Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is Said to Assert

The NY Times ^ | 042103 | JUDITH MILLER

[F-117A]

Do you get your material from Comical Ali (aka Bagdad Bob)?

[Valin]

bump

[the_Watchman]

The scientist also told American weapons experts that Iraq had secretly sent unconventional weapons and technology to Syria, starting in the mid-1990's, and that more recently Iraq was cooperating with Al Qaeda

On the other hand, this could explain why the Iraqi's were unwilling to provide the U.N. inspectors with reports demonstrating that they had destroyed the WMD's they were known to have possessed. Anything that wend to Syria could not have been accounted!

[WOSG]

The officials' account of the scientist's assertions and the discovery of the buried material, which they described as the most important discovery to date in the hunt for illegal weapons, supports the Bush administration's charges that Iraq continued to develop those weapons and lied to the United Nations about it. Finding and destroying illegal weapons was a major justification for the war.

Hot damn! ... Now let's see the leftists eat their words again.

[HardStarboard]

>>>A scientist who claims to have worked in Iraq's chemical weapons program for more than a decade...<<<

Lets put this guy in the Iraqi-scientist-witness- protection-program!

Just saw peice on MSNBC where the looters had broken open cases and cases (looked like maybe 500 or more) of AK47's and made off with them. An Iraqi hanging around the warehouse said he, "hoped they would be used to wage Jihad".

You know against who.....our guys and anyone cooperating with us - like this scientist.

So far we have beat the snot out of the Saddam's forces, the Baath party irregulars, and the Radical Muslim Islamists..

Now its time to break their backs!

[WOSG]

"Could we have made a horrible mistake? I pray not. WE MUST FIND THE WEAPOONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION or history will make us a laughing stock."

oh really. I mean after finding not just salman pak terrorist training site, after blowing away al-ansar brigades and finding the PLF terrroist training camp, and nexts of 'fedayeen, and torture cells, and freeing children from prison, and freeing the whole nation from a psychopath and finding out that oil-for-palaces program was a UN sponsored farce ... after all that, and the Iraqis almost with one voice saying good riddance to Saddam - we will look fooolish because behind the tons and tons and tons of munitions we are destroying, behind the nuclear sites, and the military installations, we cant find the 'smoking gun' of active WMDs???


"the weapons that were the only reason for this war. "
No, this was reason #3 on a list of 5 reasons.
we were correct on 4 out of 5. This article is surer indication we were correct on the fifth one too.

[WOSG]

"On the other hand, this could explain why the Iraqi's were unwilling to provide the U.N. inspectors with reports demonstrating that they had destroyed the WMD's they were known to have possessed. Anything that wend to Syria could not have been accounted!"

Right! Give that man a cigar!

[WOSG]

right, chemical weapons are great against innocent villagers of poor conscripts stuck in trenchs, not so great against a fast-moving mobile army with sealed venting systems on their armor that make them immune from WMD attacks and well-equipped and well-trained troops with MOPP suits galore.

They would have just ended up killing civilians if they pulled that stunt. That would have been the main reason it would have slowed us down - we'd have stopped to assist others affected by it.

[HardStarboard]

>>>The left-wing opposition has staked everything on our not finding WMD.<<<

For what its worth, I think Bush Rummy & Co. are keeping quiet about WMD discoveries. My hope is that they are saving up the revelations for one big news conference that will blow the lefties and war critics (one in the same aren't they) clean out of the water.

He's out smarted the opposition at alomost every turn....it would be out of character for GWB to not try to do the same on this very very hot topic that the left has staked so much of their reputation and credibility on!

[MississippiMan]

This is fantastic news and if totally accurate must be fully exploited.

Yes, and it's a stunningly pro-Bush/pro-American piece to have come from the NYT. Wonderful.

MM

[Kevin Curry]

WE MUST FIND THE WEAPOONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION or history will make us a laughing stock.

*Yawn*

You've been DUped, newbie.

[AFPhys]

You are completely right. The most important reasons for the BASH were the humanitarian reasons and the terrorist connections. The Chem/Bio/Nuke reasoning was secondary and connected to those, and discovery of these is icing on the cake. We already have done a tremendous good deed, so long as we work our darndest to ensure the Iraqis form a less brutal government.

[Diddley]

Son of a diddly

Say what?
:-)

[AFPhys]

>>>"the weapons that were the only reason for this war. "

No, this was reason #3 on a list of 5 reasons. we were correct on 4 out of 5. This article is surer indication we were correct on the fifth one too. "

Excellent post.

[BagCamAddict]

We are facing a catastrophy if we do not find the weapons that were the only reason for this war. Do you realize the carnage and destruction that is only justified if we find that the UN inspectors were wrong?...

Well, it's clear by your statements that you know nothing about:

(a) chemical or any other WMD;

(b) the actual process of FINDING them in the first place, given that they had years to hide them in an entire COUNTRY;

(c) the fact that we can't hunt for WMD while we're in the middle of a WAR (Hint: the WMD are not out in plain sight marked with big red arrows);

(d) the oppression the Iraqis lived under, with threat of DEATH for talking to us - such that it will take TIME for knowledgable people to feel safe enough to come forward with information;

(e) the fact that many of the WMD have been hidden, buried, compartmentalized, by a regime that has had years of practice in hiding, deceiving, etc.;

(f) the physical processes of sampling, testing, and documenting the existence of WMD once they are found;

(g) the politics of making sure our case is irrefutable once we present it, in its entirety, not peacemeal;

(h) the amount of TIME these things take (Hint: it takes OVER A YEAR to investigate and document a single Superfund Cleanup Site).

.

The question is, do you WANT to know enough to have an opinion on this subject? Or do you want to remain ignorant, like the media wants you to be? Do you want to operate from FACTS, or from "Henny Penny The Sky is Falling" ignorant anxiety?

If you want FACTS, then stop believing everything the ignorant media tells you. It will take a minimum of 6 months before we have decent PRELIMINARY results from our INITIAL findings. It will take more like 2-3 YEARS before we see a decent report on the WMD in Iraq.

But do not worry, we WILL find them, because they ARE there. It just takes TIME to scour an entire country when you are looking for things that no one wants you to find.

[Eastbound]

"WE MUST FIND THE WEAPOONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION or history will make us a laughing stock."

Is that something like HARPOONS of Mass Destruction? ;)

At any rate, the greatest WMD in the area was dis-assembled and evaporated through 'destructive analysis,' although I think we are still searching for some trace DNA. Too bad this wasn't dealt with in the early '90's. It would have saved thousands of people who were killed by the perp and his regime. Better late than never, right? Laughing stock? Surely you jest. Read the history book after it hits the stands. The only laughing stock you'll find in it will be the 'Ballad of Baghdad Bob.'

[Rockitz]

Action against Syria can't wait.

Agreed. I'm pretty sure that's why Cheney started hacking on Syria so soon after we took Baghdad. He was preparing the world for further action in the region.

[Prince Charles]

Pay attention in class next time.

[Mitchell]

Now that Saddam is "dead" he can safley resume false-flag attacks.

Whether Saddam is at large, or under protective custody/exile somewhere, or dead, it's still true that there is probably somebody who now has physical possession and control of the anthrax, and there is probably also somebody who knows how the weaponization process works.

If these individuals are still alive and at large, they can make all kinds of mischief. What would stop them?

[BagCamAddict]

And someone pointed out on a different thread the other day:

Another reason for us to keep quiet about finding WMD is that we don't want all the terrorists in the world going over there on a scavenger hunt. If we announce that we're finding WMD here and there, we'll have mass "looting" of the WMD by various bad guys. Better to keep it under wraps until we have as much of it secured as possible.