[MEG33]

Rumor..Fog of War stuff I think.

[Steel Wolf]

If Iraq's WMDs, which we knew existed, are not in Iraq, that would lead to three possiblilites:

They never existed (I'm sure the Kurds and Iranians won't buy this)

They were destroyed (So where's the residue? That stuff doesn't just vanish, even if burned.)

They're no longer in Iraq.

Since the first two aren't really options, we have only to assume that the WMDs are elsewhere. Either the Administration doesn't know where they are, but they're still looking, or they do know where they are, but it's somewhere politically inconvenient for them. Like Syria or Iran. There's a lot of behind the scenes leverage we can use on those two if they have the goods.

Or the WMDs are sailing the Indian ocean on boats rigged to explode, and we're trying to find the people who set up the operation (Saddam) so they can call the boats back in.

That's just wild speculation, of course.

[william clark]

I've been wondering the same thing. I never even saw any stories attributing it to rumor. The story just kind of vanished.

[MJY1288]

This question has been asked many times, but I don't think the story came from U.S. sources.

I don't remember the term "afraid" being used by anyone in this administration concerning confronting an Iraqi ship, but I could be wrong.

[PhilDragoo]

[AntiGuv]

As I recall, they were captured in the Persian Gulf shortly after the opening of hostilities back in March and turned out to be routine mine laying ships. That unexciting report seems to have been generally overlooked in the torrent of breaking news at the time. I don't have a source I can provide, but that's my recollection.

[rwfromkansas]

probably not real, but who knows

[Pro-Bush]

I hope we get confirmation!

[Chad_the_Impaler]

Foreign military analysts said it would be unusual for an accident to kill everyone aboard a submarine while still allowing the Chinese military to retrieve the vessel.

They said that suggested possible causes ranging from a sinking in the shallow Yellow Sea after a collision to a disaster that flooded the vessel with toxic fumes.

http://www.americanintelligence.us/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=468

[Bon mots]

Anyone remember the mysterious flight from Baghdad to Minsk, Belarus? Whatever happened to that story?

[xm177e2]

Secret agents from DEBKA boarded the ships and prevented them from causing any harm to us.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I was wondering about those ships myself.