Posted on 06/06/2003 5:53:50 AM PDT by ejdrapes
Edited on 07/19/2004 2:11:26 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
June 6 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. Defense Department report in September 2002 found ``no reliable information'' proving that Iraq had chemical weapons, even as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was saying the country had amassed stockpiles of the banned arms.
The unreleased report said Iraq ``probably'' had stockpiles of banned chemicals, a more tentative conclusion than Rumsfeld was presenting in public remarks. Iraq has ``amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, sarin and mustard gas,'' he told Congress on Sept. 19.
(Excerpt) Read more at quote.bloomberg.com ...
The principal part of this document thus presents clusters of “unresolved disarmament issues”, which are to be addressed by the inspection process (and Iraq) and from which “key remaining disarmament tasks” are to be identified and selected for early solution. Some of the material used in the cluster part is from the period after 1998. However, a short separate part of this document is specifically dedicated to disarmament questions related to the period after 1998, when UNSCOM inspections ended. Did Iraq resume any proscribed activities in this period and did it produce or import any proscribed weapons or other proscribed items?
The rationale for WMD
The rationale for Iraq’s WMD programmes has been said to be the existence of Israel’s arsenal and WMD capabilities. A senior Iraqi government official wrote to President Saddam Hussein in 1988 that
“If our country were to obtain and develop chemical and biological weapons, this would be considered the best weapon of deterrence against the enemy in this field. The principle of “deterrence” is the best means of defence against the Zionist entity, and in this respect we suggest the following:
a. To continue to develop the types of the chemical weapons with an attempt to manufacture the most dangerous of these types in large quantities.
b. To secure long-range means, “Missiles carrying chemical heads” for reciprocal threat.
To prepare special storage areas for chemical weapons in the Southern areas of the region, and these areas must [be] within the range of the effectiveness of the current available missiles, and other means to reach the Zionist active targets in order to secure the surprise ‘thunder strike”, in using and accomplishing the quick reaction to deter the enemy.”
Blix didn't claim that Iraq *currently* had WMD. Did Bush lie? Probably not. Dissemble or stretch the truth would be more accurate. I suspect that he trumped up dubious or undated intelligence data on WMD, then claimed certainty, because he discovered that WMD was the most effective "scare" argument.
Yes, it is certain that Iraq had banned weapons. They had them in 1998, and showeved no evidence that they were destroyed. The weapons are either still hidden somewhere in Iraq, or they were sent away to a sympathetic state such as Syria.
WARNING: Gathering WMD storm a crock. See what Clinton told nation in 1998...
THE ROAD ENDS FOR WMD ON WHEELS
Coalition forces enter possible WMD site
Initial tests suggest WMD "cocktail" found in Iraq (**Of special note--post #58, by Archy)
U.S. finds new evidence of Iraqi WMD (NBC training school, antidotes)
Chem-weapons lab believed discovered
BRITS' CHILLING CHEM-NUKE FIND
CAPTURED FOES FOUND WITH CHEM-WAR GEAR
MSNBC - Cyanide & Mustard Agents Found in Euphrates River
Is the Activity at Al Qaim Related to Nuclear Efforts?
U.S. probing nuclear facility (Al Tuwaitha Follow Up)
Team Inspects suspected plutonium site (update by the journalist who broke original story, NEW info)
Underground Nuclear Facility Found in Iraq
Marines hold Iraqi nuclear site built by French
U.S. Marines Guard Secret Iraqi City with Very Hot Nuclear Radiation Levels
And from Freeper "HatSteel":
Terrorist devices, chemical weapons found in Iraq
Suspicious Iraqi Drums - UPDATE
Suspected bioweapons labs found
Searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Larry Elder
Iraq's Weapons and the Road to War
Iraqi Scientist Links Weapons to 'Dual Use' Facilities, White House Says
IRAQ: U.S. Analysts Link Iraq Labs to Germ Arms
Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert
Herald Sun: Soldiers find Iraqi chemical 'dump'
***Germany's leading role in arming Iraq
*Germany intercepts (30 tonnes) chemicals (may be used to make nerve gas) for N Korea
New DOD team to hunt for intel as well as weapons
Capture of chemical expert could help U.S. weapons hunt in Iraq (Emad Husayn Abdulla al-Ani)
Belgium Finds Nerve Gas Ingredient in Letters
Banned missile programme found in Iraq
Administration to Announce 'Rollback' Strategy for WMD
Suspicious Iraqi Drums Preliminary Testing Suggests Chemical Agents; More Testing Needed
2 trailers deemed biological arms labs
***Table 2: Characteristics of Chemical Warfare Agents: Commercial Uses of Chemicals or Precursor Chemicals ***CENTAF IRAQ'S CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM
Is there or is there not two discoved WMD mobile labs? Did Bush "trump" those up.
Go back and listen to your boring dubious CNN, NPR, NYTimes reports.
Is bush lying? No. Is the left and Bush haters trying to stirr things up? Yes!
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