[corkoman]

oh great. now what.

[jnarcus]

Well let's see there was cyanide in the water of te Euphrates. Cbs has reported the effects of Sarin on troops as of today (Sunday US time). Some Tabun has been found in te south and Ricin in the North. And there is some word of anthrax tipped shells...where is the WMD it is f***ing everywhere if anyone would pay some attention

[nutmeg]

bump

[TenaciousZ]

Nevertheless, they would like to collect real evidence of weapons. "If we don't," said the concerned Defense Department official, "you can bet the liberals will make a big deal out of it."

And of course, if we do collect real evidence, the hardcore liberals will claim we planted the weapons anyway (a theory already gaining currency on lefty website postings). We can't win. Onward anyway.

[Servant of the Nine]

Baghdad Bob is getting anxious to knife the administration.

So9

[Timesink]

"If we don't," said the concerned Defense Department official, "you can bet the liberals will make a big deal out of it."

Story of our lives. Them "making a big deal out of it" didn't work in 2000, and didn't work in 2002. It won't work in 2004, either.

[elbucko]

The real reason for attacking the Iraqi regime always has been disconnected from its public rationale.

It certainly has. The real reason, IMHO, was to get rid of Hussein and the suicide bombers he was paying $25,000 per "Martyr" that were bringing Israel to its knees. With an unlimited supply of oil, Hussein had an unlimited supply of cash and therefore, unlimited homicide bombers. The only way for Israel to stop them was to target Baghdad with a nuclear strike.

Bush stepped up to the plate with conventional weapons and hit the ball out of the park.

The nuclear weapons we are interested in are in Israel. And we want them to stay there.

[XBob]

What ever happened to those 3 mysterious Iraqi cargo ships, with no manifests and no destinations, which were sailing in circles south of Pakistan several months back?

[dead]

Novak's right. It will be quite embarrassing if we don't find substantial evidence of WMD.

But the Bush administration has been nothing if not politically brilliant in letting their critics make total asses of themselves. It's quite possible that they are sitting on the evidence, waiting for the critics, eurinals and domestic, to bitch about the lack of evidence. After letting them dig their own holes for a few days, they'll release the proof to the media.

[poet]

Hmmm, free the Iraqi people while passing restrictive laws limiting the freedoms of Americans. Next mis-direction. "War" and terror alerts are such great diversions to to keep our attention averted.

FReegards

[XBob]

Iraqi 'terror ships' at sea
By Patrick McGowan, Evening Standard
19 February 2003

Three huge cargo ships feared to be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction are being tracked around the world by British and American intelligence. The vessels, which have been at sea for three months, are believed to be carrying weapons smuggled out through Syria or Jordan.

They are all refusing frequent requests to provide details of their cargo or destination and officials are worried that the vessels are maintaining radio silence in clear contravention of maritime law, which states all ships should be in constant communication. Despite grave suspicions of what is on board, Britain and the US are afraid to order interception by naval ships because of fears the crews would scuttle the vessels, each between 35,000 and 40,000 tonnes.

If they are carrying chemical, biological or nuclear weapons this could cause catastrophic environmental damage. The vessels have called briefly at a handful of Arab countries, including Yemen, but they have been resupplied at sea with food, fuel and water by other ships.

[Migraine]

Well, ya see, Bob, it's like this. This country was run like a gigantic mafia for 25 years. Now, Bob, have you ever heard of a mobster getting caught with the murder weapon? No, Bob, it's their job to make sure there is no evidence. But wait, Bob; the cops have a job, too, and sometimes, they can get someone to rat out the mob and tell where the bodies are, the murder weapons, the documents, all that stuff, Bob (you pro-Arab osshole). How can you be so freaking naive, as old as you are?

[xm177e2]

That leaves chemical weapons, which few military experts put in the WMD category.

The UN definition of WMD includes chemical and biological weapons. The whole pretext for this war was Iraq's flouting UN Inspections.

[Cold Heat]

Novac needs to lighten up a bit. All will be revealed in due course.

This stuff is largely being held for a full investigation later. I would think about a week or so, they will have some running totals on quantities and maybe even some shipping documents to Syria.

[VMI70]

Bump so I can insert it into every WMD thread that is started by the wolf crying FReepers.

Starting these threads without incontrovertible evidence makes us the DU of the right. It's not so much the articles themselves, as it is the idiotic replies.

[benjaminthomas]

That leaves chemical weapons, which few military experts put in the WMD category.

Huh? Now chemical weapons aren't WMD? I can see the spin now:

"Well, we found 11 neutron bombs, but those aren't really WMD because they only kill people. They don't even knock down buildings or anything..."

And in a multi-purpose post, kudos to Dead on the use of term "eurinal". Don't know if you coined that, but it's the first time I've seen it and I'm LOL.

[G Larry]

Report: U.S. Finds Missiles with Chemical Weapons

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. forces near Baghdad found a weapons cache of around 20 medium-range missiles equipped with potent chemical weapons, the U.S. news station National Public Radio reported on Monday.
NPR, which attributed the report to a top official with the 1st Marine
Division, said the rockets, BM-21 missiles, were equipped with sarin and mustard gas and were "ready to fire." It quoted the source as saying new U.S. intelligence data showed the chemicals were "not just trace elements."

It said the cache was discovered by Marines with the 101st Airborne Division, which was following up behind the Army after it seized Baghdad's international airport.

U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar had no immediate comment.

The United States and Britain launched the war against Iraq (news - web sites) to rid the country of weapons of mass destruction. Iraq denies having such weapons.

[Salvation]

[aculeus]

At stake may be the ruptured international relations of the United States.

Solution to "ruptured international relations": Truss, but verify.

[Tall_Texan]

The libs already have this figured out. Any chemical or biological weapons we find they will claim we brought to Iraq and "planted" there. And then they'll claim it proves the Iraqis were harmless all along because they could have used their chemical and biological weapons but didn't.

It's the same double-standard they've been arguing all along.