparently this isn't enough for the American public. I guess its a good thing the Bush administration garned support for spreading freedom by lying about WMD's. Or not, if you believe the NYT.