Thursday, June 22, 2006
WMD's? What WMDs?
I have always maintained that the fat lady hasn't even taken her first singing lesson as to whether or not Iraq had stockpiles of WMDs prior to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In fact, I have always had a feeling that she is just getting ready for the Mother of all Concerts and the anti-war, pseudo-peacemaker crowd isn't going to like the tune she sings.
Yesterday, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) called a press conference to reveal details of a recently declassified Pentgon report stating that over 500 projectiles with warheads filled with chemical agents, most likely sarin and mustard have been found in Iraq 2003.
According to the Loft, the six key findings noted by Santorum are:
--Since 2003 Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent.
--Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq’s pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.
--Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for Coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out.
--The most likely munitions remaining are sarin and mustard-filled projectiles.
--The purity of the agent inside the munitions 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.
Although, according to a Defense Department Official speaking to Fox News, "This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991," the official said, adding the munitions "are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war", it did " did raise questions about the years of weapons inspections that had not resulted in locating the fairly sizeable stash of chemical weapons. And he noted that it may say something about Hussein's intent and desire."
According to Rush Limbaugh Fox News Military analyst Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said on Hannity and Colmes last night:
This is definitely a plausable theory considering the fact that Russia, China, and France were major members of the "Coalition of the Illlin'"{1} who lined their pockets with Hussein blood money vis-a-vis the corruption of the U.N. Oil for Food Program in exchange for their efforts at undermining U.S. and British-led efforts in the Security Council to put pressure on Iraq to disarm, stood to look really bad if we found WMD stockpiles post invasion. Secondly, they sure as hell had all the time in the world to do it. Everybody new we were going to invade Iraq a year ahead of time.
The next question is why doesn't it look as though the Bush adminstration or much of the GOP leadership gonna say a lot about this? Rush Limbaugh poses this theory:
"We've had a three-year propaganda program on "No weapons of mass destruction. None have been found." This is just settled in now as fact. It is not "fact." It is propaganda. The facts are coming out and there's probably a lot more to be unclassified if somebody will just do it. Now, there are other problems that exist here in addition to people not wanting to stick their necks out like Santorum has and Pete Hookstra [sic] has -- and Hookstra [sic], by the way, is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He's not a minor player here, not a minor figure."
I agree with ElRushbo here, but I also think it makes all those in the Adminstration, the Republican Party, and much of the conservative punditry who, for whatever reason, threw in the towel on the WMD issue saying, "Okay we had bad intelligence. Yada yada yada" look bad as well.
Note:
{1} I found this phrase somewhere in the blogosphere. I don't know who coined it. But props to whoever did.
Yesterday, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) called a press conference to reveal details of a recently declassified Pentgon report stating that over 500 projectiles with warheads filled with chemical agents, most likely sarin and mustard have been found in Iraq 2003.
According to the Loft, the six key findings noted by Santorum are:
--Since 2003 Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent.
--Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq’s pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.
--Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for Coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out.
--The most likely munitions remaining are sarin and mustard-filled projectiles.
--The purity of the agent inside the munitions 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.
Although, according to a Defense Department Official speaking to Fox News, "This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991," the official said, adding the munitions "are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war", it did " did raise questions about the years of weapons inspections that had not resulted in locating the fairly sizeable stash of chemical weapons. And he noted that it may say something about Hussein's intent and desire."
According to Rush Limbaugh Fox News Military analyst Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said on Hannity and Colmes last night:
"[M]y personal opinion is, I think the fact is that the Russians moved large stocks of weapons of mass destruction out of Baghdad and Iraq in the fall of 2002. We've all heard what General Sada, the Iraqi defector said. He said that they went into three locations in Syria and one location in the Bekaa Valley, and if you get in there and if you found those weapons and found the precursors, the fingerprints would go back to Russia, China and France."
This is definitely a plausable theory considering the fact that Russia, China, and France were major members of the "Coalition of the Illlin'"{1} who lined their pockets with Hussein blood money vis-a-vis the corruption of the U.N. Oil for Food Program in exchange for their efforts at undermining U.S. and British-led efforts in the Security Council to put pressure on Iraq to disarm, stood to look really bad if we found WMD stockpiles post invasion. Secondly, they sure as hell had all the time in the world to do it. Everybody new we were going to invade Iraq a year ahead of time.
The next question is why doesn't it look as though the Bush adminstration or much of the GOP leadership gonna say a lot about this? Rush Limbaugh poses this theory:
"We've had a three-year propaganda program on "No weapons of mass destruction. None have been found." This is just settled in now as fact. It is not "fact." It is propaganda. The facts are coming out and there's probably a lot more to be unclassified if somebody will just do it. Now, there are other problems that exist here in addition to people not wanting to stick their necks out like Santorum has and Pete Hookstra [sic] has -- and Hookstra [sic], by the way, is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. He's not a minor player here, not a minor figure."
I agree with ElRushbo here, but I also think it makes all those in the Adminstration, the Republican Party, and much of the conservative punditry who, for whatever reason, threw in the towel on the WMD issue saying, "Okay we had bad intelligence. Yada yada yada" look bad as well.
This is why it is important to remember it ain't over until the fat lady sings. Take heart, have courage and let Miss Tub O'Lard sing to her heart's content.
Note:
{1} I found this phrase somewhere in the blogosphere. I don't know who coined it. But props to whoever did.
