In message , Leslie Swartz
writes
"Absence of Evidence" = "Evidence of Absence?"

Since when?

Prove that there are no fairies living at the bottom of your garden (or
any other damnfool claim). Don't just say "there's no evidence" that you
are the lost love child of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, show me the
_proof_ or else I'll take the claim as true

Evidence may emerge, but it hasn't yet despite being eagerly sought.
When it emerges, it gets evaluated.

(By the way, *programs" were in violation of the accords, with or without
stockpiles. Are you claiming that we have demonstrated no evidence of
*programs*?)

Nope. But they were pretty poor affairs (equipment for nuclear research
buried in a garden for twelve years is not exactly what I call a clear
and present danger). No production facilities worth a damn (a couple of
canvas-sided trailers is the best anyone's come up with), no stockpiles
of bulk agents or precursors, no filled weapons.

What _is_ interesting is the complete lack of actual weapons. I'm coming
around to the belief that Iraq's WME program had a distinct Potemkin
feel to it: like the Soviet Five-Year Plans that proudly boasted of
record harvests even as most citizens nursed hungry bellies. _Declaring_
vast production of grain, meat and milk is easy for bureaucrats who get
promoted for production; but try finding them when they're actually
called for.


Trouble is, Iraq did its best to act like it _was_ a serious threat and
seems to have lied comprehensively to do so. (And would quite certainly
have resumed active research and production, once able).

--
When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.
W S Churchill

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk