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.
Or until the casualty count is enough to unequivocally refute the suicidal assertions of the left and the utopian idealism of the UN cabal.
These people are just incredible. Fit for nothing more than a rubber room, yet in positions of leadership and influence.
Blix said today that the discovery of the weapons of mass destruction were not a sign that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed weapons of mass destruction before the war last year
Doesn't Blix know that Iraq was supposed to destroy all such weapons from the first Gulf War or has Blix forgotten what his own job was?
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, Blixie... how do you square that statement with you comment that it was possibly a weapon from the first Gulf War? Clearly the first Gulf War preceded the war last year- which obviously means Iraq posessed WMD BEFORE last year. Indeed, it means Iraq was inposession of WMD right under your nose.
Good question for Komerad-Kofi-Korruptus.
Blix: WMD's No Evidence of WMD's
...And Blix then added, "And the fact that I have no brain is not evidence of my stupidity."
someone on this board said it best last year, "Ignorance is Blix."
Blix's brain?
Yes there was. At least two of his staff were implicated. This will be quickly covered up by the Bush Administration.
This looks like a job for Sacred Cows.
Da-dah-DAHHHH!
(What the...darn it...no telephone booth?)
No matter how many time I see that cartoon, it always makes me laugh out loud. Thanks... : )
Earth to Hans (on Saddam's Payroll) Blix..... Binary agents loaded in the business end of a 155mm Mortar round designed to be mixed in flight and produce Sarin Gas is a Weapon of Mass Destruction if I've ever known one..... One drop of Sarin can kill a person in 15 minutes. A well placed Mortar carrying a deadly payload such as Sarin Gas could kill hundreds, if not thousands. I think that qualifies as a WMD in anyones book.
Hans..... Just face it, you couldn't find any WMD's even if they had "LoJack" installed on them
Yet another unforseen side effect of the cellular revolution.
Gee, no wonder he never could find any WMD in Iraq. Even when it's right in front of his face, he denies it.
Totally impartial, right?
This guy needs a pair of sKerry's Flip Flops. But he probably couldn't find them in the shoe box.
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