WMD, According to Plan?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}And now the most compelling two minutes in television, the latest from the wartime grapevine:
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All According to Plan?
An Iraqi intelligence officer in Saddam Hussein's former regime says coalition forces looking for weapons of mass destruction "will never find anything" because it's not weapons of mass (search) destruction that Saddam was hiding, but an official plan -- written on paper -- to quickly and easily produce WMD once U.N. sanctions were lifted.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The former brigadier general tells the Los Angeles Times that Saddam maintained a secret network of scientists and experts that "could start again anytime" producing WMD, especially biological ones.
As part of the secret program, the intelligence officer says Saddam sent him overseas seven times, most recently to Jordan, Morocco, South Africa and Argentina two years ago to purchase and transport more than $57 million worth of artillery fuses, calibrating instruments and so-called "dual use" laboratory equipment that can be used for chemical or biological weapons.
Meanwhile, a new FOX News Opinion Dynamics Poll shows 41 percent of Americans believe U.S. intelligence before the war in Iraq was "intentionally misleading."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The same poll shows a majority of Americans think the war in Iraq was right anyway, with 69 percent saying Operation Iraqi Freedom was justified even if WMD are never found.
In addition, 57 percent of Americans say the U.S. and its allies are winning the war against terrorism, this up 20 points from seven months ago. Twenty-nine percent say the U.S. and its allies are losing the war against terrorism, this down 13 points from seven months ago.
Absent Arafat
A week after Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat (search) had to watch a meeting between President Bush and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (search) from a television in his West Bank office, Abbas now says he won't meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi (search ) because -- like Mr. Bush -- Berlusconi won't let Arafat attend the meeting.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Palestinian close to Abbas tells The Jerusalem Post that ever since Abbas came under internal fire for his conciliatory speech last week, Abbas feels he cannot afford to meet with Berlusconi unless Arafat is with him.