This is something that has gone down the memory hole. During the invasion (thank God for the embedded reporters) they ran across a chemical plant that was not on any map. The plant manager was an Iraqi general, it was secured by an Iraqi battalion. The plant was surrounded by barbed wire fence and guard towers. The reporters told us it was a plant manufacturing nerve agent.
Then, a couple of days later, the newsies came back and told us, no, come to find out, its not nerve agent. Its agricultural pesticide.
A few days later they captured an Iraqi Army ammo dump, and in the ammo dump were barrels of nerve agent. Then, the next day, they came back and said, no, again, our bad, its not nerve agent, its agricultural pesticide. This actually happened a couple more times, on one occasion the reporters got sick from exposure to the chemical. And in each case, after initially reporting that it was nerve agent, they came back later to correct themselves, agricultural pesiticide.
Agricultural pesiticide is nerve agent. If you spread it on Iranians or Kurds, its nerve agent. If you dilute it and spread it on your fields, its pesticide. But for me, if its manufactured by an army general and stored in ammo dumps, its correct to report it as nerve agent.
My question then and my question now, is who had the power to make WMD disappear by simply renaming it? And with Bush’s presidency hanging by a thread, how is it that this sleight of hand was allowed to stand? You could say, something similar happened with the whole Plame/Wilson affair, where Libbey was convicted for something Richard Armitage said, and both Armitage and Powell and the prosecutor agreed to remain silent until after the conviction. You could say something similar happened with the whole Niger uranium story, where everyone agreed Bush lied even though the Iraqi visits to Niger were public knowledge (and you’ll note no one ever has asked where Libya got its uranium).
Something similar happened when they posited the notion that there was no connection between Bin Ladin and Saddam, even though Bin Ladin was recruited by Egyptian Islamic Jihad, who formed his inner circle, and EIJ was on Saddam’s payroll. Another truth hiding in plain sight everyone has agreed not to notice.
I remember these reports too, and then suddenly buried or rescinded. I found it extremely odd. Till the day I die, I will always believe that Iraq had WMD till Saddam regime was destroyed. They were removed, destroyed, stolen and hidden by neighboring countries, politic enemies of Bush, or by terrorist. I keep hoping one day they will find a forgotten abandon underground warehouse filled with old anthrax shells.
Marron,
That was an excellent response. Thank you for having a great memory.
I hope everyone who read that will share it with others who think this curveball is valid. it’s a distraction. but we should never forget that Bush thought he was doing the right thing going to Iraq and he had the UN and many countries who agreed. The world is better off without Saddam and his monster sons.