Santorum in the land of make believe

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) with the help of Fox News is now saying that in fact hundreds of weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. The report is being pushed on the cable network, and their webpage's headline reads "Hundreds of WMDs found in Iraq".

Tucked in the heart of the article is this quote from a Defense Department official who debunks the whole damn story:

Offering the official administration response to FOX News, a senior Defense Department official pointed out that the chemical weapons were not in useable conditions.

"This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991," the official said, adding the munitions "are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war."

Santorum's desperate attempt to save face also contradicts the Administration and the Iraq Survey Group which issued the Duelfer Report on the weapons inspections in 2004:

While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991. There are no credible Indications that Baghdad resumed production of chemical munitions thereafter, a policy ISG attributes to Baghdad’s desire to see sanctions lifted, or rendered ineffectual, or its fear of force against it should WMD be discovered.

This just indicates one more reason why Santorum deserves to be tossed out of the Senate by Pennsylvania voters in fall. It's laughable, in a tragic sense, that he believes the discovery of pre-Gulf War shells qualifies as some major discovery of WMD, and a justification for the war.

Think Progress has more.