July 30th has come and gone

Someone Owes Hans Blix A Big Apology. Don't Hold Your Breath.

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Wednesday, July 30. The U.S. has officially been in Iraq for 112 days. U.N. weapons inspectors were in Iraq for 111 days, ending March 18, 2003 when the Bush Administration said "they've had enough time."

Unless we're going to accept that an Iraqi scientist, who on his own, decided to bury some pieces of a nuclear device in his backyard TWELVE YEARS AGO, as evidence of Saddam Hussein's having WMD at the ready, we have officially now spent more time not finding WMD in Iraq than the U.N. inspectors did.

So, any time soon will we be hearing the following from the White House?

"We've had more than enough time," declares President Bush. "I'm giving us 48 hours to get out of Iraq there or we're going in"

I'm not holding my breath.

If I remember it right, Hans Blix and approximate 250 inspectors, were deemed by many as inept. The number of "coalition" forces now in Iraq numbers around 150,000. If I remember it right AM radio added: incompetent, bungling, sloppy and in some cases, in bed with Saddam, to the damning list.

So, any time soon will we be hearing the following from Sean Hannity.

"Mr. President. Our military personnel and intelligence agencies are incompetent, bungling, sloppy and in some cases, in bed with Saddam, wherever he is. My listeners and I are giving you 48 hours to get out of Iraq there or I'm sending Flipper in."

I'm not holding my breath.

Oliver North referred to Han Blix and the UN inspectors as blind mice. I would assume that means he now thinks the U.S. military is blinder mice. Shame on him. A veteran yet.

Should Hans Blix get on the told-ya-so circuit? Why? Surely those who tore him a new one are now ready to sew that one back up. Like say...

"Here's my No Spin Zone Talking Point today. I was wrong about Blix. I was wrong about the WMD. I was wrong about those Hollywood folks. Sorry. Okay. But I still think the French suck. What say you?" Don't hold your breath..

When the U.N. said privately in January 2002 that Blix would lead an inspections team into Iraq, Deputy Secretary of Defense, Paul Wolfowitz asked the CIA to produce a report on why Blix failed to detect Iraqi nuclear activity during the 1980s and 1990s,

Will Wolfowitz now ask the CIA for a similar report on the U.S. military's failure in to find WMD?

Since CIA chieftain George Tenet literally stood (sorry...sat) behind Secretary of State Colin Powell's U.N. accusations and locations of Iraqi WMD will Wolfowitz now ask the CIA to produce a report on the CIA's failure to locate the WMD?

Still holding your breath?

Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy said that Hans Blix could not find a smoking gun if it were under his pillow. "I think it's something he's constitutionally incapable of doing, Hans Blix is not up to the job." Will Gaffney join the legions of Conservatives waiting in line to issue mea culpas?

All together now. Exhale.

Fred Ikle, a defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the idea of the U.N. conducting Iraqi weapons inspections is flawed. "It cannot really work as long as the [Iraqi] dictatorship has control over the people and can intimidate the scientists by killing them or moving their families away or arresting their families," said Ikle

Does Fred think that Saddam is still intimidating the scientists or is the U.S. military now the ones threatened by the Running Man? Will the Center for Strategic and International Studies issue a retraction?

Doubt it.

That's the great thing about centers who issue policy papers and apologist talk radio. The urge to apologize never seems to surface as in a simple "Folks. I got to tell you...I was wrong." As Holly Hunter was asked in BroadcastNews, "It must be hard being right all the time" Not if you're syndicated.

Well, apologies are way past due and just in case the righteous folk who smeared Blix unmercifully are too busy looking for WMD or another scapegoat for our administration's failures and misspeaks, let me save you the breath. Sorry, Hans.

There, I feel much better. How about you?

JWR contributor Steve Young, Prism Award winner and Humanitas Prize nominee for his television writing, is contributing editor at the Writers Guild of America's "Written By" magazine. He is the author of "Great Failures of the Extremely Successful: Mistakes, Adversity, Failure and Other Stepping Stones to Success," "The 130 Tales of Winchell Mink," Harper Collins (Winter, 2003) and the director/writer of "My Dinner With Ovitz." His website is www.greatfailure.com. Comment by clicking here.

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