Posted on 06/21/2006 5:52:18 PM PDT by mylife
Nothing this morning. The lead story is the degrading of the Marines. They are even ignoring the torture of our two soldiers.
This sucks.
Feel free to think whatever you want. I won't even insist on coherence.
Saddam did not hide them at all. These were mostly rounds stored in small chaches throughout Iraq, mostly up north to prevent a total loss should their arsenals be destroyed. They were forgotten and are now being found and put oon the market by less than savory characters.
They would do nothing unless you got hurt by the explosion. Sarin that is more than a few years old poses virtually no threat.
No, sarin will not remail lethal at all. I say again, these were canisters that had been buried in underground bunkers and forgotten. If you've seen pictures of them they are so corroded they would no longer go through a canon. The sarin inside the containers was not in binary form so they were particularly useless after even a year or two.
I think you are missing my point. I am not defending Saddam nor denying we had good cause to invade. My point is, those sarin rounds were buried in groups of 20 to 30 all over Iraq, and then forgotten. Those rounds have mostly been bought from dealers who get together with farmers who find them buried in concrete bunkers on their property (blowing sand will cover an entrance in less than a year). They bring one to the USG reps and then promise to bring the rest for a price. We buy them only because they pose a risk to anyone fooling around with them, albeit a small one, plus if we create a market for them someone might eventually bring us something that is genuinely lethal. But, they have absolutely no value as a weapon in their present form or disassembled. The reason the pentagon and the White House have been so quiet is because they are aware of this. When everyone was convinced Saddam had WMD it was not with the expectation of finding some no longer lethal weapons, it was with the expectation of finding stuff that was still lethal.
Well, you are right. I spent all of 2005 in Iraq and was involved in many of the finds or purchases from dealers. We never found any sarin that analysis didn't show had any lethality left in it. One of the common refrains was, "it is so weak you'd have to drink it to get hurt." I would definitely not store it in my basement, but then I wouldn't store 50 gallon drums of chlorine or ammonia in my basement, either; but I do keep a gallon or so in my laundry room.
They are a technical violation, but not a violation that warrants any efforts by Santorum. But the rest of your point is spot on. Saddam could have had production going on all sorts of WMDs weeks after it was clear we were not going to invade and that is the actual threat Saddam posed. Had we backed down and shown an unwillingness to do something about it by invading, as the UN had shown time and time again, he would most definitely have kick started his WMD production.
They were not extremely lethal. I've seen them, and been there when they were drilled and tested. They had absolutely no potency left at all. They weren't even in binary form.
"In my opinion, this is simply the first of such "news" to be released... The evil Karl Rove still has "worse" news in store for the traitorous Democrats."
This has definitely been my opinion all along. As people scream (including me at times) about the Bush administration's failure to counteract the "No WMDs, Bush Lied" mantra I am comforted knowing there is a method behind it.
There will be lots of such news before November. And the Democrats are playing right into it -- soft on national security -- which will get them unelected once again.
"They had absolutely no potency left at all."
Why does the 2003 Iraq survey report say the exact opposite, that they were extremely lethal, then?
This UN report completely disputes your last 10 posts.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1653841/posts
You seem to know a bit about this and seem to be sincere in trying to be perfectly clear as to what was actually found. I will assume that your motives are for accuracy and are not nefarious. Now let's take a look at what you are over looking:
1) The armistice, which was agreed to at the end of GWI, obligated Saddam to provide assistance in located MWD's left over.
2)The UN "inspectors" were sent in to confirm that MWD'S had been destroyed and or turned over. This required the cooperation of Sadaam's people.
3)Saddam violate 16 UN resolutions which obligated his cooperation.
4) Saddam had been advised to cooperate or face serious consequences.
5) Had Saddam had a serious intent to cooperate, all of these shells and probably many others would have been found and turned in years ago.
6) The only method available to secure the USA and our people was to take the SOB out by any means necessary.
7) The Shells found are proof of his lack of cooperation and deceitfulness Correct me where I am wrong
They have invested years in "Bush lied ---" and not about to give in - no matter
And have you seen the lab reports too? I bet you haven't. I bet you're assuming more than a few things.
I am not aware of any mustard gas. Every shell we found in Iraq in 2004 had Sarin gas. My point is, the shells we found numbered around 500 which matches the numbers Santorum quoted so I suspect we are talking the same thing. I am not saying that it is not possible there are other WMDs as yet undiscovered, I am only referring to what I suspect Santorum is talking about.
I think there were several good reasons for invading Iraq. The fact we haven't found significant quantities of WMDs is only an issue that keeps the left happy. We are winning the war and will be able to withdraw sometime in the next couple of years and leave behind a somewhat stable government. To me that is far more significant than WMDs.
The field tests indicated they were extremely weak, the lab tests in the US confirmed it. But, except for a few tested rounds the balance were destroyed on sight by military EOD teams.
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