WMD - Believe it or Not!

Have a look at this link from the World Service BBC NEWS | Middle East | 'Nerve gas bomb' explodes in Iraq to me this does notlook like part of an extensive battlefield area denial system but a bit like something rusting away in a bottom of an old box.

Why not add other postings from the press and see the first reactions from other countries? It could be quite intresting.

Roy T

Quote from the report on the BBC's web site:-

"Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt said the blast had caused a small release of the substance and two people had been treated for exposure to the agent."

Hardly amounts to the weapon of "mass" destruction we were lead to believe there would be.

Regards,

JonR

<Tidies up straws to prevent further clutching at>

I think that WMD stands for weapons of mass destruction. So far there is only one of them.

No need to panic.

Cheers

Don

Oh well they then, they have the proof “the smoking gun” all who doubted it will have to eat humble pie now.
Wouldn’t Bush n Blair have looked like a pair of prats if they hadn’t found the WMDs.

John.

From what I can remember the existance of WMD is NOT in doubt, contrary to what you hear on the nightly news. Remember Iraq used them against both it's own population and during the Iran / Iraq war. Tons(kilos ?) of base agents were sold / given to Iraq prior to the state going "rogue" as a counter to Iran / Libya.
Did the UN not destroy a stockpile a few years ago, as well as take apart some suspicious chemical facilities. There was also the woman doctor in charge of some of the research. Did "we" not get quite alot of her papers / research materials. ...sorry but the last couple of points are a bit fuzzy memory wise, if I'm in error please don't jump on me too hard.


Im my mind at least the question then becomes not IF they exist(ed) but WHERE are they now. Hell, a truck, a shovel, a desert and a GPS and you have the ability to "hide" almost anything. That is if some did not end up in Syria or some other friendly place etc. I can not see a guy like Mr. Husein destroying them all, better be safe and keep a little tucked away for a rainy day. ( see desert comment above )

Am I missing something here or has this just been conviently forgotten...

regards,

michael

mykel said "Am I missing something here or has this just been conviently forgotten..."

If they had any remotely dangerous WMD in Iraq they would have found it by now.

Pretty much everyone now agrees that Scott Ritter was right in his pre-war assessment of Iraq's capability -- essentially that, beyond a few non-functional out-of-date anthrax canisters, it was effectively non-esixtent.

Matthew

Mykel,
Of course WMDs once existed but as you say they were destroyed, also biological weapons degrade over time and now pose no threat.

Look whay the politicians are saying “then and now” and they used to take the piss out of the Iraqi information minister (rightly so thouigh)

05/30/03

Intelligence leaves no doubt that Iraq continues to possess and conceal lethal weapons

George Bush, US President 18 March, 2003

Saddam's removal is necessary to eradicate the threat from his weapons of mass destruction

Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary 2 April, 2003

Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a bit

Tony Blair 28 April, 2003

We are asked to accept Saddam decided to destroy those weapons. I say that such a claim is palpably absurd

Tony Blair, Prime Minister 18 March, 2003

It is possible Iraqi leaders decided they would destroy them prior to the conflict

Donald Rumsfeld, US Defense Secretary 28 May, 2003


Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.

Dick Cheney
Speech to VFW National Convention
August 26, 2002


Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.

George "aWol" Bush
Speech to UN General Assembly
September 12, 2002



If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.

Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing
December 2, 2002


We know for a fact that there are weapons there.

Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing
January 9, 2003


Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.

George "aWol" Bush
State of the Union Address
January 28, 2003



We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.

Colin Powell
Remarks to UN Security Council
February 5, 2003



We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.

George "aWol" Bush
Radio Address
February 8, 2003


So has the strategic decision been made to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction by the leadership in Baghdad? . . . I think our judgment has to be clearly not.

Colin Powell
Remarks to UN Security Council
March 7, 2003



Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.

George "aWol" Bush
Address to the Nation
March 17, 2003


Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.

Ari Fleisher
Press Briefing
March 21, 2003


There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And . . . as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.

Gen. Tommy Franks
Press Conference
March 22, 2003


I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.


Defense Policy Board member Kenneth Adelman
Washington Post, p. A27
March 23, 2003


One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites.

Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark
Press Briefing
March 22, 2003


We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

Donald Rumsfeld
ABC Interview
March 30, 2003


Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find -- and there will be plenty.

Neocon scholar Robert Kagan
Washington Post op-ed
April 9, 2003


I think you have always heard, and you continue to hear from officials, a measure of high confidence that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be found.

Ari Fleischer
Press Briefing
April 10, 2003


We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them.

George "aWol" Bush
NBC Interview
April 24, 2003


There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country.

Donald Rumsfeld
Press Briefing
April 25, 2003


We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so.

George "aWol" Bush
Remarks to Reporters
May 3, 2003


I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now.

Colin Powell
Remarks to Reporters
May 4, 2003


We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.

Donald Rumsfeld
Fox News Interview
May 4, 2003


I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program.

George "aWol" Bush
Remarks to Reporters
May 6, 2003


U.S. officials never expected that "we were going to open garages and find" weapons of mass destruction.

Condoleeza Rice
Reuters Interview
May 12, 2003


I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago -- I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago -- whether they were destroyed right before the war, (or) whether they're still hidden.

Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, Commander 101st Airborne
Press Briefing
May 13, 2003


Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found.

Gen. Michael Hagee, Commandant of the Marine Corps
Interview with Reporters
May 21, 2003



Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction.

Gen. Richard Myers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
NBC Today Show interview
May 26, 2003



They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer.


Donald Rumsfeld
Remarks to Council on Foreign Relations
May 27, 2003


For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.

Paul Wolfowitz
Vanity Fair interview
May 28, 2003

It was a surprise to me then — it remains a surprise to me now — that we have not uncovered weapons, as you say, in some of the forward dispersal sites. Believe me, it's not for lack of trying. We've been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they're simply not there.

Lt. Gen. James Conway, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force
Press Interview

Imagine the chances of such a conveniently timed discovery?

I'd say more than a billion to one.

Cheers

Don