WAIT AND SEE

My analysis of the current campaign to impugn the war against Saddam on the WMD issue is that it will fizzle out fast. My prediction is that it will boomerang against those who are busiest hyping it. Check out NBC’s interview last night with David Kay, the man in charge of the WMD search:

Mr. KAY: We’re finding progress reports. They also got financial rewards from Saddam Hussein by breakthroughs, indicating breakthroughs. They actually took–went to Saddam and said ‘We have made this progress.’ There are records, there are audiotapes of those interviews which give us that. So at this end you had the compressor.
BROKAW: Kay, a cautious professional who is well aware of the political pressure, is confident he can make the case against Saddam Hussein on WMD.
Mr. KAY: I’ve already seen enough to convince me, but that’s not the standard. I’ve got to have enough to convince everyone of that. What worries me is I know if we can’t explain the WMD program of Iraq we lose credibility with regard to other states like Iran, Syria and North Korea.
BROKAW: How long is that going to take?
Mr. KAY: No longer than it takes.
BROKAW: Six months?
Mr. KAY: I think we will have a substantial body of evidence before six months.
BROKAW: Kay could have his first report on the search for weapons of mass destruction by early this fall.

Tom Friedman is absolutely right. All that really matters right now is that we do all we can to bring about a new, representative government in Iraq. The rest is petty politics from people who are still pissed they lost the war over the war.

SHARPTON ON GAY EQUALITY: Debating marriage rights for gay people assumes “that gays and lesbians are not human beings that can make decisions like any other human being. We must stop this separation of gays and lesbians from other Americans… Even with those that are liberal on the issue, there is an understanding that there is something that is different and less than human about you… If people respect you, it is not about gays and lesbians having the right to marry, it is about human beings having the right to marry who they choose. It’s like saying, we give black, or whites, or Latinos the right to shack up but not marry.” -from the Democratic candidates’ debate, hosted by the Human Rights Campaign.