Report: Iraq Destroyed WMD Six Days Before War Started

[herpa2003]

NEW YORK — An Iraqi scientist who claims to have worked in Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons program told a U.S. military team that Iraq destroyed and buried chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment only days before the war began March 20, a newspaper reported Monday.

Members of MET Alpha -- the Mobile Exploitation Team set up to hunt for illegal weapons of mass destruction -- said the scientist led Americans to material that proved to be the building blocks of illegal weapons, according to The New York Times.

The Iraqi scientist, who was not named for fear he might be harmed, also said Iraq has secretly sent stockpiles of deadly agents and weapons technology to Syria in the mid-1990s, and more recently was cooperating with Usama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network.

The U.S. Central Command could not confirm the report, and the White House had no immediate comment on it.

The report was withheld by military censors for three days, and some details about the chemicals were not allowed to be published. The reporter was not allowed to interview the Iraqi scientist.

The Bush administration says that U.S. forces went into Iraq and toppled Saddam's regime to rid the world of the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

Military officials said the scientist told them that several months before the war, he watched as Iraqi officials buried chemical precursors for weapons and other sensitive material to conceal and protect them for future use. Four days before President Bush gave Saddam an ultimatum in March, the scientist said Iraqi officials set fire to a warehouse where biological weapons research was conducted.

The scientist reportedly gave a note to the Army's 101st Airborne Division. That was passed on to the MET Alpha team, which tracked the scientist down at his home.

"What they have discovered could prove to be of incalculable value," the paper quoted Maj. Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, as saying.

"Though much work must still be done to validate the information MET Alpha has uncovered, if it proves out it will clearly be one of the major discoveries of this operation, and it may be the major discovery," he added.

[indian airlines]

Where are these buried WMD's, and what possibly could be the meaning of future use, when Scumball has been ousted. This was his final chance to use his WMD's, and since he didn't use them, i'm inclined to believe he didn't have them.

[Airigami]

Maybe the weapons are in France, Russia, China, and one or two older ones in the U.S. ...

My theory is based on Iraq returning the weapons to the manufacturers.

:P

[RJP]

Where are these buried WMD's, and what possibly could be the meaning of future use, when Scumball has been ousted.

Well if the rest of the sentence is read along with the word 'future' then it becomes clear that it's not from now (i.e. after SH has gone) but from a point several months ago when SH was in power & their future use could well have been a danger;

Military officials said the scientist told them that several months before the war, he watched as Iraqi officials buried chemical precursors for weapons and other sensitive material to conceal and protect them for future use.

Where are these buried WMD's

Iraq's quite a big country.... Could take a while to find something buried there couldn't it.....

This was his final chance to use his WMD's, and since he didn't use them, i'm inclined to believe he didn't have them.

IMHO them not being used is not evidence they don't exist is it..... There could well be other reasons, just one being that by the time they realised it'd got to the point where they'd use them it was too late. Remember the Iraqi's are on record as threatening 'unconventional' warfare.

Did you watch the Blix / El Baradei report to the UNSC some time ago? The IAEA were quite definate, they'd found no evidence of a nuclear weapons programme in Iraq. Blix however said that there were still outstanding biological & chemical weapons which they had not been given evidence of destruction for. I'd be fairly sure that he's done more research on the matter than most people!...........

RJP

[indian airlines]

I agree Blix would have done his homework, but there still hasn't been 1 WMD found

[RJP]

I agree Blix would have done his homework, but there still hasn't been 1 WMD found

It would depend whose definition of WMD you use.

The FBI's definition is;

"Mass casualties and extensive property damage are the trademarks of weapons of mass destruction, making their detection, prevention, and destruction an FBI priority. A weapon of mass destruction (WMD), though typically associated with nuclear/radiological, chemical, or biological agents, may also take the form of explosives, such as in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1995. A weapon crosses the WMD threshold when the consequences of its release overwhelm local responders."

NATO's is;

""Weapon of mass destruction" is a generic term for radionuclides, biological and chemical agents or materials, and their delivery means produced or used for non-peaceful purposes and whose effects can cause large numbers of casualties and/or large-scale material damage.] and their delivery means constitutes a threat to international security and is a matter of concern to NATO."

http://www.fire.org.uk/BBC_News/News.../bbc120203.htm includes a few more.

RJP

[indian airlines]

Both definitions are correct, but NATO's one is the generally accepted one, I think.