Weldon: WMD discovery justifies invasion

Delco Times ^ | June 30, 2006 | William Bender

[FairOpinion]

U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon presided over a House Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday in which the commander of the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) acknowledged that the degraded chemical munitions revealed in last week’s report constitute weapons of mass destruction.

While the usefulness of the approximately 500 pre-Gulf War munitions is disputed by weapons experts, Weldon said in his opening statement their discovery over the past three years justifies the March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime.

"I want to be absolutely clear about what we are talking about here. These 500 chemical munitions are weapons of mass destruction," said Weldon, R-7, of Thornbury. "Some may want to play down the significance of this report or even deny that WMD have been found in Iraq."

Weldon ... indicating that during his next trip to Iraq he would question military leaders on potential WMD sites that have yet to be searched.

Thursday’s hearing was in response to an April 2006 intelligence report that was partially declassified last week and released by U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra. The declassified section of the report said the projectiles preceded the 1991 Gulf War and contained degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent.

[Dr. Frank fan]

But in a way, it's moot. If we had known this was all we were going to find, I don't think we would have made that case in the first place.

Exactly right. Another reason these blithe "we wouldn't have invaded if..." claims people so easily and casually toss out there make no sense. In any given counterfactual the "case for war" would likely be different as needed and we may have still invaded. Or not, as the case may be.

My point from the get-go (perhaps inartfully stated) is that I don't think it's likely to redound to their benefit in the way they hope.

Indeed, it might not. Nevertheless, it vindicates the WMD claims at the UN, as a simply matter of fact. To me, that's why it's relevant. When people imply it's not relevant, this is what they are missing.

I don't think it will convince anybody who actually believes he lied.

Me neither :) but it should, logically.

[FairOpinion]

Bush HAS the authority to declassify information, the NYT does NOT.

[The_Reader_David]

I keep asking which pesticides? It's a serious question: parathion and TEPP are lethal to humans in doses only twice the lethal dose of GA nerve gas. The Canadian Intelligence Service used to have a public document on their website listing both as potential terrorist weapons.

Does anyone on FR know which organophosphate pesticide was found in bulk at an Iraqi military site? I've done Google searches intermittently since the find in 2004, and still haven't gotten an answer.

[musicman]

"That's fine, but it has nothing to do with these old degraded munitions that people keep hyping."


If you have the time, please read the following thread. The link to the BBC article is there. If you click on it, it is the second story on the page, and CONTINUES down to the bottom.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1654560/posts

If you take the time, and read the article,it even tells how the piles of these "old degraded munitions" waiting for pick up by the military for destruction, are being STOLEN AND SOLD on the black market, before some of them can be collected for destruction.

They would make a NASTY IED.......

[FairOpinion]

I just did a quick Google search and didn't find what pesticides, but came across this article:

U.S.: Mobile labs found in Iraq

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/14/sprj.irq.labs/

April 15, 2003

U.S. troops have found 11 mobile laboratories buried south of Baghdad that are capable of biological and chemical uses, a U.S. general said Monday.

Troops found the mobile laboratories near a weapons plant outside Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad. Though buried, they appeared to contain about $1 million worth of equipment and were "clearly marked so they could be found again," Freakley said.

Last week, troops from the 101st Airborne found a stash of chemicals, which was investigated as possible nerve agents, but the material turned out to be pesticides, Freakly said. The United States will further examine the latest find, he said.

=====


Now why would someone use a million dollar worth of MOBILE equipment, then bury it, if all they were doing is manufacturing innocent pesticides????

[GW and Twins Pawpaw]

I certainly don't know. As for an exercise in logic, it seems that if large quantities of chemical protective suits were found, including antidote kits, then there were, or had been, lethal chemicals nearby.

[FairOpinion]

Here is a little bit I came across:

Iraq's Five Most Toxic SItes to be Decontaminated

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2005/2005-11-14-06.asp


"The Al Suwaira pesticided warehouse complex was used to store, mix and dispatch a range of pesticieds over its 30-year life. These included mercury, zinc, and calcium compounds, as well as organo-chlorine and organo-phosphorus substances like lindane, heptachlor and DDT."

[FairOpinion]

Chemical weapons:

sulfur, mustard, VX, chlorine, sarin, H. Cyanide


See my previous post go to the article, it mentions losts of H. cyanide was found also.

[FairOpinion]

Sorry about the piecemeal post -- I forgot to post the link to the site which identified what are considered chemical weapons.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/biochem.weapons/

[P-40]

Where the heck is his report on what Sandy Berger took? He told Savage it would be out soon.

[fatima]

:}Bump.

[do the dhue]

degraded chemical munitions

I hate the way this is worded. It makes it sound like the munitions may be harmless. The fact is, it is not as deadly further away from detonation as it once was; but the fact also remains that the munitions could still kick up a killer cloud.

I think the Military used these words when they released the info to the press. The press is running with it. Trying to make it sound like no big deal. The only thing I can think of is this:

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040624-112920-5897r.htm

Do they want to down play the deadliness so terrorist lose a little interest? I don't know. Or is it because the Media is communist and they hate the good ol' U.S. of A? I probably would pick 'the media is communist'. That is almost obvious.

[jonrick46]

"Bush HAS the authority to declassify information"

He does?

[FairOpinion]

Yes, the President does have the authority to declassify information.

I don't recall where I read it, but it was in an article that sounded authoritative and it makes sense. The President is our Commander-In-Chief.

The President can decide that previously classified information may serve national security better, if it's declassified. That is not equivalent to people willy nilly releasing classified information, the release of which is harmful to our national security.

[FairOpinion]

This poster should be sent to all the MSM and the Dems in Congress.

[do the dhue]

This poster should be sent to all the MSM and the Dems in Congress.

They would cry because I would be referring to them as a traitor.

IF one has the freedom to act like a traitor, then another surely has the freedom of speech to call you a traitor.

And that is a big IF too.

[jveritas]

Do you have a list of these Pesticides? I translated a document two days ago that talk about Iraqi plans to produce prohibited materials like Potassium Cyanide, Sodium Cyanide and another material. Also in these document were listed names of Pesticides. Please see link.

Plans To Produce Prohibited Chemical Weapons Precursors http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1657480/posts

[jveritas]

Excellent post.

[ikez78]

Joseph,
I was about to go to bed. I just wanted to say Hello to you and wish you well.
When you get time can you send an email back to me with a link to any story you may know of on those perfume bottles that were going to be used to store sarin and mustard and be sent to the U.S.?
Thanks and take care,
Mark

[The_Reader_David]

The only two the Canadian Intelligence Service regarded as feasible for use as nerve agents are parathion and TEPP, also called Ethyl pyrophosphate; Tetraethyl pyrophosphate; Bladan; Fosnex; HETP; Kilmite; Nifos; Pyfos; Tetraspa; Vapotone; and Tetraethylpyrophosphate.

My recollection of the Canadian document indicated they were both about half as toxic as GA, but

http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/hazmap_generic?tbl=TblAgents&id=261

indicates TEPP is twice as toxic as parathion, so it's the one most interesting.

Curiously, the Haz-Map site does not list any of the pesticide names from your recently translated document, so there is a question as to what the North American names of the compounds they were producing are. A Google search turns up Focran as an organophosphate pesticide common in Pakistan, Avitrol as a poison for killing birds, and only your document translation as a reference for the other two.