[General Woundwort]

Originally posted by Unknown_Enemy:
Unknown_Enemy's personal point : I never appreciate when a politician takes me for an idiot. Even if I am not US citizen and do not vote for him.

THE STRATFOR WEEKLY
WMD

I won't repeat the whole post - no need.

I begin to really doubt the integrity of Stratfor. I recall discussing this topic just as the war was beginning, comparing the relative merits of Stratfor (a paid Subscriber service) to Strategypage (a free or donation-supported site). Stratfor's read on how the battle of Baghdad would unfold was dead-on wrong, and StrategyPage hit it dead-on right. Now Stratfor is picking up the "where are the WMD's?" chant too.

Well, first off, the "panic" in the US government, at least, does not yet appear to be anywhere but in the minds of those who want to see this made into an embarassment to it.

Secondly, there are any number of plausible reasons why WMD's have not yet appeared in the quantity that some critics are demanding. A) They are still hidden in various places in Iraq awaiting recovery. It's not like Saddam didn't have advance warning we were coming, after all... B) They have been spirited away to other countries (my personal suspiction, and Syria is my prime suspect) and/or terrorist Groups (stock up on your duct tape...) C) The WMD's *were* destroyed before the war, but for reasons of personal/national pride, Saddam would not cooperate. (A rather fanciful theory I heard was that the WMD's were destroyed after Gulf War I, but Sadddam's cronies pretended to him that they were not to save their own skins. Like I said, rather fanciful, but given the level of dysfunctionality in these tyrranical regines, who knows?) D) Some combination of the above three. (My second choice)

Major point - if by this time next year no appreciable WMD stockpiles have been accounted for, there indeed would be cause for concern politically. But, like everything else about this crazy conflict, the MTV Generation's time frame for expected results has struck again. For something that purports to be a serious outlet for strategic studes, Stratfor should know better. All the more reason I stick with StrategyPage.