UDPATE 1-Danish tests show arms found in Iraq not chemical

Reuters ^ | 1/14/04

[areafiftyone]

COPENHAGEN, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The Danish Army said on Wednesday initial tests showed a cache of mortar rounds found buried in Iraq on January 9 did not contain any chemical substances as originally suspected.

"The expert group from the Iraq Survey Group have investigated five...and none of them have showed any trace of chemical substances," the Danish Army Operational Command said in a statement.

Samples would be sent to the United States for further tests and the results were expected within three to five days, the command said.

Denmark said its troops found the 36 mortar shells buried in southern Iraq and that early examination had suggested they could contain blister gas.

The shells had been buried for at least 10 years, it said.

Blister gas, an illegal weapon which Saddam Hussein said he had destroyed, was used extensively against the Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

U.S. President George W. Bush ordered U.S.-led forces to invade Iraq after accusing Saddam of possessing weapons of mass destruction. No such arms have been found so far.

[Captain Kirk]

The only argument that ever carried weight with me was whether Iraq (WMD or not) was an imminent threat to the U.S. It was not, thus the war was unjustified. Even so, it seems that the pro-war folks who were once so zeaolous to stress WMD be held accountable for their claims.

Not so long ago, they were making far stronger and more confident arguments than the "possible" existence of WMD's. Powell, for example, said that the U.S. knew that that Iraq had "tons" of chemical weapons. Rice was using spectres of mushroom clouds to scare Nervous Nelly conservatives.

[Dead Corpse]

And for me it was Saddam's support of several different terrorist groups in the Middle East. Not to mention his human Rights abuses. WMD would have been little more than icing on the cake.

And? I'm also the kind of guy that would put a fire in my neighbors house out before it got to my house... whether my neighbor particularly wanted my help or not. I'd rather say "sorry" afterward then let my own house catch fire.

You apparently would rather we were sifting through the ashes of yet another terrorist attack then do something productive, and affective, about it. If such a conclusion is in error, feel free to correct the impression.

[SGCOS]

...Danish tests show arms found in Iraq not chemical

What about a nice powdered donut test? Did that show any chemicals? Perhaps the dreaded dinner roll test..Anything?

Reminds me of Midnight Run, the scene in Reds Bar.."Give it the litmus test"..."

[justshutupandtakeit]

No rationalization necessary to attack the chief supporter of terrorism across the world. Still crying over the humiliation of Saddam too, I suppose.

[areafiftyone]

I don't see why they have to let the media know if they find anything. They should wait until they do all testing and if its conclusive then they should allow the media to see.

[Tommyjo]

It was known that Iraqi 82mm and 120mm mortars were sometimes filled with CS. Phosphorus mortars found back in October in Iraq also gave the exact same positive readings as the cache found last week. The same goes for a warhead from an air-surface-missile found at an airbase in Northern Iraq. Initial readings proved postive for chemicals, but a second test resulted in the negative.

[Captain Kirk]

No crying as the U.S. continues down the road to becoming a Wilsonian empire and abandons the vision of the founders.

BTW, since you are so eager to use our blood and treasure to fight injustice in every nook and cranny of the planet, I suppose you also want to send troops to Haiti, Liberia, and Zimbabwe, right?

[Captain Kirk]

Your impression is wrong. I supported the Afghan war because it was a direct response to a terrorist attack and have said so many times. Another "peacenik" stereotype bites the dust.

[Captain Kirk]

BTW, I do you figure that Iraq is "our neighbor" or even the neighbor or our neighbor? It is on the other side of the world, though for advocates of world policing I suppose everyone is our "neighbor" including I suppose hell holes like Zimbabwe and Liberia.

[justshutupandtakeit]

When they start aiding terrorist attacks on the US and allowing those who perpetrate them sanctuary they will be on the list. But perhaps it escaped you that we HAVE sent troops to Haiti and Liberia without anyone suffering thereby and without them becoming parts of the Empire.

"Wilsonian empire" I'll bet you smile every time you use that phrase since to ignorami it sounds sooo knowledgeable. Bush's foreign policy is neither "Wilsonian" nor "empire" building but that won't stop blithering idiots from claiming that it is.

[mj1234]

You will never win an argument against a liberal.

Case in point- 1 week before the Hans blix team left Iraq-
they were told to go to a newer hidden weapons bunker
(newer meaning built After the first Gulf War)
They found newer CHEMICAL WARHEADS -these were banned by the
U.N. and saddam lied about this and other known banned
WMD's -ie.-missles,rockets, mobile labs. but none of this matters because none of the banned weapons were filled!

When and I mean when we find the HIDDEN stash of chemicals
they will be "aw-shucks that is old" or, "we only found 1 barrel" not the ton's that were spoken of.

Liberal's really do not care if evil is on their doorstep
they plan to join in and have some fun killing democracy
and decency... My favorite line from a big time Demonrat
liberal- just after 9-11, "the people who died were probably
republicans- they worked in those stock brokerages!"

What was I to say? I told her I was going to remember her words -when I pray- (She still doesn't care)

[Dead Corpse]

I was trying to avoid you thinking I was labeling you before I'd gotten the word from the horses mouth, so to speak.

The No Dong II missiles Saddam had on order with Kim Jong Il kinda make your "next door" argument moot. When the Spirit of St. Louis hit the ground in Paris, the world shrunk. When Sputnik went up, it shrunk again. When Concorde set records, it shrunk even further.

Learn from the lesson of 9-11. Being able to strike US soil no longer means multi-million dollar missiles and weapons platforms. Neither does this mean we need to now wade into every regional conflict in the world either. North Korea is definately a concern, but for the most part terror groups find fertile soil in the Middle East.

We are currently working on that one and are seeing results.

[lepton]

Not so long ago, they were making far stronger and more confident arguments than the "possible" existence of WMD's. Powell, for example, said that the U.S. knew that that Iraq had "tons" of chemical weapons.

Oh poo. We haven't even found the weapons that Iraq admitted to - however the total amount of bio and chem materials that Powell described could have been moved to any point in Iraq by a couple of guys in a van in at most two months (only on trip of six barrels a day), and stored in a single moderately large fuel tanker sized truck and 10'*12 room.

[Keith]

nah...just feeling frisky today...

[Consort]

Attacking Bush on Iraq is passé. Chalk it up to successful preemption of any potential action by Saddam or a palace coup by people worse then Saddam. Also, switching to the Constitution Party has replaced switching to the Libertarian Party for the perpetually disgruntled. There seems to be a concerted effort by some on the Right to fragment Conservatives across several parties.

[TheBattman]

Tajikistan

- yeah - training rounds that trigger a positive test result the first time they are tested. I personally believe there is something else going on...

[Captain Kirk]

passe! My aren't we chic. What a non-argument!

[Captain Kirk]

We just disagree. In my view, stretching us thin by tying down more than 100K U.S. troops to carry out a utopian effort to build a unified/democratic nation state in Iraq detracts, not adds to, national security.

[Consort]

passe! passé, not passe.

My aren't we chic. Who are "we"? And "chic" is a bit more "chic".

What a non-argument! That's OK; try to keep it in mind.

[Captain Kirk]

Sorry but my stone-age computer can't do the accent mark in passe, thus failing your exacting anal retentive standards. I look forward to your future posts on what is chic and what is not, however.