Dan,

The first few paragraphs from the National Intelligence Estimate taken from one of your links state;

We judge that Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions. Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions; if left unchecked, it probably will have a nuclear weapon during this decade. (See INR alternative view at the end of these Key Judgments.)

We judge that we are seeing only a portion of Iraq's WMD efforts, owing to Baghdad's vigorous denial and deception efforts. Revelations after the Gulf war starkly demonstrate the extensive efforts undertaken by Iraq to deny information. We lack specific information on many key aspects of Iraq's WMD programs.

Since inspections ended in 1998, Iraq has maintained its chemical weapons effort, energized its missile program, and invested more heavily in biological weapons; in the view of most agencies, Baghdad is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program.

I don’t hate the messenger.  There’s no question in my mind that Saddam needed to be removed.  Yes, it does appear that Bush on a couple occasions included dubious information in his reasons for war from the links you provided.  I wish it weren’t so because he could have left all of those statements out and it wouldn’t have changed a thing. 

Take for instance the aluminum tubes.  The report says that “DOE agrees that reconstitution of the nuclear program is underway but assesses that the tubes probably are not part of the program”   What about the rest of the report in the link below taken from your post which points to a host of other threats Saddam was posing?  The next line from the same report states that “Iraq's efforts to re-establish and enhance its cadre of weapons personnel as well as activities at several suspect nuclear sites further indicate that reconstitution is underway.”   If I’m in Bush’s shoes and I’ve got information which indicates Saddam is on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon, I have a responsibility to make certain that doesn’t happen. 

Remember, there’s no lack of Democrats who agreed just a few years ago that we needed to take action…something more than we’d been doing.  David Kay two weeks ago said we were right to proceed. 

http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/iraq-wmd.html

Kevin g