Iraq's Abandoned Chemcial Weapons

[sharkman]

I have no idea as to why this is being released now, or how accurate it is. But the NYTimes believes it.

From 2004 to 2011, American troops repeatedly encountered abandoned chemical weapons remaining from Saddam's rule.

[Big Guy]

I have no idea as to why this is being released now, or how accurate it is. But the NYTimes believes it.

From 2004 to 2011, American troops repeatedly encountered abandoned chemical weapons remaining from Saddam's rule.

Those newly discovered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's) are now probably in the hands of ISIS. Maybe the Americans should now invade with massive ground troops to capture and destroy these weapons before they are used against the West.

I wonder if that is a serious enough threat to convince the American people that this is a just war. Maybe Harper will also volunteer some Canadian ground troops to defeat these guys that intend to use chemical warfare to destroy the world!

Sorry, I can't keep a straight face an more .......

[GostHacked]

They were not missing, Rumsfeld said he knew where they were. I guess he just sucks at his job.

[Derek 2.0]

Those newly discovered Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's) are now probably in the hands of ISIS. Maybe the Americans should now invade with massive ground troops to capture and destroy these weapons before they are used against the West.

They have been since early summer when they captured Muthanna........as it's likely they have control of a portion of the Syrian arsenal, as made evident by their apparent use of mustard gas against Kurdish Forces several days ago.

[GostHacked]

They have been since early summer when they captured Muthanna........as it's likely they have control of a portion of the Syrian arsenal, as made evident by their apparent use of mustard gas against Kurdish Forces several days ago.

But yet Assad will get blamed for the use of captured chemical weapons used against the Kurds.

[Derek 2.0]

But yet Assad will get blamed for the use of captured chemical weapons used against the Kurds.

You don't think the West/Israel is blaming ISIS for the recent attacks against the Kurds?

[waldo]

so confusing... still no biological, no nu-cu-lar? Still no evidence of an active WMD program to counter the false claims of the U.S. Bush Administration? Say it ain't so!

of course... this is no revelation, although the scale is beyond past leaked references to U.S. military finds of these same pre-1991 abandoned (and degraded) chemical weapons... with one particular embarassing incident that captured the imagination of Rick Santorum attempting to play up the "WMDs found in Iraq... Bush was right all along" card! Back when it was still half intelligent (when it was Colmes & Hannity), Alan Colmes comes in at ~ the 2:55 mark to give Santorum the 'bad news':

COLMES: Congressman, Senator, it’s Alan Colmes. Senator, the Iraq Survey Group — let me go to the Duelfer Report — says that Iraq did not have the weapons our intelligence believed were there. And Jim Angle reported this for Fox News quotes a defense official who says these were pre-1991 weapons that could not have been fired as designed because they already been degraded. And the official went on to say these are not the WMD’s this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had and not the WMD’s for which this country went to war. So the chest beating at this Republicans are doing tonight thinking this is a justification is not confirmed by the defense department.

SANTORUM: I’d like to know who that is. The fact of the matter is, I’ll wait and see what the actual Defense Department formally says or more important what the administration formally says.

[cybercoma]

Oh. We're going the WMD route again are we?

[Shady]

Yep. Looks like troops came in contact with stockpiles of chemical weapons. No real surprise. But that fact that this information was suppressed is.

[bush_cheney2004]

Yep. Looks like troops came in contact with stockpiles of chemical weapons. No real surprise. But that fact that this information was suppressed is.

Nope...no surprise....DoP called the Sarin gas attacks years ago. Where do people think all of these agents and pre-cursors went after decades of production around the world ? Instead we got WMD was a complete fabrication by George Bush.

[Derek 2.0]

Yep. Looks like troops came in contact with stockpiles of chemical weapons. No real surprise. But that fact that this information was suppressed is.

I don't see the benefit (or detraction) to both the Bush and Obama administrations to declaring that a portion of the long known aged Iraqi stockpile was found......hardly a surprise.

[Derek 2.0]

Instead we got WMD was a complete fabrication by George Bush.

Exactly......

[waldo]

Exactly......

are you saying... it wasn't a complete fabrication by the Shrub administration?

Edited October 15, 2014 by waldo

[waldo]

Yep. Looks like troops came in contact with stockpiles of chemical weapons. No real surprise. But that fact that this information was suppressed is.

per the OP linked NYT article:

Participants in the chemical weapons discoveries said the United States suppressed knowledge of finds for multiple reasons, including that the government bristled at further acknowledgment it had been wrong.

[eyeball]

The fabrication was an active functional WMD program including biological and nuclear at the time of the invasion. It was already well known that past US administrations had long-since already supplied Iraq with chemical weapons.

A gift that apparently keeps giving in terms of fodder for future campaigns based on delusion.

[Derek 2.0]

are you saying... it wasn't a complete fabrication by the Shrub administration?

Incorrect and perhaps embellished, but as proven, Saddam did have stockpiles of chemical weapons.

[waldo]

Incorrect and perhaps embellished, but as proven, Saddam did have stockpiles of chemical weapons.

abandoned and degraded... is that your claimed stockpile? Why didn't the U.S. government, the U.S. military lend credence to these same pre-1991 chemicals (previously uncovered) as actually being WMD... the WMD that supposedly warranted the (illega)l U.S. invasion of Iraq? What about Rice's "mushroom cloud", what about Powell's speech props before the UN, what about Bush's nu-cu-lar?

is this your lil' attempt at revisionism?

[Derek 2.0]

abandoned and degraded... is that your claimed stockpile? Why didn't the U.S. government, the U.S. military lend credence to these same pre-1991 chemicals (previously uncovered) as actually being WMD... the WMD that supposedly warranted the (illega)l U.S. invasion of Iraq? What about Rice's "mushroom cloud", what about Powell's speech props before the UN, what about Bush's nu-cu-lar?

is this your lil' attempt at revisionism?

Were said stockpiles abandoned pre-2003? As stated already (in the article) there would be no "political gain" from announcing said finds......I fail to see any of your claimed revisionism...

[waldo]

Were said stockpiles abandoned pre-2003?

are you stating Iraq had an active WMD program at the time of the (illegal) U.S. Iraq invasion?

.

As stated already (in the article) there would be no "political gain" from announcing said finds.

ya think? No political gain in the U.S. government (further) admitting it was wrong??? Nah, c'mon!

[Derek 2.0]

are you stating Iraq had an active WMD program at the time of the (illegal) U.S. Iraq invasion?

I have no idea, but they did have stockpiles of nerve agents, that were supposed to have been destroyed by the UN post 1991....Clearly a portion of said stockpile was "missed".

ya think? No political gain in the U.S. government (further) admitting it was wrong??? Nah, c'mon!

I stated as much on the previous page....

[waldo]

I have no idea, but they did have stockpiles of nerve agents, that were supposed to have been destroyed by the UN post 1991....Clearly a portion of said stockpile was "missed".

are you stating these abandoned and degraded "stockpiles" were in a functional state?

[Derek 2.0]

are you stating these abandoned and degraded "stockpiles" were in a functional state?

That would be subjective to the storage of said "stockpiles"......dependent upon the agent (Mustard gas, sarin, VX etc) and what said agents were in. Agents kept in a container with a hermetic seal, would have degraded to some degree based on age alone. Agents that have been weaponized, placed in a warhead for a artillery/mortar/rocket/bomb piece would degrade at a even faster rate.......then of course things like temperature, humidity, exposure to sunlight etc would also factor into said weapons lethality.

Based on their age alone, in my opinion, their utility on a modern battlefield against a force equipped with modern detection and MOPP gear, combined with readily available supplies of anticholinergic and obidoxime, would be minimal at best.........now against an untrained force or civilians in a denser setting, they could still be very "functional".......

[cybercoma]

are you saying... it wasn't a complete fabrication by the Shrub administration?

Using improper names for politicians is expressly prohibited in the Insults section of the Forum Rules and Guidelines.

Do not use diminutives or character substitutions in proper names that are not recognized by the original person to whom the reference is being made. For example, Prime Minister Stephen Harper does not identify himself as Stevie therefore, it is unacceptable to identify him as Stevie. Likewise, Paul Martin does not identify himself as Mr. Dithers, therefore, it is unacceptable to identify him as Mr. Dithers.

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[Shady]

Using improper names for politicians is expressly prohibited in the Insults section of the Forum Rules and Guidelines.

Good point. Otherwise, I wanna refer to Obama as Barack Obumbler from now on.

[Moonlight Graham]

Fantastically insane article. So now we're finding out the US military found a whole bunch more WMD's during a time when the US is launching war in Iraq once again, desperately trying to convince the public of the merits...oh and 3 weeks from US midterm elections?

Fuck all of this. I don't believe anything written or said by the MSM with the words "WMD's" in it. I don't believe anything the US government says or doesn't say about Iraq WMD's. Is ISIS the real enemy? Nope, our most dangerous enemies are a lot closer to us than that.