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WMD In Iraq

One day the story of WMD in Iraq will be known, at least partially. For now, the information is coming out in bits and pieces. Bottom line -- those who said there was no WMD in Iraq were wrong. (Using the definition and standard they set for President Bush, I guess that means they were lying, right?)

Jay at Stop the ACLU has a great roundup of blogosphere reaction to the latest from Pete Hoekstra and Rick Santorum:

U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, joined Congressman Peter Hoekstra, (R-MI-2), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today to make a major announcement regarding the release of newly declassified information that proves the existence of chemical munitions in Iraq since 2003. The information was released by the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, and contained an unclassified summary of analysis conducted by the National Ground Intelligence Center. In March, Senator Santorum began advocating for the release of these documents to the American public.
"The information released today proves that weapons of mass destruction are, in fact, in Iraq," said Senator Santorum. "It is essential for the American people to understand that these weapons are in Iraq. I will continue to advocate for the complete declassification of this report so we can more fully understand the complete WMD picture inside Iraq."
The following are the six key points contained in the unclassified overview:
• Since 2003 Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent.
• Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.
• Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for Coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out.
• The most likely munitions remaining are sarin and mustard-filled projectiles.
• The purity of the agent inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives, and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal.
• It has been reported in open press that insurgents and Iraqi groups desire to acquire and use chemical weapons.

I have not checked in at the major liberal blogs to get reaction. My guess is that the conventional wisdom is still that Bush lied about WMD and that there was none in Iraq. (I will update later if I find this not to be the case.) What I find absolutely amazing is that many of those who believe Bush had something to do with the Twin Towers collapsing and who believe that John Kerry really won in Ohio find it impossible to believe that Saddam had WMD -- even though Bill Clinton, the UN, France and dozens of Democrat politicians said he did over and over again.

Over two years ago, I found Ken Timmerman's report of WMD found in Iraq quite compelling, but no one ever seemed to pay much attention to it. (Be sure to read it if you aren't already familiar with it .) Maybe eventually all the information found will be compiled and we will have a comprehensive picture of everything that has been found. Maybe the media will even decide to report it.

UPDATE: From A Real Ugly American (via Flopping Aces' excellent, must read post):

General Tom Mcinerney is reporting on Fox Hannity and Colmes right now that that the administration has been keeping this low profile to avoid exposing 3 of the 5 members of the UN Security council; Russia, China, and France. McInerney says these weapons will be traced to these countries, and asserts it is well known that Russia helped Saddam move most of his WMD stockpiles out of Iraq before the war.

I have on several occasions speculated about why the President would not be touting the information we have about WMD found in Iraq and had come to a similar conclusion. My theory was that if the public knew that certain other countries had been involved with moving WMD, they would demand action that we did not want to, or were not able to, take.

Check out Pajamas Media's WMD Files for previous blogging on the subject. Just for the record, I never doubted.

_{By: Lorie Byrd
Published: June 22, 2006 12:10 AM | | (200) | (10)| Filed under: Iraq}

pretend pundit linked with There Are No WMDs to See Here. Move Along Ya LookyLoos.

reverse_vampyr linked with There are no WMDs... in Liberal fantasyland

Radioactive Liberty linked with WMD in Iraq

Mike's Noise linked with US Intelligence reports: 500 chemical weapons shells recovered in Iraq

Assorted Babble by Suzie linked with WMD in Iraq Documents Prove it

Danny Carlton -- alias "Jack Lewis" linked with Even more MWD found in Iraq

Random Yak linked with Pay no attention to the WMD behind the curtain...

Oblogatory Anecdotes linked with Report: Hundred's of WMD's Found In Iraq.

Church and State linked with Will Lib's Take Their Words Back?

Flopping Aces linked with Didn’t The Democrats Say There Was No WMD?

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