chemicals found?

[tomlong]

I heard on the radio today that a top Iraqi scientist which has been captured showed us where Iraq buried the equipment and supplies they used to make chemical and biological weapons. In fact I found a link on ABC NEWs which talks about it.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world...ain030421.html

[taranaki]

Since it has nothing to do with the booing of junior hockey players,and is a fairly major claim,I've split this post off to make a new thread
.Just reading through that link,the first point I'D latch onto is

There is still no official confirmation that American or British forces had discovered the chemical or biological weapons that were cited by President Bush as the reason for going to war.

the second point is

But military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity,

When did military officials ever havee the right to make anonymous statements to the press?How can they be 'officials'" when they are acting outside of government sanctioned media systems?

thirdly,

The Iraqi scientist, who was not named for fear he might be harmed,

Pardon me for being silly,but who is going to harm him?If he has the information claimed,he'd be one of the most heavily guarded individuals in Iraq.Mr Bush is desperate for this information to justify his fanciful crusade into the Iraqi people's homeland,no way would a scientist with that much information be exposed to risk.

The Iraqi scientist said Iraq destroyed and buried chemical weapons and biological warfare equipment days before the war's start.

He also claimed Iraq secretly sent stockpiles of deadly agents and weapons technology to Syria in the mid-1990s, and more recently cooperated with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.

Destroyed and buried makes no sense at all.But he should be able to lead the troops to the site of this alleged burial and show them evidence.As to his claims for the mid-90's I doubt if he would have a shred of evidence to back them up.How convenient.

In summarryy,there are no names,no facts,no evidence,and no timetable for the production of any more relevant information in this press release.It's blatant misinformation,and a worthless piece of writing.If they come up with some verifiable facts,then I might take this nonsense seriously.

[Milliardo]

And just to add, if it's been buried and destroyed, then it belies the claim by America that Saddam is not cooperating. At least there was an effort to cooperate, so the war actually makes little sense.

And there's that Syrian connection again. Amusing, that now the U.S. is targeting another nation and blaming it when it failed to find WMDs in Iraq. I guess we will see another war soon. America on the march once again! And Americans in front of TVs, drinking beer while their nation bombs to oblivion another civilization.

[jon@af]

Originally posted by Milliardo
And just to add, if it's been buried and destroyed, then it belies the claim by America that Saddam is not cooperating. At least there was an effort to cooperate, so the war actually makes little sense.

And there's that Syrian connection again. Amusing, that now the U.S. is targeting another nation and blaming it when it failed to find WMDs in Iraq. I guess we will see another war soon. America on the march once again! And Americans in front of TVs, drinking beer while their nation bombs to oblivion another civilization.

I do agree with what you say. It pisses the hell out of me that we've spent all this money and caused so many deaths to our citizens yet nothing was found. I want answers for why this has happened. However, Please refrain from being so belittling of the American People. Not all Americans are "sitting in front of their TV drinking beer, watching our nation bomb the crap out of another" I, being an American, am somewhat offended that others would think that we are taking this "oh, war? it's no big deal, Ill watch it on TV" I have friends over there, My Girlfriends father is over there as well. Dont stereotype all Americans because of what you think they do.

[tomlong]

First of all thank you for starting the Thread Naki!

There is still no official confirmation that American or British forces had discovered the chemical or biological weapons that were cited by President Bush as the reason for going to war.

I believe they are playing it safe until the findings are tested.

When did military officials ever havee the right to make anonymous statements to the press?How can they be 'officials'" when they are acting outside of government sanctioned media systems?

Its called a leak! The person could be a high ranking officer in the forces who wants the info out there, but they are waiting for official results before they make themselves look stupid.

Pardon me for being silly,but who is going to harm him?If he has the information claimed,he'd be one of the most heavily guarded individuals in Iraq.Mr Bush is desperate for this information to justify his fanciful crusade into the Iraqi people's homeland,no way would a scientist with that much information be exposed to risk.

It would be stupid to assume that there are no Bathe loyalists still in the middle east. I agree that he would be very heavily guarded; however the crazed lunatics he would worry about would be more than happy to kill his family and friends!

And just to add, if it's been buried and destroyed, then it belies the claim by America that Saddam is not cooperating. At least there was an effort to cooperate, so the war actually makes little sense.

You obviously did not read the rest of the sentence that stated they were buried and destroyed days before the start of the war!

In summarryy,there are no names,no facts,no evidence,and no timetable for the production of any more relevant information in this press release.It's blatant misinformation,and a worthless piece of writing.If they come up with some verifiable facts,then I might take this nonsense seriously.

I agree that the article is vague and hopefully their will be more information to come; however I was just relaying something I had heard and thought I would see what others thought about it.

And there's that Syrian connection again. Amusing, that now the U.S. is targeting another nation and blaming it when it failed to find WMDs in Iraq. I guess we will see another war soon. America on the march once again! And Americans in front of TVs, drinking beer while their nation bombs to oblivion another civilization.

Oh and Milliardo

:finger:

You seem to have a very bad stereotype of our 280 million people which is very incorrect. I want world peace and economic progress just as much as any one else on this forum. What civilization was bombed to Oblivion? Who drinks beer certaintly not me(well maybe 1 a month when I am playing golf) Last I heard that the Shiite Muslims finally took a pilgrimage which Saddam did not allow them to for 25 years. Yes their was much anti occupation sentiment, but I believe and this is truly my hopes and opinion that once the government is reestablished, power and water restored, and we train their new military to defend themselves we will pull out and be seen in a new light by the Iraqi's who are scared we are trying to own their country. We will see. I suggest that you take a trip to America and see how normal people live and think before you make unsubstantiated stereotypes.

[rsxer45]

Originally posted by Milliardo
And just to add, if it's been buried and destroyed, then it belies the claim by America that Saddam is not cooperating. At least there was an effort to cooperate, so the war actually makes little sense.

I disagree with this argument. Let's assume for the moment that this Iraqi scientist is credible. It doesn't sound like Saddam is cooperating by destroying the weapons he claimed to never have in the first place on the eve before the war started. Its sounds more like he is covering his tracks. If Saddam was fully cooperating he would have told us about the existence of these weapons well before war had to come into the picture. Burying, concealing, and destroying weapons does not sound like cooperation to me. Rather, it sounds more like Saddam is trying to make the world rally the world against the US by showing how "baseless" their claims were. And if I were in Saddam's place, I would do the exact same thing because it would be the best way to get at the country that is about to oust you from power.

In regards to the article, it doesn't really give us anything conclusive. But, at least it offers another perspective as what is going on with the WMD situation in Iraq. The scientist's story sounds plausible but, Im not going to believe another word until we get some hardcore proof.

[Prelewd]

Originally posted by Milliardo

And there's that Syrian connection again. Amusing, that now the U.S. is targeting another nation and blaming it when it failed to find WMDs in Iraq. I guess we will see another war soon. America on the march once again! And Americans in front of TVs, drinking beer while their nation bombs to oblivion another civilization.

Yea.. we aren't human.. we are just animals; lazy, naive animals.

I know I don't go to school and work, or think about my friends in the marines/navy/army/air force.

Nope.. this shit is like a football game to me.

If I had a care in the world, I'd be having educated debates with people in a political forum about current issues that my country is responsible for.

Oh wait....................................

[taranaki]

Originally posted by tomlong

Its called a leak! The person could be a high ranking officer in the forces who wants the info out there, but they are waiting for official results before they make themselves look stupid.

Do you really want to rely on some anonymous coward who disobeys orders to provide you with your information? All media contact with U.S. forces is strictly controlled by the President's media specialists.This person described as an 'official' was clearly not acting in any official capacity at all, but has been presented as an authorised source.In simple terms,that's at least one big fat lie in the article.Throws the credibility of the whole item into doubt.

And if they are not waiting for official results that's when they make themselves look stupid.When you have a good hand of cards, you play them slowly and wisely.The easiest way to make someone look stupid is to start with a stupid person in the first place.

[tomlong]

Do you really want to rely on some anonymous coward who disobeys orders to provide you with your information? All media contact with U.S. forces is strictly controlled by the President's media specialists.This person described as an 'official' was clearly not acting in any official capacity at all, but has been presented as an authorised source.In simple terms,that's at least one big fat lie in the article.Throws the credibility of the whole item into doubt.

There are such things as approved leaks even though the government would say otherwise.

And if they are not waiting for official results that's when they make themselves look stupid.When you have a good hand of cards, you play them slowly and wisely.The easiest way to make someone look stupid is to start with a stupid person in the first place.

Maybe this is how they are playing there cards slowly and wisely.

[taranaki]

Originally posted by tomlong


Maybe this is how they are playing there cards slowly and wisely.

Releasing unverifed information to a single media outlet?Doubt it.What I meant was,they'd gather up their facts,get them bulletproof and then launch them at the biggest press conference that they could muster.There's no logic to this being a 'planned leak',it says nothing new.The US has always implied that Saddam has these weapons,this article does nothing to confirm it.