Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Where are the WMD (this time)?

Do you remember the warehouses of Iraqi documents that the Pentagon released on to the Web because they couldn't be bothered examining them? They disappeared after a bit, and little has been heard since. Well, a man called John Loftus, who is the head of the non-governmental International Intelligence Summit has done the donkey work and released a report at the weekend.

The gist of the new evidence is this: Roughly one-quarter of Saddam's WMD was destroyed under UN pressure during the early to mid 1990s. Saddam sold approximately another quarter of his weapons stockpile to his Arab neighbors during the mid-to-late-1990's. The Russians insisted on removing another quarter in the last few months before the war. The last remaining WMD, the contents of Saddam's nuclear weapons labs, were still inside Iraq on the day when the coalition forces arrived in 2003. His nuclear weapons equipment was hidden in enormous underwater warehouses beneath the Euphrates River. Saddam's entire nuclear inventory was later stolen from these warehouses right out from under the Americans' noses.
I'm not one to hunt down and rejoice in instances of American incompetence, but if this is true, then the consequences could extend over a huge area and a long time. This writer links the dispersal to the Syrians' nuclear program and the Israeli raid in September. Not even that is confirmed, but the location and possible use of other Iraqi material is even less confirmed and does not stimulate happy thoughts. I'd be a touch worried.

5 comments:

Hazar Nesimi said...

I am sorry but in 2002 I knew that there were no WMDs especially ones ready to strike in 45 minutes...

NoolaBeulah said...

I don't think anyone really believed the 45 minute business. However, as for the WMD, that is another question. At the time, all the secret service agencies, including the French, German and Russian ones, were in agreement that there was something. The only disagreement was what to do about it. And if this bloke is right, there was something, even after the invasion.

Vanny said...

There is always something I suppose. Otherwise there will be no need for Intelligence, innit...

Anonymous said...

"enormous underwater warehouses beneath the Euphrates River"

LOL. Best laugh I've had all day.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/21/wmd_conspiracy/index.html

Gullible and bigoted, well done.

NoolaBeulah said...

That article is about a different bloke and a different report and so its complacent certainty is out of place here.

"Gullible" - I did not say it was true. It might be, but we may not know for years, if ever. You don't know. Nor do I.

"Bigoted" - You'll have to explain where the bigotry is.