Posted on 05/20/2004 11:47:27 AM PDT by Steven W.
No WMD there...move along.
The Gun is really smoking now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subject: SUBJ: SITE DESCRIPTIONS FROM UNSCOM 20 INSPECTION REPORT, 13 NOVEMBER 1991
(Snip)
78. KHAMISIYAH CW STORAGE SITE IS SITUATED APPROXIMATELY 25KM SOUTHEAST OF
NASIRIYAH. THERE WERE TWO TYPES OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS STORED THERE: 155MM
MUSTARD-FILLED ARTILLERY SHELLS AND 122MM `BINARY SARIN' ROCKETS (FILLED WITH
A MIXTURE OF GB AND GF).
(Snip)
Link: http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/khamisiyah_ii/khamisiyah_ii_refs/n15en156/970409_cia_72668_72668_13.html
I have no doubt that this is correct.
Are there any places on the net where someone who isn't a weapons expert would be able to hear about this and finally be convinced that the shell was evidence of a 90's program?
Because it would be a serious one-two punch in arguments with the loonies.
Cherchez le shell...
Would anyone be so kind as to grace us with some links to a non-blog version of this story?
The link provided doesn't even work for me.
The shell which was deployed against our troops was an entirely new type of animal - not the crude type the inspectors found in 1996 (noting, then, even, those were discovered by UN inspectors, none - even those old, antiquated variety - were ever declared by Saddam)
Lets hope we find many more in the unmixed state.
Then we can find out where they came from.
Is there any other kind?
That's just it. It's not being reported. And when it is, it's being reported inaccurately.
I think we have our choice: France and/or Germany.
Its exactly what this shell was, and they thought the Republican Guard had them last year. Maybe the intelligence wasn't as bad as thought?
I think the liberal slant of the media is a huge factor, but I think a lot of this also has to do with just flat-out modern laziness and the erosion of the old-fashioned work ethic. (Then again, the two are closely related.)
It's just too much work to REALLY dig in, and anyway feelings matter more than facts. Why do that extra work when there's too much of a chance that facts will emerge to ruin your emotionalistic, self-congratulatory buzz? This philosophy is the political equivalent of Ecstasy -- it chases away all the bad feelings associated with even considering the possibility that you might be wrong.
Russia would be highest on my list. Then France and Germany in that order.
I have some problems with the vercaity of this individuals claims.
Here is an article that may be interesting for all to read:
The Guardian (London)
August 6, 1998
HEADLINE: Detective work has built up a picture of Iraq's remaining weapons, writes Julian Borger;
Saddam's game of cat and mouse fails to throw UN off scent
BYLINE: JULIAN BORGER
DURING the seven years that the United Nations Special Commission (Unscom) inspectors have sniffed and sifted their way across Iraq, they have grown wearily accustomed to Baghdad's attempted deceit.
Crucial documents have apparently disappeared in mysterious fires, or fallen off lorries. Last December inspectors were halted for 20 minutes and forced to look on from afar as computer hard-disk drives thought to contain information on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were replaced.
Terence Taylor, a former inspector and now a strategic analyst, said: "I think its extraordinary that Unscom has found as much as it has, given the routine deception . . . The Iraqis will never admit to anything. You have to find it yourself."
Much of the available information has been wheedled out by detective work, such as analysing records of Iraq's imports of chemical and biological precursors in the 1980s. But arguably the most important breakthrough came in August 1995 with the defection to Jordan of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamal. Before being lured back to Iraq and killed, he handed over details of an extensive biological weapons programme, which had long been denied by Baghdad.
The Iraqi government quickly led inspectors to Gen Kamal's chicken farm, where they found 700,000 pages of documentation. That led Unscom to the Al-Hakam germ warfare facility, south of Baghdad, which was systematically destroyed in 1996.
Some former weapons inspectors believe the crises in the past year were provoked by Baghdad whenever government officials feared Unscom was closing in.
Unscom officials said during the crisis early this year that they had been close to proving Iraq's ability to adapt VX nerve agent - a chemical weapon of devastating power - for use in bombs and missiles. Iraq has admitted experimenting with VX during the 1980-88 war with Iran, but claimed not to have found a way of "weaponising" its unstable ingredients.
The present crisis began soon after United States navy tests found traces of VX on fragments of Scud missiles which had earlier been destroyed and buried by the Iraqi army. Baghdad disputed the tests and called for a second examination in France and Switzerland - which it considers neutral.
The results are not due until late this month. If they confirm the US findings, Iraq's credibility will plummet before the international sanctions come up for their six-monthly review in October.
At the latest meeting in Baghdad with the Unscom chairman, Richard Butler, Iraq was also due to have handed over a document listing chemical warfare munitions held by its air force. Unscom inspectors found the document on July 18 but were prevented from taking it.
A second Iraqi tactic also backfired earlier this year. The government had called for independent experts to assess Iraq's progress. In February the expert panel on chemical warfare reported that Iraq had the means to manufacture up to 200 tonnes of VX nerve agent. Unscom has no proof of the government's claim to have destroyed 500 tonnes of VX ingredients or precursors.
More than 13,000 tonnes of chemical precursors essential for other weapons manufacture are also unaccounted for, as are at least 45 special missile warheads containing sarin toxin and binary chemical weapons, which Baghdad claims to have destroyed.
Unscom says there are similarly large gaps in Baghdad's account of its biological weapons programme. The government has admitted producing and weapons-testing anthrax, botulinum toxin, aflatoxin, and gangrene - enough to wipe out cities.
But Unscom inspectors uncovered import records for nearly 40 tonnes of "growth media" (a jelly of nutrients used to cultivate bacteria), suggesting a biological weapons project on a far larger scale. The quantities were far greater than needed for ordinary hospital use, as Iraq claims. Baghdad has insisted that it has destroyed all remnants of its biological weapons programme.
Mr Taylor said: "It has been a web of lies and deceit for seven years, and when things get too troublesome it's throw the inspectors out. They see no chance of getting sanctions lifted, so they create a crisis."
Diary of deceit
May 91: Unscom begins inspections, uncovering and destroying components of Iraq's nuclear weapons programme.
August 95: Saddam's son-in-law, Lieutenant-General Hussein Kamal, defects with details of biological weapons programme.
June 96: Unscom blows up main biological weapons plant at al-Hakam.
June 96: Iraq admits manufacturing 3.9 tons of VX nerve agent "for research" but claims to be unable to "weaponise" it.
February 98: UN experts says Iraq probably capable of manufacturing up to 200 tons of VX.
April 98: UN experts conclude that Iraq concealed information on its chemical and biological weapons programmes. UN Security Council decides to keep economic sanctions in place.
June 98: US tests find traces of VX gas on Scud missile fragments - results disputed by Iraq. More fragments sent to France and Switzerland for analysis.
July 98: Talks break down in Baghdad on Unscom's proposals for an accelerated schedule of inspections before the next six-monthly review of sanctions.
ping
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