US HUNT 'SMOKING GUN'
Posted on 04/26/2003 11:53:15 PM PDT by Pro-Bush
US HUNT 'SMOKING GUN'
The United States is testing materials found in Iraq that may have been used to make chemical weapons.
Some reports say 14 unmarked drums showed the presence of nerve and blistering agents. Previous finds have proved to be false alarms.
It comes as US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld heads to the Middle East with the end of major combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Rumsfeld said the trip would take him to Afghanistan, but gave no other information on other countries he will visit.
It is his first visit to the region since the fall of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime.
"One ought not to think of this as a victory tour," he told reporters travelling with him.
"We've got a lot of hard work ahead.
"We've got people still being shot at, in some cases being killed and wounded."
"The task that we have before us in Iraq is one that is going to take a lot of focus, a lot of attention, a lot of effort over a period of time," he added.
Rumsfeld will meet leaders and US commanders in the region.
According to an Afghan foreign ministry spokesman, Rumsfeld was due to meet with President Hamid Karzai, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and other leading officials.
However, I think that, since we had people on the ground for many months before the official start of the war, especially in western Iraq (scuds), we may have collected that evidence before the war started.
But,I could be wrong. ;o)
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