Multiple Tests Confirming Iraq WMD Send Media Into Deep Spin

NewsMax ^ | 1/4/04 | Limbacher

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

Mulitple tests conducted in Iraq by Danish and British experts indicate that Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction have finally been discovered, but mainstream news editors either ignored the story Sunday morning or are furiously spinning the news as inconsequential.

More than 12 hours after the Fox News Channel, Reuters and the Associated Press carried reports that preliminary tests showed Iraqi mortar shells discovered near Basra contain a deadly liquid blister agent, the New York Times had yet to report the bombshell find on the main page of its Web site – or anywhere in its Sunday morning print edition.

The Washington Post's Web site also chose not to cover the blockbuster news, which ABC News military analyst Tony Cordesman said Saturday would be "the first real confirmation that Iraq actually had deployed chemical weapons and was prepared to use them" if tests confirmed the find.

Saturday night the Fox News Channel revealed that initial tests had indeed confirmed the blockbuster discovery.

"Danish troops are in charge of that area around the village of Al Quarnah, and they have found what they believe are, according to this official, two hundred shells," reported FNC's Greg Palkrow.

Palkrow said the Danish official told him: "They've run four different tests on that liquid inside those shells. And all those tests do indicate that there is blister gas – that's a deadly chemical weapon - inside of those shells."

The AP said that a statement released by Danish officials cited British experts, who had also confirmed that the shells contained "blister gas."

Before the war the Bush administration had alleged that Baghdad was stockpiling blister gas in liquid form.

Both reports noted that the find had yet to be confirmed by the U.S. team in Iraq assigned to search for weapons of mass destruction.

But according to the London Sunday Telegraph, Ali Nimir, a former colonel in an Iraqi Republican Guard artillery unit, had also confirmed the find.

"I remember seeing boxes of these kinds of armaments in our base two years ago," Nimir said. "We were told that they were chemical weapons."

"They were removed from our bases and distributed to secret hiding places about a year before the war," he explained. "I never saw them again."

Still, despite the staggering political consequences of the bombshell discovery – news that could mean total vindication for President Bush against Democrat charges that he "lied" about Iraq's WMDs – mainstream reports consistently downplayed the story.

The New York Daily News, for instance, covered the news on page 24 of its Sunday edition, and then only under a headline that obscured the potential impact of the story: "Old Iraqi Gas Shells."

New York's Newsday echoed the same theme with its page 20 headline, "Weapons Found, but Likely Old" – as if the vintage of Saddam's WMDs somehow mitigated genuine proof of their existence after months of media claims to the contrary.

The only news outlet to refer to weapons of mass destruction in its headline was the New York Post, which labeled its page 2 report: "WMD Gas Shells Dug Up in Iraq."

News of the WMD find was not discussed on the Sunday morning news shows.

[Tumbleweed_Connection]

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[abner]

I thought it was Greg Palkot???

[SandRat]

Funny, it was first reported about three or four days ago on FR, with subsequent posting on FR, then Saturday it appeared in a small conservative local Tucson paper but not as a headline story, this morning FNC is talking all about it, but when I surfed the other news channels up until about 11:30 am MST, none of them even knew the stuff had been found.

Funny?

I Wonder it's that way?

[Guillermo]

Just like it didn't matter if there was proof that Clinton raped 50 women, there was no way they were going to turn on him.

No matter what is found in Iraq (WMD, mass graves, torture chambers), Saddam will always be the victim of Anglo aggression.

[Howie66]

Jeepers, I hope that no one is at all surprised with this report.

[Cubs Fan]

I had wondered whcih it would be, would the mainstream media ignore this (like the proof of Al Qaeda links) or would they attack it relentlessly?

Seems they picked ignore.

[rface]

If these chem shells are from the attacks on the Kurds, then I will say that its not what I concider the WMD that brought us into Iraq - but this find is not insignificant either

[Savage Beast]

The American Propaganda Machine (a.k.a. "The Mainstream Newsmedia") never rests. Thank God for the internet and other sources of information.

[samtheman]

The weapons are probably old left-overs and not worth that much of a story... though there's no excuse for the RAT media to ignore the story completely.

The fact is, most people who understand the Iraq war --- which is most people here at FR and a majority of American citizens --- aren't all that hung up on the issue of WMD. We know Iraq used to have them. We know there is as yet no clear explanation of what he did with them. And we know that there are a thousand other good reasons why Iraq is now on the road to joining the modern world, with our assistance. And several hundred thousand good reasons why its good that Sadam is in custody.

WMD. We'll find them. I'm confident of that. But there's so much more to this story than WMD.

[Old Sarge]

Still, despite the staggering political consequences of the bombshell discovery – news that could mean total vindication for President Bush against Democrat charges that he "lied" about Iraq's WMDs – mainstream reports consistently downplayed the story.F'Kerry You, Leftists! HAHAAAHAAAAAAAA!!!!

[Mike Darancette]

This may not be the sorcerer's stone for the Bush Administration but it is at least a draw because the RATS will have to turn it into a quantitative debate.

RATS will have to say we found some but not enough to count, problem for the RATS is that Iraq is a really big place and there will likely be more.

[Pubbie]

"I have about decided that we knew there were no WMD and knowingly made up this excuse because we were planning this overthrow long before 911 according to irrefutible witnesses."

fayetteky
Since Jan 11, 2004

[samtheman]

The answer is world peace and the safety of the United States of America.

[EggsAckley]

Fifteen years old? Where do you get YOUR news? DU?

The reports all say ten or eleven years old.
So you signed up here today to tell lies?



fayetteky
Since Jan 11, 2004

[TaxRelief]

Drive the mainstream media *nuts* by pushing this story up on Google News.

FREEP time!

Go to Google News.
Type "blister agent" in the search box.
Click through to as many relevant stories as possible.

With enough support, this will push the story into the headlines!

[mystery-ak]

Paul, is that you?

[NeoCaveman]

The Ieraqi Liberation Act was signed into law under Bill Clinton in 1998.

So there should have, may have, been a plan since 1998.

[Billthedrill]

Thank you for joining today to so inform us. These are, in fact, about 10 years old and they are most definitely WMD. Blister agents are chemical agents - they had them and we (and every other intelligence agency on the planet) knew perfectly well they had them because they'd used them in the past.

The question is, where are the rest? A chemical warfare program doesn't produce 200 mortar shells and then quit.

But your point is quite right - this will only result in an endless raising of the bar - this find wasn't enough, that find won't be enough, no find will be in the final event. But you know something? It will.