The argument over whether a British intelligence report was accurate or not is quite frankly moot. Whether or not the piece of paper contained accurate or tainted information doesn’t change the fact that Saddam Hussein had chemical and biological weapons. And the fact that he had an advanced nuclear weapons program, as admitted by the IAEA, stands as proof that it was only a matter of time before the murderous dictator attained the nuclear capability he was striving for. So, the real question isn’t whether one report out of many corroborating Hussein’s actions was false or not, the real question here is why so many people are blind to the fact that this madman was perhaps months away from being able to destroy entire nations!

The media and the liberal-left are having a field day over semantics. As was verified by Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice on the Washington news shows, the Iraqi inquiry into attaining enriched uranium wasn’t a one time thing. They had been inquiring about attaining it for years. In fact, the nuclear researchers from Hussein’s regime who have been cooperating with the coalition forces in their search for weapons of mass destruction are verifying that not only did he have chemical and biological weapons but also that he had a credible nuclear weapons development program already in the works. He even had some scientists burying sensitive components in their own backyards to keep them from being detected by the UN Weapons Inspectors. The world could have given the inspectors decades more time and they never would have found what they were looking for under the agreed upon search guidelines. Even the UN has admitted that but to date the liberal-left and the alphabet news media hasn’t.

So, if we know that he had chemical and biological weapons prior to the military action and we know he had a credible nuclear development program prior to the military action what is all the finger pointing about?

Let’s take this a step further. Let’s talk about the liberal-left’s contention that there was no link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Yes, let’s kick it up a notch.

The Herald, Scotland (December 1999): "The world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden, has been offered sanctuary in Iraq if his worldwide terrorist network succeeds in carrying out a campaign of high-profile attacks on the West…”

UPI (November 1999): "The US Government has tried to prevent accused terror suspect Osama bin Laden from fleeing Afghanistan to either Iraq or Chechnya, Michael Sheehan, head of counter-terrorism at the State Department, told a foreign relations sub-committee…”

Akron Beacon Journal (October 1999): "Bin Laden Spotted After Offer To Leave – The Taliban has since made it known through official channels that the likely destination is Iraq.”

Now, we have three reports (and if they are coming from the alphabet media how can we dispute them, right?) that contend outright that Osama bin Laden’s destination for sanctuary in 1999 was Iraq. On top of that we have reports that the Clinton Administration knew this, at least the State Department’s Michael Sheehan did. So, with this factoid added into the equation the picture becomes a bit clearer and a bit more sinister: Saddam Hussein + Bio-Chemical Weapons + Nuclear Weapons + al Qaida + Money + Hate = ???

If one were to use just a bit of common sense it would be plain to see that what was happening prior to September 11th made it one of the most dangerous times the planet has ever known. If we were to have continued sitting passively allowing Hans Blix and his band of neutered inspectors to continue inspecting places where absolutely nothing had been stored we would have awoken one morning to a horror that would have made two airplanes being flown into twin towers a second page story. We would have awakened to entire cities having been destroyed, if we were able to have awakened at all.

It is time for the liberal-left in Washington and around the world to stop the political positioning. Saddam Hussein not only had the bio-chemical weaponry, he used them on his Kurds and then he never proved that he destroyed his capabilities when asked to do so. Didn’t anyone find it amazingly coincidental that contraband missiles and warheads started showing up when military action against his regime became more of a threat? Isn’t it enough that he murdered his own people in mass? Aren’t the mass graves enough for those who are arguing semantics in Washington? Maybe it is time for a "fact finding mission” to some of those gravesites. After the accusing legislators bag a few hundred bodies maybe the definition of "weapons of mass destruction” might become a bit clearer to them.

Here in the United States the Democrats who are calling for inquiries and investigations are exposed as positioning themselves politically and as trying to create an issue for the upcoming 2004 elections. This can be the only reason they would focus on one sentence from one speech about one report on one topic. It can be the only reason that they would overlook what has already been proven to exist in order to argue semantics about a program already proven to have been in play.

Fact: The world is a much, much safer place now that Saddam Hussein is gone. There is no denying that.

Fact: The liberal-left is now arguing, in hindsight, about how Saddam Hussein’s demise came about.

I bet they are the same type of people who eat two-thirds of a meal at a restaurant and then send it back saying that they didn’t like it.

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing editor for The New Media Journal.us. He is a contributing writer for The Washington Dispatch, GOPUSA, OpinionEditorials, Men’s News Daily, Canada Free Press & AmericanDaily. His pieces are regularly featured in Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O’Reilly Factor, The Kevin Matthews Radio Show (Chicago) and The Brad Messer Radio Show (San Antonio). His pieces have been recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are occasionally featured in The Washington Times and The London Morning Paper as well as other national and international publications.