What happened to the weapons of mass destruction?

[Mr. B]

Where are the vast stockpiles the president said existed in Iraq?
The president based the entire war on the supposed weapons Saddam had. Now we dont hear anything about any weapons from Iraq, its all about the "liberation". And some liberation it is, what with the US letting Baghdad and all of Iraq decend into anarchy and the looting of hospitals and homes from the residents of the slums. This kind of behavior could lead Iraq into a civil war between the Sunnis ans Shiites.

We dont find anything to justify our war and we let the country burn itself into oblivion. Some strange kind of Iraqi freedom.

Is really that hard for us to believe that Iraq didnt have the vast stockpiles of weapons that we thought they had. That the thousands who died and all those who will die didnt have to die for their liberation.

[Enforcer Talen]

Iveheard quite alot. run a search for posts on it here. or read the breakign news thread.

[Mr. B]

you cant trust breaking news about this. The news networks have claimed dozens of times that they found something and everytime it turns out wrong. Any claim cannot be taken as true just because CNN says it. The inbedded media cannot be used as the principle source because they only repeat whatever the pentagon says. They havent done any real reporting this entire war. And if they tried they would become the victims of "accidents" like those reporters in the hotel, and the Italian journalists beaten and starved after going through a checkpoint without a minder.

The first casualty of war is always the truth.

[Mr. B]

i wish there was an edit button. I found the article i was looking for.
http://www.rense.com/general37/am.htm
The mod or whoever can put the last three posts as one.

[Stormbringer]

Fixed your post Mr B.

[Crown]

Where are the vast stockpiles the president said existed in Iraq?
The president based the entire war on the supposed weapons Saddam had.

Actually from memory it was; War on Terror -> War on states sponsering Terror -> War on regiem -> War on WMD -> War on terror -> War on regime -> War on WMD -> Saddam -> Liberation -> Moral

[Vympel]

I'd be very surprised if they find any, to be frank. Of course, you can always claim (like they've been asserting) that they were all taken to Syria before the war started

So far, all the reports have been flat out wrong. Not to mention stupid. Take the reports of massive radiation at an underground site- what the idiots neglected to mention is that this place (whatever it was called) was a virtual tourst trap for suspected WMD, had been inspected numerous times, and would be an exceedingly dumb place to put a secret WMD program, considering everyone knows about it.

The latest theory being touted in Washington by the usual unnamed government sources is that the Iraqis have moved their weapons out of the country, very possibly into Syria. This claim appears to have originated with Israeli intelligence ö which has every motivation for stirring up trouble for its hostile Arab neighbours ö and has been bolstered by reports of fighting between Iraqi Special Republican Guard units and US special forces near the Syrian border.

Disarmament experts do not give the claim much credence

Expect this claim to be repeated continually until it becomes undeniable truth.

[Knife]

Where are the vast stockpiles the president said existed in Iraq?
The president based the entire war on the supposed weapons Saddam had. Now we dont hear anything about any weapons from Iraq, its all about the "liberation". And some liberation it is, what with the US letting Baghdad and all of Iraq decend into anarchy and the looting of hospitals and homes from the residents of the slums. This kind of behavior could lead Iraq into a civil war between the Sunnis ans Shiites.

We dont find anything to justify our war and we let the country burn itself into oblivion. Some strange kind of Iraqi freedom.

Is really that hard for us to believe that Iraq didnt have the vast stockpiles of weapons that we thought they had. That the thousands who died and all those who will die didnt have to die for their liberation.

Yes because coducting combat operations is always easier with a intense search operation going on at the same time.

Over the coarse of the last 3 weeks, no less than 3 sites have popped up in the news worthy of further investigation. There was the barrels of 'pesticide' in Nejef, the missiles loaded with 'pesticide' in Karbala (IIRC), and the Nuke site south of Baghdad. These were just the ones I remember off the top of my head that was on the news and not the ones that we (the public) don't know about. Even still, you must realize that confirmation MUST be made or we end up looking like a bigger pile of shit than some already think of us. Your right though, using the US's new tricorder technology, we should have had confirmation of WMD on those sites immeadiatly.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I would expect that more detailed searches will be conducted to find the WMD's using info and intell from captured Iraqi's and Iraqi instillations. On top of that, investigations into the before mentioned will be conducted and results will begein to be pour in. Will the public get the info? I hope so, but don't know for sure.

[Darth PhysBod]

[snip].

So just because the troops trundling straight up the two roads to Baghdad haven’t stumbled into instantly verifiable caches of WMD (ignoring the finds of NBC kit, and Iraqi troops kitted out with the stuff/atrophine...) means they never existed?!

All it means is they haven't had chance to search the country yet, there are IIRC literally hundreds of sites to be checked out.

[Darth PhysBod]

They havent done any real reporting this entire war. And if they tried they would become the victims of "accidents" like those reporters in the hotel, and the Italian journalists beaten and starved after going through a checkpoint without a minder.

suuure.... the US/coalition tries to silence journalits by blowing them up...

[Darth PhysBod]

The inbedded media cannot be used as the principle source because they only repeat whatever the pentagon says. They havent done any real reporting this entire war.

Except in this war the 'inbeds' seem to have had information before the pentagon.

So much for 'toeing' the pentagon line

[Dahak]

The inbedded media cannot be used as the principle source because they only repeat whatever the pentagon says. They havent done any real reporting this entire war.

Except in this war the 'inbeds' seem to have had information before the pentagon.

So much for 'toeing' the pentagon line

But unfortunately, the embeddeds can't report what their officers don't want to.

[Hamel]

[snip].

So just because the troops trundling straight up the two roads to Baghdad haven’t stumbled into instantly verifiable caches of WMD (ignoring the finds of NBC kit, and Iraqi troops kitted out with the stuff/atrophine...) means they never existed?!

All it means is they haven't had chance to search the country yet, there are IIRC literally hundreds of sites to be checked out.

Well, the pro-war side has often used the argument that since they can't find any WMDs, it MUST be true that they exist and are hidden.

[Queeb Salaron]

Can a mod combine the two threads with similar titles? They're the same thing. Deja vu.

[Coyote]

Why would 'pesticide' be loaded in missiles? Sort of a disposable crop duster?

If 'pesticides', which are known to kill humans, are loaded in weapons systems and used to attack people-- even though they are still in their basic form as pesticides-- do they then qualify as weapons of mass destruction? Clearly that is the intent of anyone loading them into missiles.

Even improvised weapons can become WMDs, such as, say, jetliners.

[RedImperator]

How hard would it be to just bury the stuff in the desert? I don't buy the "they all went to Syria" line--am I expected to believe that nobody noticed thousands of gallons of poison gas and germ agents crossing the Syrian border, or that Syria would be dumb enough to accept any of it knowing the only countries they could expect to have to use them against, Israel and the United States, would respond to a chemical attack by vaporizing Damascus?--but they've spent 12 years learning how to hide this shit from UN inspectors and they knew for months war was coming. The fact is, we KNOW they had thousands of tons of banned weapons at the end of the Gulf War and there's no proof they were destroyed. They had to go somewhere--either they were destroyed like the Iraqis claim but they somehow decided NOT to prove it to the United Nations (during the first round of inspections before 1998--for the sake of argument, I'll concede to the left's assertion that the second round was a farce), or they still exist somewhere.

[theski]

Cnn is breaking the story 101st has found 11 mobile chem/bio labs buried with 1000 pounds of docs..

[theski]

Here is the link http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/ ... index.html

[Stormbringer]

Well, the pro-war side has often used the argument that since they can't find any WMDs, it MUST be true that they exist and are hidden.

Only the quacks. What we have is a lot of intelligence suggesting he's got them and Saddam was damn evasive about the whole business. If he really had nothing to hide he should have just complied with his obligations willingly.

And I find the fact that the anti-war/pro-inspections crowd (who cried we need more time) thinks we must immediately turn up WMDs or better yet have them used on us. There are a number of particularly suspicious sites that we are investigating and we have turned up a fair amount of circumstancial evidence.

It's premature for either side to claim they have absolute proof at this point. Give it some time now, especially since we are checking out several sites that are incredibly suspicious.

[jegs2]

But unfortunately, the embeddeds can't report what their officers don't want to.

The stuff that the embedded reporters have been hesitant to report are those that can get them killed, such as giving exact locations of the headquarters with which they're travelling, thus effectively serving as an enemy OP. In short, the embedded reporters have no wish to earn the Darwin Award, and I don't blame them.

[Wicked Pilot]

How hard is it to dig a hole, put something in it, and then cover it again? How hard is it to park a flatbed out in the middle of nowhere? How hard would it be to do these things if you had 12 years of practice?

[Shinigami]

Where are the vast stockpiles the president said existed in Iraq?
The president based the entire war on the supposed weapons Saddam had.

Actually from memory it was; War on Terror -> War on states sponsering Terror -> War on regiem -> War on WMD -> War on terror -> War on regime -> War on WMD -> Saddam -> Liberation -> Moral

Oh Crown. If the American public was smart enough to see that, this conflict could've been avoided and the rest of the world wouldn't have more reasons to hate us......

[jegs2]

How hard is it to dig a hole, put something in it, and then cover it again? How hard is it to park a flatbed out in the middle of nowhere? How hard would it be to do these things if you had 12 years of practice?

I imagine that quite a few WMD have been found, but the Pentagon wishes to ensure they are what they are advertised to be, so particular captured items are being shipped to labratories, where they can be thoroughly tested. I wouldn't be surprised if we soon see a massive amount of conclusive evidence, revealed all at once in order to prevent the press and foreign governments from attempting to snipe reports "onesies and twosies."

[Darth Wong]

How hard is it to dig a hole, put something in it, and then cover it again? How hard is it to park a flatbed out in the middle of nowhere? How hard would it be to do these things if you had 12 years of practice?

I imagine that quite a few WMD have been found, but the Pentagon wishes to ensure they are what they are advertised to be, so particular captured items are being shipped to labratories, where they can be thoroughly tested. I wouldn't be surprised if we soon see a massive amount of conclusive evidence, revealed all at once in order to prevent the press and foreign governments from attempting to snipe reports "onesies and twosies."

While I have no doubt that Hussein wanted to keep WMD around, is it not possible that the technical requirements overwhelmed them? When you look at how pitiful the state of their armed forces was, how they were firing dud RPG's at American vehicles, etc., how do we know they could actually keep a viable WMD program going even if they tried?

[RedImperator]

While I have no doubt that Hussein wanted to keep WMD around, is it not possible that the technical requirements overwhelmed them? When you look at how pitiful the state of their armed forces was, how they were firing dud RPG's at American vehicles, etc., how do we know they could actually keep a viable WMD program going even if they tried?

They've had as much experience in the petrochemical industry as anyone--I seriously doubt they're short of chemical expertise, though how much of the knowledge translates into useful knowledge in a chemical weapons program I don't know. Also, the WMD programs were probably top-priority projects--they were the only concievable way Hussein could achieve anything like parity with Israel and the United States. How GOOD a program he could keep running, I don't know and I'm not going to speculate.