Revolutionary Moderation

This would be scary:

Question: Ari, everybody's getting into this trap a little bit about whether WMD will be found, which may not be the issue, because, A, you may not find them, they may have been destroyed, whereas the president said they may have been dispersed, which raises the question that they could have somehow been spirited out of the country by terrorist groups and the like. What information do you have about that eventuality happening? I mean, isn't it presumptuous to presume that the American people are safer when you can't account for whether weapons have been taken out of the country or weapons materials have been taken out of the country?



Fleischer: Well, I think the real threat here came from a nation-state headed by Saddam Hussein and his henchmen who showed they were willing to use weapons of mass destruction before....That's the basis for saying that people are safer. If you're asking the question, on what basis does the president conclude people are safer, that's the answer.



Question: I thought the concern was [weapons of mass destruction] would fall into the hands of Al Qaeda. Wasn't that the rationale?



Fleischer: Well, I'm continuing. The president said that the removal of the regime has diminished the threat and increased our security, and I think that's unquestionable. It was, after all, the regime that used weapons of mass destruction in attacks previously. Of course we always have concerns about any place that has weapons of mass destruction passing them along. But given the routing of the Iraqi regime, it certainly makes that much harder to do....

What? Saddam might give weapons to al Quada, that would be bad. Al Quada just takes them, that's just fine. Again, what?



Two things will keep me (and perhaps keep the US Administration) from worrying about this:



1. There probably weren't any WMD.

2. The Baath Party is running everything again, and they aren't friends of al Quada.



Of course, these two things are in opposition to the lies we were being told in the leadup to war, but isn't it a relief to know the American Government shares these beliefs?