So I have to pipe in here as I recall this vividly. What crystalized this for me was of all things an op-ed piece by a conservative (not neocon) writer that essentially came down to this (paraphrased):
> There are essentially two possibilities here:
> 1. Iraq has no WMD. In this case the invasion is unjustified; or
> 2. Iraq has WMD. In which case, why wouldn't they give them up to avoid a US invasion?
This was such a simple and undeniable logical fallacy in the Iraq WMD invasion narrative it blew my mind.
I've been skeptical about the lab leak theory. But you can be skeptical about the theory and still recognize that the WHO just hasn't pursued enough leads to debunk the theory to a sufficient degree. Examples include:
1. China had an online database of coronaviruses. This was taken offline in late 2019 and hasn't been online since. The WHO investigation team has not examined it nor sought to do so. While the timing is certainly curious, it's not necessarily damning. But it warrants investigation (IMHO); and
2. Chinese labs have been less than forthcoming about what coronaviruses they have.
Chinese authorities have been less than fully cooperative here. Again, that's not damning. I consider it much more likely that Chinese authorities simply don't know if Covid leaked from a Wuhan lab but there's literally zero upside in finding out if that's the case.
Would you want to be a member of the CCP that released information that allowed the WHO to establish that Covid-19 came from a Wuhan lab allowing critics of China to "blame" China for this?
Nope, I wouldn't either. So why cooperate?