You're right of course, and i knew that he was a Bad Man when i wrote that, and didn't make my point well. The point isn't whether or not this guy is or is not a bad man. The point is that now that he has been given this epithet (or at least publicized with it), he has become an easily digestible news story, which is the entire point here, not whether or not this guy represents any kind of threat to us today.

And it's true that those of us who oppose this war will have some retreating to do in the event that chemical weapons are indeed found. Remember, however, there is an entire spectrum of reasons to despise this war, and that a disbelief of the existence of chemical weapons is but one of them (and far from the top of my list, personally). But regardless of what reasons we hated this war, that will probably be enough cause for many pro-war folks to give us the I Told You So Dance. And though it will nauseate me, i will have to accept it, as the inevitable result of taking a position against something that is essentially preordained.

The thing about this 'Chemical Ali' guy, is that mentions of him, along with the copious 'maybe we found some' episodes slowly wears down the skepticism of the public, so that by the time they finally say 'we really found some', the public's not going to need much convincing. i, for one, will need some convincing, because i simply do not trust our government to tell the truth.