Posted on 07/04/2004 8:33:48 AM PDT by Deathmonger
Sixteen rocket warheads found last week in south-central Iraq by Polish troops did not contain deadly chemicals, a coalition spokesman said yesterday, but U.S. and Polish officials agreed that insurgents loyal to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and foreign terrorist fighters are trying to buy such old weapons or purchase the services of Iraqi scientists who know how to make them.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Poles beg to differ:
http://www.spacewar.com/2004/040703211910.617uvolu.html
Poland stands by 'poison gas' find Iraq
WARSAW (AFP) Jul 03, 2004
Political and military officials in Poland Saturday reaffirmed that missile warheads found by Polish troops in Iraq contained poison gas, despite denials by the multinational forces in Baghdad.
"In each of the missiles found, the presence of a chemical substance was found. It was cyclosarin," a spokesman for the Polish contingent in Iraq, Colonel Robert Strzelecki, told public television.
"They were missiles that were made 15 years ago, which should have been destroyed and were not. They would certainly have very dangerous had they fallen into the hands of terrorists," said deputy defense minister Janusz Zemke.
Washington announced on Thursday that Polish troops had discovered more than a dozen warheads containing mustard or sarin gas in Iraq, a report later confirmed by Polish Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski.
The head of Poland's military intelligence service also said on Friday that "terrorist" groups were seeking to acquire the weapons.
But a statement from the multinational forces in Iraq said on Friday that the 16 122 milimetre warheads had tested negative for chemical agents.
"Those 16 rounds were all empty and tested negative for any type of chemicals," it said.
Washington justified leading the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 by claiming the country was harbouring weapons of mass destruction. However, none has yet been found.
Poland, one of the staunchest supporters of the United States in the Iraq war, patrols a large swathe of the country south of Baghdad, heading a 6,500-strong multinational force including 2,500 Polish troops.
"The search goes on..."
and you don't wonder HOW they had the types and amounts of poisons in the warheads during the initial reports, and in the follow-up reports?
Then - AS WITH ALL THE REST - are these unsubstantiated denials that suddenly crop up after ALL reports of wmd.
Very very odd. Don't you think?
WHO is denying this? WHO is ordering this to be denied? WHY?
Highly recommend reading this thread (the entire thread, not just the article)
Poland stands by 'poison gas' find Iraq
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1165017/posts
Political and military officials in Poland Saturday reaffirmed that missile warheads found by Polish troops in Iraq contained poison gas, despite denials by the multinational forces in Baghdad. "In each of the missiles found, the presence of a chemical substance was found. It was cyclosarin," a spokesman for the Polish contingent in Iraq, Colonel Robert Strzelecki, told public television.
"They were missiles that were made 15 years ago, which should have been destroyed and were not. They would certainly have very dangerous had they fallen into the hands of terrorists," said deputy defense minister Janusz Zemke.
Information I have is different from what this article say.
And that information is from Irak it self.
Guess we need to find out who the "coalition spokesman" is, and which coalition are they talking about.
It IS odd, now that I think about it. One can take it at face value, i.e., there are very few if any WMD in Iraq, and more-sophisticated follow-testing proves the absence of poisonous substances despite preliminary positive indications for each of these "finds".
Or one can speculate as to whether there is some conscious effort to downplay or cover-up the existence of WMDs. What would be the motive for doing that? One possible motive is to keep them out of the hands of terrorists and guerillas. Suppose the U.S. knew that there were caches of chemical weapons hidden throughout Iraq. Both sides would be frantically looking for them, but it would only take a few in the hands of the bad guys to cause enormous damage to civilians and our military forces.
So letting the world think that such weapons didn't exist, even to the extent of deliberately embarrassing the Bush Administration in order to lend a patina of credibility, could offer the best hope of keeping them from the enemy while we hunt them down.
Bush has taken a (temporary) political hit over the issue, but he can recoup the damage with interest in September or October when the U.S. finally announces that large stockpiles of WMDs have indeed been located, and that prior denials were merely wartime misdirection.
And what would be the justification for revealing the truth, especially so close to the election? Blame it on the new Iraqi government, which is now sovereign and for its own reasons refuses to go along with the cover-up any longer.
Hey, I can spin neat conspiracy theories all day....
What? Do we only believe them now when their pressers fit with the program?
I totally agree with your theory and have thought the same from the first claim of WMDs and the puzzling denials from our government. As long as the terrorists believe their are WMDs to be found they will continue to spend time and resources trying to acquire them.
"Or one can speculate as to whether there is some conscious effort to downplay or cover-up the existence of WMDs"
I am more in line with this version.
The left does not want the facts known because it will give support for the president, therefore they LIE.
The right does not want the facts known because WE (Papa Bush was CIA head at this time) placed Saddam into power and WE gave them the weapons. So the right LIES.
Neither the left nor the right believes the American citizen has the intelligence to accept the mere existance of these "wmd's" nor accept the possibility of major / world-wide catastrophe that these weapons can create .....
SO THEY BOTH LIE.
Big major error #1 on the Bush admin --- creating the pseudo-name "WMD" --- a non-existant word can be easily discredited.
They were fools.
The fools believe that the US put Saddam into power. Fools also believe that we armed Saddam when the actual facts are that France and Russia armed their fellow socialist tyrant.
Fools also make foolish statements when they don't have a clue as to the truth of the matter.
The fools believe that the US put Saddam into power...
read your history! We did!
Okay, so the WashPost says there was nothing in them, and the Polish Ministry of Defense says there was. Who do I believe?
Despite some naysayers, the Polish military stands by their earlier reporting. I think it is likely our people would prefer to keep things quiet so the terrorists don't know where to look.
No, we didn't. Saddam Hussein wasn't "put into power" by anyone, much less the United States. And the amount of weapons we sold to Hussein were less than the amount Denmark sold to him. Russia, China and France armed Saddam Hussein, not us.
--Boris
A socialist, aligned with the Soviet Union, with dreams of destablizing the enitre region with a pan-arabic state, whose first act was to nationalize the Iraqi Oil companies.
Your assertion, presented with no factual basis, makes absolutely no sense with the either the leftist "U.S. policy is based on Oil Corportations" or the more realistic Cold War perogatives of the time.
Hussein came to power through climbing through the bathist ranks. The Bathe party was in power before he even took power himself. If you have some super CIA secret documents that show some kind of U.S. support please share, the world would like to see them too.
As far as the U.S. arming Hussein after he took power. This too, is nothing but fantasy.
Hold on while i get a pic up.
empty or not, these shells aren't allowed in Iraq's inventory per the terms of the cease fire and other UN mandates. Iraq was and is still in violation. Now for the bigger question-when do we start listing the inventory we've found and the sources for them including production dates? The time to put the noose around those necks is long overdue IMHO.
Oh - it's "Pinko" Pincus, Dhimmi propagandist.
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