comprehension

[Joe]

Dear Teachers, I have some problems with the following sentences. Please help me figure them out. Thanks very much.

1) "Basically, Powell now believes that the Iraqis had chemical weapons, and that was it," said an official close to him.

What does the blue part mean?

2) Western freedom of opinion, however, is not the unbridled freedom of some state of nature. It is, rather, the structured freedom of a public forum contructed and maintained by the state.

What is "some state of nature"?

3) I had them going for a while.

Does it make any sense without any context?

[Francois]

"Basically, Powell now believes that the Iraqis had chemical weapons, and that was it," said an official close to him

And that's all they had (that is, they had no nuclear weapons etc.)

Western freedom of opinion, however, is not the unbridled freedom of some state of nature. It is, rather, the structured freedom of a public forum contructed and maintained by the state

This is not something that happens naturally, as a matter of facts. People must put it in place and enforce it.

I had them going for a while

My understanding is that you took them for a ride, or made them believe something for some time.

FRC