Iraqi WMD

Via Calpundit, I see that Kenneth Pollack, whose book The Threatening Storm was a major text for the pro-war movement, has an article in the Atlantic Monthly examining the question of why no WMD were found in Iraq. There's some interesting stuff in it, though I've realized my thoughts can be turned into an appropriate Dean Nation post, which I hope to produce in the near future. Here, though, I'll just say again that the lack of WMD was a surprise to pretty much everyone, as before the war the consensus was that they were there and the main debate was over whether inspections could find them.

And incidentally, I've seen the reports of blister gas discovered in Iraq. My initial reaction is that with so many false alarms, we should all just wait and see. However, a quick glance at Josh Marshall suggests another possibility. These were old weapons left over from the Iran-Iraq War. According to the information floating around, there were only 36 warheads, and many were actually leaking. In short, what we're looking at is probably more like the unexploded ammunition lying around Bosnia than a secret stockpile for future military operations.