[diogenescynic]

The WMDs that Cheney, Condoleeza Rice, Donald Rumsfield, and Colin Powell were referring to were nuclear weapons [1] though, not chemical weapons. We already knew he had chemical weapons:

>President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and George Tenet, to name a few leading figures, built support for the war by telling the world that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling chemical weapons, feverishly developing germ warfare devices and racing to build a nuclear bomb. Some of them, notably Mr. Cheney, the administration's doomsayer in chief, said Iraq had conspired with Al Qaeda that Saddam Hussein was connected to 9/11.

1: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/02/opinion/remember-that-mush...

[JBReefer]

Oh you're definitely correct, I was just surprised when I learned that fact, and there's a bit of a "No WMDs at all!" echo chamber.

[abritinthebay]

By that tho they use WMDs as shorthand for "none of the WMDs they claimed were there, were". Almost exclusively.

Which is true.

[golergka]

That's the first time I hear about nuclear weapons in this context - I was always under impression that this was about chemical weapons, which they found a lot of evidence of after the invasion.

[diogenescynic]

Read the article I linked above. It's from that time period and Cheney and others specifically tried to link Iraq to nuclear weapons and Al Qaeda. It was fear-mongering and lying to justify the war and the Bush administration knew it: http://www.newsweek.com/2015/05/29/dick-cheneys-biggest-lie-...

[Consultant32452]

I specifically recall LOTS of talk about "mushroom clouds" from the Bush administration leading up to the war. We knew they had chemical weapons because we sold them to them.