Posted on 05/06/2003 4:22:49 PM PDT by freeperfromnj
Washington, May 6 (Bloomberg) -- A mobile laboratory found in northern Iraq last week may have been used to produce biological agents for weapons, according to U.S. Defense Department officials.
The Pentagon or White House as early as tomorrow may announce discovery of what's being called a mobile biological production facility, said one of three Pentagon officials who spoke today on condition they not be named. Kurdish forces turned over the Iraqi Army trailer to the U.S., the aides said.
The trailer, if the findings are corroborated, would be the first piece of solid evidence of the chemical or biological weapons that U.S. President George W. Bush used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
``I'm not surprised that we've begun to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein, because he had a weapons program,'' Bush told reporters in the Oval Office today when asked about the mobile laboratory. He provided no specifics, saying, ``Over time, the truth will come out.''
A United Nations team led by Hans Blix searched Iraq for biological and chemical weapons from Nov. 27 until their work was suspended before the U.S.-led war began in March. They didn't find illegal arms. France and Russia, which opposed the war, want the UN inspectors to return, a proposal the U.S. has rejected.
No Agent Found
Two U.S. defense officials stressed today that the Iraqi trailer, designed to be pulled by a military truck, contained no agent or precursor chemical and had been thoroughly cleaned out.
U.S. analysts have concluded that it most likely was used for biological agent production because equipment installed in the trailer, such as filtration system that prevented the airborne exhaust of gases, had no apparent civilian use, one official said.
The trailer has some of the characteristics expected in such a facility and Defense Department officials are still checking into it, said the third official.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, in his Feb. 5 UN presentation of U.S. intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, described what he said were mobile labs; Pentagon briefings last year cited similar evidence.
Blix, in his final report to the UN, said several governments provided his inspectors with ``reasonably consistent reports'' about truck-mounted biological agent facilities.
``In theory, such facilities are possible and indeed, Iraq acknowledged that in the late 1980s such facilities were seriously considered,'' the March 6 report said.
If they existed, ``such factories would be easy to dismantle and the components used for innocent purposes,'' the report said.
Last Updated: May 6, 2003 16:49 EDT
My guess is the government is holding back on announcements so everything is checked out first and we avoid dribbling the information out, which would lead to media whining, "is that all?"
How about throwing Ritter into Sing Sing with "juvenile sex offender" tatooed on his butt?
But here's the antidote:
Simply Declare 'Victory', Declare WMD Found
As the "smoking guns" dribble out, Bush will be guaranteed 48 more months to do whatever he wants.....Dims should start saving their campaign expenditures for 2008.
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