Breaking? WMD report?

[Scarchin]

I just got a phonecall saying something big was about to break RE: WMD but I can't get to a TV. Anyone?

[Scarchin]

And STILL nothing on Drudge. If it weren't for the comprehensive links, I'd never go there.

[chae]

Don't know if I would, because of the whole immigration issue. That said, I really hope that Tancredo or Allan runs. Also, our Governor here in Missouri, Matt Blunt, is a future Presidential candidate, mark my words.

[Kleon]

I thought we found WMDs in Iraq two years ago. That's what I've been telling everyone.

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/mariani/2004/mariani052804.htm

[billbears]

500 chemical munitions found-- mostly artillery shells I really hate to break this news, but this is not news. WE (the US) taught and trained them how to make and use chemical weapons back when they were at war with Iran. We knew they had these.

SSSSHHHHHH!!!! That's rational thought. Also, note upthread the Iraqis admitted years ago they couldn't locate around 500 weapons according to a UN report. Another rational point.

Interesting though that this particular find has what appears to be Russian markings.

I imagine in many cases the Russians and US were working, perhaps not in collaboration, but synonmously on several instances after the Cold War was over. Better just cheer that WMDs were found and forget 'silly' issues like this....

[theophilusscribe]

WMDS in Iraq [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
http://corner.nationalreview.com/

Here is a very rough transcript of the Rick Santorum-Pete Hoekstra press conference from earlier this evening...(basically my understanding is Santorum caught wind of this from an administration official earlier this year. He's been working to track down and now has gotten part of a report declassified):

Congressman hoekstra and i are here today to say that we have found weapons of mass destruction in iraq, chemical weapons. It's a document that was developed by our intelligence community which for the last 2.5 Months i have been pursuing and thanks to the help of the chairman of the house intelligence committee, ultimately he was able to get it in his hands and i was able to look at it. I think both of us feel very strongly this is vitally important information that the amercian people needs to know and so i will read the portions of the unclassified version and then i'll turn it over to peter to make his comments about the significance of that and then i'll be happy to answer questions.

The unclassified version of this report states as follows follows. Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons [munitions] which contain sarin nerve agent. Despite the efforts to destroy the pre-war chemical [munitions], fill and unfilled are assessed to still exist.

Now, let me go off the quote. That means that in addition to the 500, there are filled and unfilled munitions existing in the company. Back on statement,

they could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorist and insurgent groups would have implications for forces in iraq. Possibility of use outside of iraq cannot be ruled out. The most likely munitions remaining are sarin and mustard filled project tiles.

I underscore filled. It 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.

This is an incredibly significant finding.

The idea that as my colleagues have repeatedly said this this debate on the other side of the aisle that there are no weapons of mass destruction is in fact false. We have found over 500 weapons of mass destruction and, in fact, have found that there are additional weapons of mass — chemical weapons still in the country….

Santorum will be on Hannity & Colmes later tonight.
Posted at 6:18 PM

[elhombrelibre]

Hugh Hewitt just played the Santorum statement.

[cwb]

"WE (the US) taught and trained them how to make and use chemical weapons back when they were at war with Iran.
We knew they had these."

---

That is absolute BS. Below is an old article that completely dispells this myth:

"The claim that "America armed Saddam" is also giant fallacy that is being perpetrated by the left. There was a research study done by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, that provided a breakdown of which nations supplied weapons to Iraq between 1973 and 2002. The country that led the pack was the former Soviet Union with over 57 percent. In second place came the appeasement loving French with 13 percent, followed by China at 12 percent, Czechoslovakia at 7 percent, Poland with 4 percent and Brazil with 2 percent. Even coming in well ahead of the US were countries such as Egypt, Romania, Denmark, Libya...with the United States of America following far behind in the 15th spot, with only 1 percent. There's a great chart here on FR (search: Arming Saddam) that shows this discrepency.

While Saddam did get some "limited" military suppport, most of what he got during the Iraq/Iran war was intelligence infomation. In fact, the evidence of this was the Gulf War in 1991. Just how many US made aircraft did you see fighting against our troops? How many US made tanks did you see? Their troops were using AK-47s, and their tanks were Soviet T-type tanks. It wasn't American F-fighers that were being dug up in the Iraqi dessert...or that were flown to Iran before the first Gulf War; those were French made Mirage's and Soviet made MIGs. Seriously...think about that.

I'm also getting so sick of the liberal spin that says we armed Saddam with biological and chemical "weapons." As Clinton's own director of the CDC (David Satcher) stated in 1995..."These transfers were not unusual and were in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines that encouraged the free exchange of biological samples among medical researchers." Saddam never got "weaponized" nerve agents or biological agents from the USA. Everything he got from us was a cooperative (UN and Western nations) effort to help Iraq deal with the rampant spread of contagious diseases and viruses that were killing his people. While this did include biological samples of viruses, this was a standard practice with the ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) and other medical institutions as they sent samples to medical researchers around the world...so they could develop immunizing agents to battle these diseases.

This was especially of interest for Baghdad University (who made the request) as they appealed to the UN, CDC and WHO for help in controlling the spread of Brucellosis, Diptheria, Hepatits, Cholera, TB and any number of contagious diseases. It's unfortunate, but in order to find a cure (or immunize) for a disease, the medical researcher usually needs a sample of the live virus. Unlike governments and their leaders, medical researchers and scientists have an unabiding trust for each other and their work. While this naivety can be dangerous, there was nothing sinister in these transfers as researchers from around the world think they are all working for the greater good. This is a far cry, however, from the claims that the US gave "weaponized" materials to Saddam Hussein.

Much of these so-called "chemicals" were also based on the same principal of fighting disease...which included Chlorines and pesticides that could be used in agriculture and in water treatment facilities to contain the spread of disease. Before the concern over bio/chem warfare, these were common practices that medical researchers egaged in world wide. Saddam never got instructions from the US on how to weaponize these agents. That he got from the USSR, as they not only instructed Saddam on the process, they contributed the entire weaponized component.

In hindsight this was obviously a stupid thing, but it was not illegal...and if it was, the Senate Banking Committee, who actually investigated these charges, would've brought charges against those who participated. While they did acknowledge material transfers to Iraq, nothing was done outside the law. Even they recognized that a "live" virus in its natural form, is far cry from a weaponized agent, that requires a lot of money, know-how, and the resources to mass-produce and dispence as a WMD...without destroying that virus. From the evidence gathered, there was no indcation that the US gave (sold) these resources to Saddam. And as we further learned after the GW inspections and the collapse of the USSR, much of those resources were acqired from the Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, this was all the ammunition the left needed to accuse the US of arming Saddam with bio/chem weapons. Transfers such as these, had been occuring since the late 1960's and was common practice within the medical community, before the fear of bio/chem warfare. Unfortunately, nowadays, anyone can turn chlorine and pesticide into a gas bomb...and fertilizer into a explosive device. This is a far cry, however, from the "Sarin" and "Mustard Gas" that was used by Saddam on the Kurds and Iranians. And the USA never gave Saddam any of these nerve agents. You wouldn't know that, though, from reading the accusations of others."

[demkicker]

Kristol also chided the Bush Administration for it's timidity in defending itself. I fully agree.

And I can't even think of an excuse as to why they've kept this information secret while letting themselves get pummeled. If this is a rope-a-dope strategy, it will backfire. Everyone will now question their motives and they will need to explain themselves. I hope it's good.

[presently no screen name]

these ARE from 1991


Don't think they have an expiration date!

[NutCrackerBoy]

25 short of a stockpile, just darn!

I've always known that Saddam Hussein was stupid/crazy; i.e. "25 shells short of a stockpile".

[Eagles Talon IV]

"...filled with mustard and sarin. He can't confrim if filled or not"

Were they filled or weren't they?

[HighWheeler]

"Since 2003, US forces have recovered over 500 WMD munitions filled with mustard and sarin. He can't confirm if filled or not,....

Hey, they convicted Tommy Chung for just having drug paraphernalia, he was only selling empty pipes.

[coconutt2000]

If you found a Spanish gold coin on an empty stretch of beach, and then you found another.

Do you run around telling people about it, or keep it quiet and keep on looking?

I think the secrecy surrounding the weapons that were found was to keep the terrorists out of the loop.

If Clinton were President, he'd have touted every single WMD found, including its location, pictures of what it looked like, and possible locations where more might be found, and names of people who might know more about Iraq's WMD program. Who knows how many human intel resources were burned by Clinton's glory seeking press conferences. Who knows how many operations were compromised or made more difficult by his grandstanding.

At least Bush isn't running around trying to improve his poll numbers at the expense of our troops, their mission, and our safety. And while some of us may disagree with him on this, I think the generals and security specialists who advise him probably brought their concerns that too soon of a release could compromise the search for WMDs and enable and encourage terrorists to more effectively search for WMD's on their own.

[MeanWestTexan]

" note upthread the Iraqis admitted years ago they couldn't locate around 500 weapons according to a UN report. Another rational point."

Yeah, like a guy in bankruptcy who can't find his wife's diamond ring and necklace.

They secreted this stash with pre-staged resistance forces/terrorists. How else did we find it, but capturing terrorists?! It'd be a pebble in a sandpile, otherwise.

[DoughtyOne]

You didn't know that?
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Heh heh heh...

[bnelson44]

Why so defensive?

[tx_eggman]

Fire away if you like.

Nice cut and paste from the duplicate thread ... but I believe avacado answered your concerns over there ...

[tobyhill]

I can see why the President didn't want this released knowing there's more out there or even the presumption that more might be there, to keep the terrorist that was already there out of the cookie jar. It is probably time some of these assessments and findings came out. I remember George Tenet saying we are never 100% right nor 100% wrong on any intelligence info but he never really elaborated.

[DJ MacWoW]

We knew they had these.

Actually, most of Iraqs military aid in the war with Iran came from Russia and not the US.

[bnelson44]

We did? What is your reference for that?