Posted on 06/26/2004 12:19:17 PM PDT by wagglebee
A day after the head of the CIA weapons inspection team warned that terrorists in Iraq are trying to get their hands on the Saddam Hussein regime's chemical weapons of mass destruction, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reports the first attack with these weapons of mass destruction has been launched inside Baghdad's Green Zone.
Few details are available, including any casualties associated with the attack using mustard gas.
The sources say the munitions were old, but still potentially lethal.
"I think it's safe to say our little friends know where the cache is now," said one source sardonically.
The Green Zone is the area of Baghdad where the U.S.-led coalition authority established its headquarters in the immediate aftermath of the invasion in April last year.
On Thursday, Charles Duelfer, the head of the CIA weapons inspection team, said terrorists in Iraq are seeking chemical arms and expertise left over from the Hussein regime for possible use against U.S. and allied troops. He added that his team has so far found as many as a dozen chemical-filled bombs – far more than previously reported.
"What we are finding is that there are some networks that are seeking to tap into ... this expertise, and try to use it against the United States," Duelfer told Fox News Channel's Brit Hume. "And we are very concerned about that. That is a problem."
Duelfer said that investigations into arms laboratories in Iraq and interviews with former Iraqi arms specialists revealed that "former experts in the country's weapons of mass destruction program are being recruited by anti-coalition groups."
"They are being paid by anti-coalition groups," he said. "We're seeing interest in developing chemical munitions."
Asked whether anything suggests that insurgents actually are getting the expertise or may be ready to use it, Duelfer said: "We want to follow that very, very closely."
Duelfer expressed special concern that al-Qaida associate Abu Musab Zarqawi will acquire and use chemical weapons. Zarqawi, he said, "is one bad actor, and if he gets his hands on it, he'll use it."
The Jordanian-born Islamist, believed to be the leader of the foreign insurgents in Iraq, is known to be a specialist in bomb making. U.S. officials believe al-Zarqawi was behind the coordinated attacks earlier this week that killed at least 100 people and wounded about 320.
Duelfer said his inspection team has uncovered bombs filled with blistering mustard gas or the nerve agent sarin.
"We're not sure how many more are out there that haven't been found, but we've found 10 or 12 sarin and mustard rounds," he said. "I'm reluctant to judge what that means at this point, but there's other aspects of the program which we still have to flush out."
In May, U.S. military officials found a bomb containing chemicals to form sarin gas and another with a mustard agent – weapons Saddam was required to destroy under U.S. sanctions and terms of the cease-fire from the 1990-91 Gulf war.
The Washington Times reports military officials have uncovered about 8,700 weapons depots and continue to find new ones. They estimate the weapons depots in Iraq contain between 650,000 and 1 million tons of arms, which are believed to be a source for anti-coalition forces.
Well he said he had them before he said he didn't have them. So Kerry has his bases covered.
Did this happen today?
Any other news source reporting this??
OTOH, if they are located in the USA an assualt rifle is a WMD.
Anyone subscribe to Farrah?
It seemes this article has only one sentance that actually relates to its title, stuff like that pisses me off.
To be fair, the weapons depots are not necessarily WMD....mostly not in fact.
But, it is a fact that some WMD have been found.
Very old WMD, but still WMD. This is why it probably is not making more news (I wouldn't be reporting much on WMD left over from when everybody knew they were making it).
However, does anybody know if they were required to get rid of their WMD from the 1980's? Surely UN resolutions required such. If so, this shows a clear breach of the UN resolutions on WMD, and that makes it news. I still would not blast it above the fold on the front page, but it would be worthy of below the fold, front-page coverage if this is the case.
And surely it is as many times as Iraq was supposed to destroy its weapons. Does anybody know for sure?
Either Saddam "destroyed" this particular weapon or Saddam "never built" it. Democrats, enemies, terrorists, or dictators, they all speak the same language, perhaps because they are one in the same.
He's essentially worthless. Knows less than nothing about defense/security issues. Hypemonger.
As is so often the case with WND.
I would need some sort of verifiable source.....the WMD mention of the attack takes up the lede and I think another paragraph or two, with the rest being background on the threat of an attack.
That isn't exactly convincing that their claim that a WMD attack occurred within the green zone is accurate. They don't even have a source for the claim.
It is true that some WMD have been found, however.
300 Tons of "scrap metal" was sold by Iraq in the 3 months before the war started to Turkey and some other country's. The "scrap metal" turned out to be MWD manufacturing equipment. How come this wasn't on the main stream media?
From: http://www.dod.mil/transcripts/2004/tr20040626-secdef0943.html
SEC. RUMSFELD: With respect to the first question, the so-called Iraqi Survey Group, which is a multi-national group, are pouring over documentation and interviewing former Iraqi scientists. The first head of that group, Mr. David Kay, concluded, as has his successor, Mr. Delfer, that in fact Iraq had filed a fraudulent declaration to the United Nations. The process of uncovering chemical or biological or nuclear program materials is continuing and within the last week a number of weapons containing various types of chemicals have in fact been found and are currently being tested. The last piece that I saw suggested it was mustard gas. And although it's a first report, it appeared to be old and something that had not been declared as the declaration to the United Nations required. Time will tell what else might be found.
Exactly..
They weren't "extraordinary" there was simply radiation. Someone decided to sell scrap from their old reactor, apparently.
The libs have a mantra (1) the U.S. is evil (2) Hussein was a benevolent dictator who meant us, Israel, and his people no harm (besides Israel is evil too and deserve what they get) (3) he had no wmds and didn't ally with terrorists (4) the U.S. is evil (5) there are no terrorists inside Iraq and even if they are there, they are not allied with Al-Qaeda, and anyway we created all the world's terrorists and finally (6) The U.S. is evil. If everything else fails, ignore all the evidence of your failures, stick your head firmly into the sand, and refer to 1, 4, and 6.
You sound deeply saddened.
OK cool, then then my previos ROC really means ROK Republic of Corea er I mean Korea.
Thanks. That is definitely newsworthy, front page newsworthy, if further testing does reveal they were not declared to the UN.
I thought I was FReeper hip but I never heard about the moose and your sister?
Seriesly, LOL.
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