This is crazy. No major American news organization featured this story on their site today. I had to go back to Antiwar.com to even find this article. It’s being buried under all the other garbage, but it is significant. From CNN: U.S. turns down Iraq’s invitation to inspect sites:
Earlier, Baghdad invited the United States to “immediately” inspect three sites Washington says it suspects are developing weapons of mass destruction.
Abdul Tawab Mullah Hawaish, Iraq’s deputy prime minister and the man responsible for the country’s weapons programs, told a news conference on Thursday that his country was not producing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Instead, he claimed comments from the United States about the three sites showed the Bush administration was “desperate” and engaged in “lies and fabrications.”
“Any person who has got an ounce of intelligence will be able to figure out these lies. These fabrications have no truth whatsoever,” he said.
The minister said the disupted sites were in reality a metal factory, a cast-iron factory used for cement and industrial work and a factory producing molds for civilian use.
The sites had either been destroyed by U.S. bombing or were being redeveloped for research purposes, he added, saying: “We are prepared to open the doors for a visit immediately so we can clarify the situation and demonstrate the ridiculous lies perpetrated by the U.S., which have no basis on the grounds.”
He said allegations that Iraq was developing weapons of mass destruction “indicate an arrogance” on the part of some world leaders, including U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair.
“If the U.S. administration was trying to investigate the truth as they claim, let them allow the inspectors to come back and inspect the sites. I am sure they would find whether we have weapons of mass destruction or not,” Hawaish said.
Such is the poor state of our nation that we let a buffoon and criminal lead our people and the poor people of Iraq into a slaughter. If Bush wants to fight so bad he needs to get his blue-blooded ass on the next plane to Iraq. He and his ilk are nothing but duplicitous cowards and parasites. He should be cast off alongside Hussein. Bah humbug.