The "Big Impact" Plan for Iraqi WMDs

Great Debates
1

http://www.washtimes.com/national/inring.htm

"The Pentagon adopted a new strategy in its search for Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. It is called the “big impact” plan.

The plan calls for gathering and holding on to all the information now being collected about the weapons. Rather than releasing its findings piecemeal, defense officials will release a comprehensive report on the arms, perhaps six months from now. 

The goal of the strategy will be to quiet critics of the Bush administration who said claims of Iraq's hidden weapons stockpiles were exaggerated in order to go to war. "

[Rummyspeak] Is this is a shuck? Heavens, yes! [/Rummyspeak]

Note especially the six month time frame. The plan, apparently, is to answer all inquiries with a stall flavored with a dollop of horsepucky. “Yessiree, Bob, got documents up the ying-yang, scientists crawling out of the woodwork to 'fess up, gonna pile it all together and totally cream you non-believers, you truculent troglodytes, you nattering nabobs. Start cringing, 'cause in six months you’re really gonna catch it!”

Also note how neatly this dovetails with the “weapons program” Bushwah, the recently minted bar-lowering that pretends that the issue never was real, actual weapons, but conspiracy to intend to consider such weapons. Presumably, if a damp cocktail napkin with “Nukes!” written in Saddam’s delicate hand can be found, a “weapons program” can therby be asserted/proven. At least they didn’t have the chutzpah to suggest a release date of late November, 2004.

Think it will work? Are we this stupid?

2

I called it. I called it.

3

I guess I was off in my estimate of when they’d want to release the findings.

4

It’ll work fine. The majority of Americans still believe whatever is told to them, with the guaranteed support of people who happen to be Republican.

5

Me, too. The Democrats have been playing politics, fussing about no WMDs being found. Nearer to the election, the WMDs will be found, and the Dems will look irresponsible. This cartoon says it all.

At least we know which party is dumber.

6

By “dumber”, I assume you mean not [as] traitorously corrupt, venal, cabalistic and counterdemocratic?

7

Somehow I suspect that, if WMD are found, it’ll be trumpeted from the roof of the White House - blackout period notwithstanding. On the other hand, what is implied for so long as the trumpets are silent?

8

I called it too. This is the smart way to do it.

If they find oodles of good wmds, and then release it all in one big report, the Democrats are going to look pretty shocked and awed in the election.

If they just find some crappy wishy-washy stuff (Hey, look a trailer!) a whole bunch of it at once is harder to debunk, than if they are offered one at a time over many months.

It is also probably the right way to do it. Period. You gather evidence, examine, and present your case. It’s stupid to wing it as you go along.

This is the way I would do it. I would expect an intelligent Democratic President to do it this way. This is, in fact, the way I expect all such endeavors to go. You do your investigation, then you present your findings.

9

Pretty much what Scylla said. I’ve been thinking for awhile that if we do find something significant it would be politically pretty shrewd to dole out an ample amount of rope for the Dems to hang themselves on before snapping it quick with a substantial announcement. But it does make sense not have dribs and drabs of info out there.

Of course when you already “know” the answer, as per the OP, then what difference does it make what happens?

10

Hope springs eternal, doesn’t it, guys? Has it occurred that a deliberate delay in release of information that is known now, even if true and significant, would bring its own odor of political manipulation? Rove isn’t that dumb. This is a delaying tactic by the Administration, sure, but the delay is of the facing of and the dealing with simple factual reality.

It’s time for the apologists to end their own delay in that regard, isn’t it? Now, they’re reduced to hoping for a visit from the Vindication Fairy in time for the primaries. Time to take a look at how foolish that is.

11

I think its pretty smart of the administration to do it this way…but I’m unconvinced that they will find anything significant. I read today that they found a bunch of jets buried in the desert that we had no idea was there, so I guess that something COULD, in theory, be still out there. I think that THEY (the administration) think they will find something significant if they just have more time, but I think the reality is that 6 month from now when they show their finding its going to be pretty meager stuff. If thats the case, it could backfire on them.

For myself, I’m taking a wait and see attitude. Certainly SOMEONE is going to take enough rope to hang themselves on this one. When the reports finally come out, they (the administration) will either be heros or goats. My thought is goats (I don’t think there ARE any significant WMD left), but only time will tell…

-XT

12

I think its pretty smart of the administration to do it this way…but I’m unconvinced that they will find anything significant. I read today that they found a bunch of jets buried in the desert that we had no idea was there, so I guess that something COULD, in theory, be still out there. I think that THEY (the administration) think they will find something significant if they just have more time, but I think the reality is that 6 month from now when they show their finding its going to be pretty meager stuff. If thats the case, it could backfire on them.

For myself, I’m taking a wait and see attitude. Certainly SOMEONE is going to take enough rope to hang themselves on this one. When the reports finally come out, they (the administration) will either be heros or goats. My thought is goats (I don’t think there ARE any significant WMD left), but only time will tell…
From ElvisL1ves

Why? 6 months from now failure will look worse as we will be that much closer to election. ANything happening now will be pretty much forgotten in the haze. If you truely believe that they will find nothing then to me this is giving them enough rope to hang themselves. To be honest, I don’t see the objections. If they want the time to do a comprehensive search, fine…give it to them. You will be seen as giving them their chance, and when nothing is found (as you obviously believe) you will look that much better. I don’t get the objection to 6 months. Now, if they said 2 years, then ya…I’d get that.

13

Consider how long it took from the time that the Niger-uranium story first hit the media until it was common knowledge.
There’ll be a delay between the time the evidence is presented and the time it’s debunked, (whatever is debunkable). Then there’ll be a further delay between the debunking and the awareness of the electorate. all that has to happen is for the electointo happen at the critical peak of administration’s saturation of the media before the debunking reaches saturation. then after the election, the debunking can come to light and harmelssly saturate the media.

I realize that the Dems’ll work harder to get the debunking out this time than they did last time.

The more I think about it the more likely I think that Big Impact won’t hit til at least March.

14

January or March, there should still be plenty of time for the Dems to sink this, if its a farce. And it will be fresh in the electorates minds come election I would think (as opposed to stuff happening now which all of you know will pretty well be forgotten by then). If there is really nothing there (i.e. WMD), I just don’t see a downside for the Dems, or what all the fuss about it. When this thing comes out it will be huge, especially if there isn’t anything in it (or nothing substantial anyway). And if they delay and don’t come out with something in the promissed time frame, the Dems will roast them, and it will be in peoples minds that the Repubs are deliberately drawing it out for political reasons. At least, that will be what is in the mind of this Independant anyway…

-XT

15

Now, there’s an interesting concept!

Or, in the alternative, there is a hope that the electorate forgets all about it.

16

The funny thing about this is that even if some WMDs are found revealing them so close to the election would probably hurt Bush rather than help him.

Why? Because by then everything will be focused on the economy. Bush trumpeting foriegn policy stuff will only make him look like his father.

Remember Bush’s strong point is the whole Iraq foriegn policy mess. Democrats have much easier targets elsewhere.

17

I think you guys are reading too much into this. The way I see this: They have some stuff, they haven’t found anything big. They switch to a “big impact” plan, so that their little stuff can add up, and hopefully in 6 months it will add up to something real.

But it would be a stretch to think they will find WMD’s. Note this a new strategy, so obviously they haven’t found any yet or they would have told us. ANd since they can’t predict the future, and all signs so far point to “no”, it doesn’t look good for them.

Let’s see what they come up with in 6 months. From what I’m hearing, it won’t be much.

Remember, the assumption that a report like this can more then make up for 6 months of squandered public trust is quite debatabe. It only make sense if they are just storing up little pieces of info.

18

Six months my ass. It’s going to be a year less one week, on Friday, July 23, 2004.

I refer you to the mid-term elections of 2002 lest anyone doubt this administration’s willingness to make political hay out of our national security issues. It’s criminal.

19

Isn’t this how the Office of Special Plans (or whatever the name of Rumsfeld’s secret intelligence “re-interpreting” cabal was called) got started? “We’re going to gather all the evidence, then slant it to support the conclusions we want.” The only difference is they’ll be presenting the stuff to the American public instead of George W. Bush.

“We’ve got evidence! Lots of evidence! Oodles and oodles of it! But we won’t show it to you now…” Yeah, right. :rolleyes:

20

/em Watches all the hand waving…

Somehow I get the feeling that some of you are a bit less convinced that nothing will be found then you are saying. If you have faith that nothing will be found, I guess I don’t see how 6 months will make a difference. If you think that it will just be more little bits of nothing found, then I am at a loss for the hand waving and jumping up and down. If you think the Dems are stupid enough to let the administration get away with a year less a day or whatever when they are projecting 6 months…well, then I guess the Dems deserve to lose. However, I DON’T think that the Dems will let the administration get away with such a thing with the presidency on the line.

Maybe I’m just not getting it. It seems to me that you are merely giving the Administration enough rope to hang themselves FOR you. If 6 months from now they come back with a lot of little bits of nothing, their goose is cooked and we get a new president. You will have gratiously given them 6 months in which to search, and they will have come back to the people with nothing substantial. Sure, they will probably hem and haw about more time needed, or whatever, but it will be wearing thin by then I’d think.

As to the point that will probably be made about the attention span of the American public being focused elsewhere by then, I think this is wishful thinking. As long as we are in Iraq, and as long as we are losing people there (my guess: 6 months from now will look about the same, with perhaps some small improvements but with US soldiers still dieing unfortunately), it will remain on the medias front burner (at least until the election, which is what everyone is worried about). I have not seen any appreciable drop in the reporting of things from Iraq. On any of the news web site (even frigging Fox) EVERY DAY, there is at least one story of the death of a soldier, or capture of some SH symp…or something about Iraq.

So far the jury is still out in the mind of the public (Joe sixpack) on WMD in Iraq. People know that nothing has been found so far, but the Administration says it needs more time, and I think most people are still in ‘wait and see’ mode. By waving your arms and jumping up and down on this issue, I would think you’d be playing right into the administrations hands…they can portray you as a bunch of whiners that don’t want to even allow for the time it takes to find the things.

/devils advocate

Why is that, the administration will say…perhaps because you KNOW that there really are WMD and are trying to block the efforts to find them?? Hm. Pity us, the liberals are blocking our efforts for political reasons…

/devils advocate

IMO, and in many of you that are hand waving about also, there ARE no significant WMD to find in Iraq, doesn’t it make more sense to just let the administration have its 6 month rope…and then jerk it tight around their neck when the times up?

-XT