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WMD Find
By John
Today's report is significant, no doubt. But before you get too excited, keep in mind that Saddam's WMD program was only one of the entering arguments for initiating Operation Iraqi Freedom.
That said, I'll offer this one point.
During the initial invasion, the American people (myself included) were expecting some sort of treasure trove find of chem, bio, and nuclear weapons. But, since the invasion, WMD evidence has been more of a slow trickle than a large explosion. Every few months there's been a minor find, making minor news. A former Iraqi general testifies that stockpiles were moved to Syria, a few sarin gas containers are uncovered, empty chem warheads are discovered in an old warehouse, etc. There was no big bang, until today.
The only real usefullness in the report's release -sans the November election implications- is the possibility that it may shut up the anti-war movement for a while (if their mouth is full of crow, it's difficult to speak). But considering the entire anti-war pyramid of hatred is built upon the "Bush lied" cornerstone, we could uncover a Fort Knox of WMDs tomorrow, with pictures of Saddam hugging nuclear weapons and playing catch with sarin gas dispensers, and the progressives would still think the whole stinkin' war was a Big Oil conspiracy.
Good on Hoekstra and Santorum for getting the word out, but let's not get too caught up focusing on 2003's debate when there's still knifework to do in 2006.
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Comments
They will never shut up. Their blabbering has nothing to do with what we do or do not find. The anti-war types are against the war, any war, no matter what.
Maybe this memo would convince the left:
From: Saddam Hussein
To: Osama Bin Laden
Date: Sept 12, 2001
Your Eminence,
Congrats on New York -- always happy to help. Need more anthrax?
Hugs,
Saddam
Surf over to Huff&Puff and read the total denials of reality. It's hoot to read what the idiots post. They are now brain dead so there's no reason to show them the WMD, they'd think it was their kiddie days Jack-n-The-Box. Bring on the boys with the butterfly nets and coats of many straps. I E-Mailed one of the nuts that wrote several pages stating there was no WMD, none, in Iraq. He had help with the article from one of the 'blind' U.N. weapons inspectors. They found the pot of gold Saddam hid in plain site for them. I simply asked him to write a correction to his lies and he got rather hostile. I guess it's ok to live in a fantasy world if you're on welfare already. No worry about losing the job you don't have. I love poking the nuts with a sharp stick, they get madder than a rabid dog.
That Iraqi general is Georges Sada. I watched Hannirt and Colmes last night and they brought him up again whne discussing the weapons find. I think it was Maj. General Paul Vallely who told them that the reason Sada's story was not being exploited more by Bush was that Saddam's weapons came from France, China, and Russia. Rather than increase tensions with 3 of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, Bush chose not the discuss Sada's story.
Hannity and Colmes, sorry for the typo, I am sick.
This is certainly a huge score for proponents of the war. I think the discovery of the weapons is a major slap in the face not only to the anti-war left, but the hypocritical countries that helped in their production. However, that being said, we still haven't found the mobile labs that "Curveball" said would be there as well as some of the other complex delivery systems that Cheney, Powell and Bush spoke of in their speeches. But then again, those could have easily been dismantled and buried.
The pictures of the 'new' Sarin gas vials and the case are on one of the other blogs. Forgot which one of the 40 or so i read. I'll come across them again and copy the pic's and link to them and post on here. They sure don't look old or degraded. I understand what has been found would be enough to destroy every one in three large American cities. I suspect there is not a lot of the new stuff left in Iraq. It was taken out during the run up to the war and a lot of it is most likely right here in the good ole USA. I'm sure glad i don't live in or near any large city. Those who do should start practicing the only defense, bend over, put your head between your legs, and kiss your a** goodbye.
So what part of the Duelfer report in 2004 did you not understand? the part where he stated there was no evidence of any WMD production or activity after 1991?
"While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991. There are no credible indications
that Baghdad resumed production of chemical munitions thereafter, a policy ISG attributes to Baghdad’s desire to see sanctions lifted, or rendered ineffectual, or its fear of force against it should WMD be discovered."
You guys are really grasping for something to justify the 2003 invasion, huh? Yes, Saddam was a bad guy, yes, Saddam wanted a WMD capability (just like Israel, Syria, Egypt, Iran, and Pakistan). But for you to suggest that these 20-year old mustard rounds constituted a credible WMD capability is really laughable.
Stick to the facts. You ought to be praising CENTCOM for continuing its search for loose chemical rounds so that they aren't used against US forces as improvised chemical devices (which BTW would not be a WMD or a mass casualty incident if used in that fashion). But drop this charade that this justifies the 2003 invasion.
I have to agree to some extent with the last poster. From all appearances that weapons found to date were not found in stockpiles of ready to use weapons. They are weapons that have been sitting around (forgotten/misplaced?) for so long that their own ability to cause lethal result be they massive in scale or not is not known.
Now that is not to say that they dont help reinforce the fact that Saddam did infact have a number of chemical weapons laying around and that techinically that makes Bush correct. I would however say that throwing a party at this story and point at it as a justification for this current war as a bit premature and silly.
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Hey! what happened to the pics of the shells where you can see " made in france" and "made in russia" clearly stamped? Who confiscated those pictures? I guess it will be up to our great great great granchildren to get those pics, if they are even declassed by then....and what ever happened to that Iraqi general who said WMD got moved to syria and the Bekkah Valley? someone said he inherited some money and is living far away in relatively decent surroundings....