U.S. Army Digs Up Weapons Cache in Iraq

AP on Yahoo ^ | 12/20/05 | Ryan Lenz - ap

[manwiththehands]

Commanders in the 101st Airborne Division said an Iraqi tipped them off to the buried weapons ...

This is great news!

I hope the tipper gets a big tip. This Iraqi is the real hero. He probably risked his life and the life of his family doing this.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks....

[swheats]

I can only imagine what a roving metal detector would bring up. Thank God for Iraqis that speak up.

[Americanexpat]

I wish they would give more information on what they mean by rockets and missles. Do they mean RPGs and Surface to air hand helds? Or do they mean Sams and larger rockets amd missles. You would think if a reporter was interviewing an Army officer he would at least be specific.

[Eagle Eye]

Unless you expect to find Kerry, Dean, or Pelosi's prints on them, you'd waste your time. Do you really think there is a database of prints of all the people in the region?

[Izzy Dunne]

the plastic around some of the rockets — of Soviet, German and French origins

How did they get fresh plastic from SOVIET origins?
Nothing fresh from Soviet Union in 14+ years.

[Eagle Eye]

Yeah, if they can move them safely they blow them all in a controlled blast. If not, they blow them in place. Same thing they do with IEDs that we find before they find us.

At Al Asad they used to blow a pile every afternoon about 3 pm and it would give a huge mushroom cloud. Rumor was that there was enough to blow every day for a couple of years.

[Past Your Eyes]

Mother "load"???? C'mon, Ryan. C'mon, Ryan's editor. Gimme a break.

[lawnguy]

Sounds to me like that would be plenty to do "mass destruction".

[Eagle Eye]

WMD's are a special class of weapon, not just a lot of explosives. Chemical weapons were/are there in Iraq. (notice that is a declarative statement, not speculative nor questioning)

There were crates upon crates, pallets upon pallet of ordnance at these caputured bases. Then there's the ordnance that they buried or tried to bury.

Then there's the stuff that was buried in the country side.

Oh yeah, there's lots of stuff there.

[JohnBovenmyer]

We had a LOT of people in camps and prisons earlier. Many have since been released. We SHOULD have fingerprints on them. I presume Saddam had fingerprint records on many, but don't know whether or how easily we can access those records. I trust we have fingerprints on file from other sources on some persons of interest. You certainly can't dust the whole ammo dump, but some inspired spot checking might provide useful intelligence. Its a long shot, but an easy one. Besides we might catch a match later and we don't want him to be released after a routine screening.

[Eagle Eye]

Its a long shot, but an easy one.

Obviously you think you know what you're talking about. Obviously I don't think you do.

[Chode]

who... me???

[Paul_Denton]

LOL

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

"It's better to work with Americans than against us."

Well said, Lt. Vardaro.

[GodfearingTexan]

These "service records" he describes as evidence that Saddam hid the weapons is kinda stupid. He had the whole country to store weapons at all times while he was in charge, he had no need to hide them. He hid airplanes while we were looking for them because they were high value and we could see them from the air. He had no reason to hide artillery rounds and rockets. No point whatsoever. God, reporters are just so stupid.

[Capn TrVth]

The plastic around some of the rockets of Soviet, German and French origins appeared to be fresh and not deteriorated. Le Oops!

[financeprof]

"where bombs made with loose ordinance"

What, they make bombs with loose papers torn out of local law books? An ordinance is a local law. There's no I in ordnance. Ordnance goes boom. Ordinance doesn't. Sheesh, you'd think that the AP could assign a reporter to a war zone who'd know the difference. Then again--what was I thinking when I wrote that? This guy was probably covering the Podunk city hall before he drew the short straw and got sent to Iraq.

[RightOnline]

"Mother load"??? Mother "load"??? Good God, is this what passes for a "journalist" these days????

[armymarinemom]

Tips keep increasing at a fantastic rate! MSM chooses to ignore good news.