Posted on 05/17/2004 8:20:19 PM PDT by yatros from flatwater
FORMER chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said that a shell containing sarin nerve gas used in an attack in Iraq was most likely a stray weapon possibly from the first Gulf War.
The US-led coalition used that claim to justify the invasion even though UN inspectors failed to make any significant finds before the war.
The former Swedish foreign minister said the 155-mm shell used to attack a US military convoy Monday could have been part of a group of old, unused shells that were simply debris leftover from the war in 1991, adding the weapon could have been scavenged from a dump.
"It doesn't sound absurd at all. There can be debris from the past and that's a very different thing from having stockpiles and supplies," he said.
"Whether this may indicate something more ... I think we need to know more about it."
Saddam's regime was told to destroy any weapons of mass destruction under UN resolutions passed after the 1991 war. Blix reiterated that his inspectors found no such weapons in the run-up to the invasion.
"We found a dozen warheads that were intended for chemical weapons and they were empty," he said.
His inspectors also found four other shells that were designed to carry chemical weapons, including the sarin used in the attack Monday, but they were also empty.
US Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said in Baghdad that two soldiers were treated for minor exposure to sarin, but no serious injuries were reported. He said he believed that insurgents who planted the explosive didn't know it contained the nerve agent.
Blix, former director of the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, has sharply criticized the US and Britain for invading Iraq without UN approval. He retired last year and currently heads a new Stockholm-based independent commission on weapons of mass destruction.
Blix said today that the discovery of the nerve agent was not a sign that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction before the war last year.
Ok I shan´t defend the UN, it surely has it´s problems, but it is in my opinion no regime but an organ for cooperation between independent nation states.
UN is far from perfect (insert Churchill quote here) but I would not go as far as to call it evil.
I hate to say this but on Fox and Friends this morning they said that even Rummy said it was probably left over from the Iran-Iraq war. I am hoping Rummy just said that so we wouldn't get too disappointed if it turned out to be so.
Nice job, if you can get it...I guess to qualify, you must get agreement of all parties (incl. Saddam's) involved, never really do the job in question / just stay in home country (never actually visit the country in question), the use of a white cane, req'd, liberal use of UN Credit card (while in NYC) and ability to collect bribes "Saddam's rewards" / bitchin' about the USA while praising Saddam for his truthfulness/cooperation. :/
what has that got to do with anything? THE WHOLE FREAKING ARSENAL WAS LEFT OVER FROM THE GD IRAN/IRAQ WAR for crying out loud. This has become a stupid talking point but does not follow. The UN Resolutions on WMD began in 1991 with the ceasefire (actually earlier if you count the resolution to kick him out of kuwait as the start) and his obligation to disarm and to report on that disarmament includes this shell and any others with prohibited WMD. Period. Hans, CNN, and anyone else can spin themselves dizzy but weapons left over from ** STOCKPILES OF PROHIBITED WEAPONS DATING FROM THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR *** were precisely what the president was referring to and Powell when they listed the 700 or so liters of Sarin. This is the same stuff used to gas the Kurds. Can the Left and some of our own leaders be so nearsighted? This is game, set but the match is six months away.
What term would you prefer? The terms "broken", "corrupt" and "irrevelant" come to my mind. We have an organization that allows one of the worst human rights abusers, Sudan, to have a seat on the U.N. human rights panel. When an organized entity is so inept or corrupt (take your pick) as to allow one of the worst criminals to be on a panel judging other criminals, that is so wrong as to be evil.
River in Egypt.
So Blixie, now that your buddy Saddam is in the clink, you're off to suck on another hind-tit for your champagne dinners.
I wish my parents had been Hans Blix.
"Honest dad, this empty bottle of Jack Daniels is no evidence whatsoever that there was once Jack Daniels in my room or that I consumed it...hic."
Blix reminds me of the three blind men who tried to describe an elephant.
David Kay agreed with him.
So....soldiers sick from sarin is not evidence of sarin.
Let's see.
Sarin is a wmd.
Soldiers are sick from sarin.
Terrorists exploded a sarin bomb.
Therefore:
Me: WMD
Blix: No WMD
So, according to Ballroom Blix, a binary weapon isn't "evidence" of WMD's?
Thats okay.
Ballroom Blix isn't "evidence" of intelligent life on this planet.
Thankfully, we have billions of examples so Ballroom Blix isn't required in that regard.....
Priceless!
How old is Hans Blix?- born in 1928
In other news Hans Blix was unable to find his butt with both hands.
So let me get this straight. If that 155mm round was fired from it's Artillery piece and exploded in downtown Baghdad or our military base and killed hundreds, or more, would Hans still maintain it was not a WMD? The man is not to be taken seriously, he is a puppet for KOFI and the 3rd world dictators and leftists.
Birth not evidence of pregnancy
LOL!
Just like a girl getting flowers is NOT evidence that some guy likes her...
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