Has anyone ever explained why the Iraqis buried trailers that were just used to produce hydrogen for weathe balloons?
weather balloons -or- rocket fuel.
2 trailers deemed biological arms labs
By Rowan Scarborough
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
May 29, 2003
The CIA report said the two truck trailers matched the description supplied to the United States by spies, including an Iraqi chemical engineer who managed one of the plants where the equipment was made.
"Our analysis of the mobile production plant found in April indicates the layout and equipment are consistent with information provided by the chemical engineer, who has direct knowledge of Iraq's mobile BW program," the CIA concluded yesterday.
In New York, U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told Reuters news agency that the mobile labs in the CIA report were not disclosed by the Iraqis, as required by U.N. resolutions after Iraq's eviction from Kuwait in 1991.
Based on past intelligence reports, U.N. weapons inspectors had asked the Iraqis about such labs. "There were a number of trucks that they showed to us and they had pictures of. But these do not correspond to the ones that are now published by the coalition. They are different," Mr. Blix said.
The CIA report said, "Examination of the trailers reveals that all of the equipment is permanently installed and interconnected, creating an ingeniously simple, self-contained bioprocessing system. Although the equipment on the trailer found in April 2003 was partially damaged by looters, it includes a fermenter capable of producing biological agents and support equipment such as water supply tanks, an air compressor, a water chiller and a system for collecting exhaust gases."
The CIA paper specifically sought to rebut a lead editorial in the May 13 editions of the New York Times. The New York Times has been a persistent critic of President Bush, and in particular his decision to go to war to oust Saddam.
The editorial quoted weapons authorities who said the trailers could have been built to produce biological pesticides near farmland, or as mobile factories to refurbish antiaircraft missiles.
The CIA said its specialists investigated both theories and found them unsubstantiated. "The experts cited in the editorial are not on the scene and probably do not have complete access to information about the trailers," the agency report said.
The CIA report discussed three mobile facilities: a production trailer found by Kurdish troops in April near Mosul in northern Iraq; a second trailer discovered by American troops at Mosul's Kindi Research, Testing and Development and Engineering facility; and a mobile truck laboratory found in Baghdad that could support biological weapons research or legitimate research.
The report said the United States is looking for another type of trailer. This mobile factory would receive the "unconcentrated liquid slurry" produced in the first trailer and use it to grow and harvest the biological agents. These trailers likely would contain tanks, centrifuges and spray dryers.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030529-122922-6267r.htmMay be wrong but I don't think they were buried. They look pretty clean in the telly pictures