Posted on 06/24/2006 11:17:55 AM PDT by Wiz
June 23, 2006: The revelation that Coalition forces have discovered about 500 shells containing chemical weapons (mostly sarin nerve gas and mustard gas) since 2003, most of which are pre-1991 Gulf War vintage, leads to the question as to why the U.S. waited so long to reveal this. The U.S. government has taken a beating for supposed failures to find weapons of mass destruction in the press, and from political opponents. There have been some discoveries that have made the news, most notably an incident in May, 2004, when terrorists used a 155-millimeter shell loaded with sarin in an IED. The shell detonated, exposing two soldiers to sarin nerve gas (both of whom survived and recovered). It is this attack that provides one explanation as to why many of the finds have been classified.
If the United States were to have announced WMD finds right away, it could have told terrorists (including those from al-Qaeda) where to look to locate chemical weapons. This would have placed troops at risk – for a marginal gain in public relations. A successful al-Qaeda chemical attack would have been a huge boost for their propaganda efforts as well, enabling them to get recruits and support (many people want to back a winner), and it would have caused a decline in American morale in Iraq and on the home front.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
Proves the AutoPen for Nerve Agents of Atropine and 2PamChloride works as advertised in training.
Somewhere earlier in the thread some kind Freeper found the story.
Thank God they were ignorant.
Headlines across the nation should read, "BUSH PROVED RIGHT. WMD FOUND IN LARGE QUANITIES."
Since the entire opposition argument repeated by Democrats and other anti-Americans was based on the single claim that there were NEVER ANY WMD in Iraq the finding should have been made right away.
That story was actually announced on ABC News the next day by Peter Jennings in the typical "so what" dismissive tone he had . The story was abruptly dropped from view by the media as were all other subsequent discoveries of Hussein's wmds. The current spin is that because the wmds are slightly older (as if one manufactured in 1990 is far less dangerous than one made in 1992), they are of no consequence.
The fact is that ever since the start of the war, we have been bombarded (no pun intended) by Big Media with the lie that "Saddam had no wmds!!". Now we know he had hundreds that he failed to reveal or destroy. So Big Media simply moves the goalposts to claim that the shells and canisters are harmless. Which leads me to want to detonate one in a crowded room full of lib naysayers. We'd see how "harmless" they were.
Can't give you the link, but there has been two incidents. One with mustard and one with nerve gas.
No, it is the ideal IED. It means it will kill in a large area plus the area will be contaminated. The main problem with one of these is that EOD teams can not blow them in place and probably can not use a robot on them due to the chance of dispercing the chemical agent.
Even during WWI, chemical land mines were used. They are very, very effective.
They were captured by the Iraqi army.
If it was a binary round, then it was something new.
And to this day French Farmers are still encountering live Chem Devices in thier fields that are just as potent as they day they were embedded in the ground by the war.
The main problem is on the beaches in Belgium and Holland where hundreds of tons were sea dumped after the war. It is beginning to wash in.
Good find, Freepers were right on this reasoning from the beginning I noticed.
There's a link to one of the stories about it, further down in the thread. I'd be curious on your thoughts, if you take a look at it.
If we had not taken out Saddam's command and control capability in the first few hours, our troops would have encountered a lot of gas attacks.
Great post, and thank you for the full transcript.
Yowza!
Saddam was very, very close to getting from under the the UN sanctions. That would give Usama a new home and it would likely be in the Kurd area, so I can imagine Saddam gassing those he missed the first time.
As it was, he was able to build 52 Palaces (I think) during the sanction period. He complained that he needed the sanctions lifted "for the children". I imagine each had/has a tunnel. I'd love to see a map as to how they were positioned.
"It seems like everyone in the Western World has forgotten that the U.S. discovered an advanced MIG fighter buried under 20 feet or so of sand in Iraq. Is it likely that Air to Air missles were also buried under the sand? Sure. What about Air to Ground missles? Sure. What about other weapons? Hmmmm. This entire debate is mierde de Toro."
"F- the French."
I was wearing just that T shirt today! My son, a lefty, is going to host me in a couple of weeks (Steamboat Springs); he mentioned that it would include Bastille Day. I'm planning to take along my t-shirt to display that day!! Oughta be a gas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.