The Bush Administration Was "ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN" That Saddam Hussein Had WMDs

[CMike]

url=http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/20/weekinreview/the-world-germs-atoms-and-poison-gas-the-iraqi-shell-game.html?pagewanted=1]The World - Germs, Atoms and Poison Gas - The Iraqi Shell Game - NYTimes.com[/url]


The authors, Gary Milhollin and Kelly Nugent, based their work principally on reports from the United Nations Special Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and statements by Richard Butler, the commission's chief inspector. POISON GAS

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- At least 3.9 tons of VX nerve gas. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits producing this amount in 1988 and 1990. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The gas was low quality and the effort to make it failed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- VX nerve gas put into warheads. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- U.S. and French tests found traces of nerve gas on warhead remnants. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The evidence was planted.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- About 600 tons of ingredients for VX gas. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Out of 805 tons on hand, only 191 could be verified as destroyed. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Everything was destroyed or consumed in production.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Up to 3,000 tons of other poison gas agents. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits producing agents in the 1980's. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were used, thrown away or destroyed by U.S. bombs during the 1991 gulf war.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Several hundred additional tons of poison gas agents that Iraq may have produced. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq had enough ingredients to make more poison gas than it admits producing. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- All poison gas production has been declared.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- 4,000 tons of ingredients to make poison gas. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits importing or producing them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- No records of what happened to them are available.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- 500 bombs with parachutes to deliver gas or germ payloads. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits producing them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were secretly destroyed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- About 550 artillery shells filled with mustard gas. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits they existed. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were lost shortly after the gulf war.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- 107,500 casings for chemical arms HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits producing or importing them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- No records are available.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- 31,658 filled and empty chemical munitions. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits producing or importing them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were thrown away, destroyed secretly or destroyed by U.S. bombs.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- An Iraqi Air Force document showing how much poison gas was used against Iran, and thus how much Iraq has left. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- A U.N. inspector held the document briefly in her hands before Iraq confiscated it. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Inspectors might be able to see it, but only in the presence of the Secretary General's personal envoy.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- The results of a project to make binary artillery shells for sarin nerve gas. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits it ran such a project and made experimental shells. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- There are no records or physical traces of the program.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Production procedures for making poison gas. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Such proceedures are needed for large-scale production. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- No documents containing these procedures can be found.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Documents showing the overall size of the chemical weapons program. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors determined that specific documents are still missing. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- No such documents can be found.

GERM WARFARE AGENTS UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- At least 157 aerial bombs filled with germ agents. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits filling this many. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were secretly destroyed. UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- At least 25 missile warheads containing germ agents (anthrax, aflotoxin and botulinum). HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits producing them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were secretly destroyed.


UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Excess germ warfare agent. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits producing more of the agent than was used to fill munitions. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The excess was secretly destroyed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Spraying equipment to deliver germ agents by helicopter. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits it tested such equipment. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Iraq refuses to explain what happened to it.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- The results of a project to deliver germ agents by drop tanks. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits the project existed, but inspectors cannot verify Iraq's account. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Everything has been accounted for.


UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Growth media to produce three or four times the amount of anthrax Iraq admits producing. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- U.N. inspectors discovered that this much was imported. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Either the material was not imported or it went to a civilian lab.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Equipment to produce germ agents. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq provided an incomplete inventory. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Everything has been accounted for.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Program to dry germ agents so they are easier to store and use. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors saw a document revealing the program's existence. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- No such program existed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Log book showing purchases for the germ warfare program. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors saw the log book in 1995. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The book cannot be found.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- List of imported ingredients for germ agents. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits the document exists. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The document cannot be found.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- List of ingredients for germ agents stored at Iraq's main germ facility. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits the document exists. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The document cannot be found.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- The total amount of germ agents Iraq produced (anthrax, botulinum, gas gangrene, aflatoxin). HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Production capacity far exceeds the amount Iraq admits producing. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Iraq did not use full capacity.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Components for three to four implosion-type nuclear weapons, lacking only uranium fuel. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Intelligence gathered by the former U.N. inspector Scott Ritter. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Such weapons do not exist.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Drawings showing the latest stage of Iraq's nuclear weapon design. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors determined the drawings must exist. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Cannot explain why the drawings are missing.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Design drawings of individual nuclear weapon components, including the precise dimensions of explosive lenses. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Other drawings show that these drawings. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Iraq no longer has these drawings exist.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Drawings of how to mate a nuclear warhead to a missile. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Other drawings show that these drawings exist. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Iraq no longer has these drawings.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Documents detailing cooperation among various Iraqi nuclear weapon and missile groups. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- The cooperation must have generated a paper trail. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- No response.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Documents revealing how far Iraq got in developing centrifuges to process uranium to weapons grade. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq tested one or two prototypes. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The documents were secretly destroyed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- 170 technical reports explaining how to produce and operate these centrifuges. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits a German supplier provided them, and a few were found. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- The documents were secretly destroyed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Materials and equipment belonging to Iraq's most advanced nuclear weapon design team. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors have determined that important items are still missing. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Iraq has provided everything it can find.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Materials and equipment belonging to the group trying to process uranium to nuclear weapons grade. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors have determined that important items are still missing WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Iraq has provided everything it can find.

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- The name and whereabouts of a foreign national who offered to help Iraq's nuclear program. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors were informed that the offer was made. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- Inspectors should consult an Iraqi expatriate who might provide a lead. (They did; it was a dead end.)

UNACCOUNTED FOR IN IRAQ -- Documents proving Iraq's claim that it abandoned its secret nuclar-bomb program. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Inspectors determined that such a step must have been recorded. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- No records can be found. BALLISTIC MISSILES U
NACCOUNTED FOR -- Seven, locally-produced ballistic missiles. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits it had them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were secretly destroyed in 1991. UNACCOUNTED FOR -- Two operational missiles that Iraq imported. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits it had them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were secretly destroyed in 1991.

UNACCOUNTED FOR -- Components for missile guidance that Iraq imported. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq supplied an inventory but it was incomplete. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were secretly destroyed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR -- Up to 150 tons of material for missile production. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits it had it; destruction could not be verified. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- It was secretly melted or dumped into rivers and canals.

UNACCOUNTED FOR -- Liquid fuel for long-range missiles. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits it had them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- It was secretly destroyed and will not be discussed further.

UNACCOUNTED FOR -- Up to 50 Scud-type missile warheads, presumably for high exposives. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq admits it had them. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- They were secretly destroyed.

UNACCOUNTED FOR -- Drawings showing how to together a Scud missile. HOW INSPECTORS KNOW -- Iraq needed such drawings to produce these missiles. WHAT IRAQ SAYS -- All available drawings were provided.

 

[rdean]

I think they were moved to Syria. There is no question that Saddam used WND's to kill all those Kurds. That was enough reason to remove him right there.

Actually, if you do a little research, you might find out there is some dispute there. Some say the poison gas came from Iran. Others say Iraq tried to use it on Iran and the wind changed. Even the number dead is disputed.

But it is something Republicans quickly latched on to. They had to latch on to something. It's all they had.

 

[rdean]

Now this is the truth. Bush Sr. was a WWII hero and an officer. He became head of the CIA, vice president and president.

He destroyed the bulk of Saddam's military.

Only a total idiot would think a man that intelligent with that background would drive a dictator back into his country and not keep an eye on him. You know Bush Sr. put inspectors into place. He parked satellites overhead. He sent in spies and monitored transmissions. You know he did.

Why do you think Bush Sr. gave almost no support for his son's invasion????

He knew what time it was. He knew exactly what Saddam had.

No way would Bush Sr. say, "My son is an ignorant fuck up who led a party of weasels that brought damage and shame to the country when he could have just talked to me".

 

[MarcATL]

Now this is the truth. Bush Sr. was a WWII hero and an officer. He became head of the CIA, vice president and president.

He destroyed the bulk of Saddam's military.

Only a total idiot would think a man that intelligent with that background would drive a dictator back into his country and not keep an eye on him. You know Bush Sr. put inspectors into place. He parked satellites overhead. He sent in spies and monitored transmissions. You know he did.

Why do you think Bush Sr. gave almost no support for his son's invasion????

He knew what time it was. He knew exactly what Saddam had.

No way would Bush Sr. say, "My son is an ignorant fuck up who led a party of weasels that brought damage and shame to the country when he could have just talked to me".

Powerful!!!

 

[Spoonman]

I think they were moved to Syria. There is no question that Saddam used WND's to kill all those Kurds. That was enough reason to remove him right there.

Actually, if you do a little research, you might find out there is some dispute there. Some say the poison gas came from Iran. Others say Iraq tried to use it on Iran and the wind changed. Even the number dead is disputed.

But it is something Republicans quickly latched on to. They had to latch on to something. It's all they had.

yea, but the mass graves pretty much speak for themselves.

 

[initforme]

If they were there we would have found em.

 

[MarcATL]

If they were there we would have found em.

Plain and simple.

All this nonsensial talk about "how do we know that he doesn't have them?" is total malarkey. We know because we turned the place upside down and did not discover them.

And unless Saddam magically was able to hide the WMDs up his A$$, then he didn't have them. Not in 2003 for damn sure.

 

[rdean]

I think they were moved to Syria. There is no question that Saddam used WND's to kill all those Kurds. That was enough reason to remove him right there.

Actually, if you do a little research, you might find out there is some dispute there. Some say the poison gas came from Iran. Others say Iraq tried to use it on Iran and the wind changed. Even the number dead is disputed.

But it is something Republicans quickly latched on to. They had to latch on to something. It's all they had.

yea, but the mass graves pretty much speak for themselves.

How many were in those mass graves?

 

[rdean]

Now this is the truth. Bush Sr. was a WWII hero and an officer. He became head of the CIA, vice president and president.

He destroyed the bulk of Saddam's military.

Only a total idiot would think a man that intelligent with that background would drive a dictator back into his country and not keep an eye on him. You know Bush Sr. put inspectors into place. He parked satellites overhead. He sent in spies and monitored transmissions. You know he did.

Why do you think Bush Sr. gave almost no support for his son's invasion????

He knew what time it was. He knew exactly what Saddam had.

No way would Bush Sr. say, "My son is an ignorant fuck up who led a party of weasels that brought damage and shame to the country when he could have just talked to me".

Powerful!!!

Sometimes the truth is so in front of you, you just can't not see it. You can't. How Republicans manage to avoid the truth is beyond me. If Bush Sr. believed in what his son was doing, he would have been Boy George's greatest supporter. Because that's his son.

 

[Lakhota]

The Bush Administration Was "ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN" That Saddam Hussein Had WMDs

Partially thanks to CIA Director George "Slam Dunk" Tenet.

 

[francoHFW]

Saddam destroyed almost all his chemical, biological weapons, and the crappe that was left was unusable. Also destroyed the beginnings of a nuke program.

The WMD thing just plays into the Pub double talk. What about the BS about Mushroom clouds that really scared people? Just another part of the W catastrophe...

 

[Desperado]

If they were there we would have found em.

One would think that if they were there, he would have used them on us when we invaded Iraq.

 

[Bigfoot]

If they were there we would have found em.

One would think that if they were there, he would have used them on us when we invaded Iraq.

That would have been way to big of a strategic blunder.

 

[Britfire54]

The answer is a resounding....YES!!!


LoLing my A$$ off at Right Wing News.


They don't care about the truth.


I know right?


Sounds like a good story.

Where's the PROOF Skippy?

Let's suppose, purely for the sake of argument, that Syria's WMD stocks didn't come from Iraq. OK, then, I invite you to prove the point beyond all doubt.

Can you show us how Syria came to have them ? Perhaps, proof that they were manufactured within Syria's own territory ? Or, clear evidence showing that they were worked on, developed, within any home-grown program ? Or, if purchased, where from ?

You see, I've seen NO evidence WHATEVER disproving the assertion that they came from Iraq. NONE.

I'm open to the truth, if that truth shows me to be wrong. I invite you to provide it.

And if you can't ... then accept the likelihood that what Syria has, really DID come from Iraq.

Don't try that HOCUM with me man.



I just asked YOU a question.

Prove that the WMDs were moved to Syria.

Either you have proof or you don't. And if you don't you got nothing but lies and conjecture, take your pick.

'Hokum', is it ?

You know you cannot meet that challenge. I know it. It should be obvious to other contributors that you can't, too.

Here's the thing.

Saddam had a six month window open to him, following his latest games-playing against the UN, to move WMD stocks out of Iraq ... ample time to move them to Syria.

So, is this what happened ?

This might be of interest ...

Syria's chemical weapons arsenal | Mail Online

... What has not been raised, however, is the question of how Syria managed to develop such a chemical weapons stockpile in the first place.

No-one in the western media seems remotely curious about how Syria has managed to arm itself to the teeth with them beneath the radar of international scrutiny.

In 2003 the US, Britain and others went to war in Iraq to make the world safe from Saddam Hussein and his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Ever since, however, we have been told that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and the proof of that is that none was ever found – surely one of the most profoundly illogical and imbecilic formulations ever to have fallen from human lips.

At the time, however, there were a number of reports that enormous truck movements across the border from Iraq into Syria suggested that some of these WMD had been moved there. Saddam’s Air Vice-Marshal Georges Sada, whom I interviewed, said he was absolutely certain that WMD had been moved from Iraq to Syria. All of this was however brushed aside for, as the bien pensant world has never stopped intoning with positively religious fervour, ‘we were taken to war in Iraq on a lie’.

But now we know that Syria possesses an arsenal of chemical weapons. So could any of this have come from Saddam’s Iraq, just as it was transferred from Egypt two decades previously?

In a more recent paper published in 2006 in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence , An Antithesis on the Fate of Iraq’s Chemical and Biological Weapons, Dr Shoham wrote that the two official reports – Duelfer and Carnegie in 2004 – that supposedly exonerated Saddam of still having WMD by the outbreak of war ignored much information that indicated the smuggling of chemical and biological weapons from Iraq into Syria. Although the most knowledgeable and experienced individuals tracking Iraq’s WMD were members of UNSCOM, they were largely excluded by the US intelligence community. Ill-trained soldiers would go to a site, find something suspicious, return 48 hours later and find it had disappeared.

In October 2003, the US intelligence community publicly pointed for the first time to transfers of WMD from Iraq to Syria. The Director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, James Clapper, said it linked the disappearance of Iraqi WMD with the huge number of Iraqi trucks entering Syria before and during the US invasion; based on satellite imagery, it assessed that these trucks contained missiles and WMD components. Shipments to Syria were supervised by Saddam’s most loyal intelligence agents. Once the shipments were made, these agents would leave and the regular border guards resumed their posts.

Moreover, captured Iraqi documents record that the Russian ‘spetsnaz’ moved many of Saddam’s weapons and related goods, including chemicals used to make chemical weapons plus missile components and MIG jet parts, out of Iraq and into Syria in the weeks before the 2003 invasion.

In 2004 Nizar Najoef, a Syrian journalist who defected from Syria to Europe, claimed he had received information from contacts in Syrian intelligence that:

Tunnels dug under al Baida near Hama in northern Syria were an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long range missiles were stored there;

Vital parts of Iraq’s WMD were stored in the village of Tal Snan, north of Salamija where there was a big Syrian air force camp;

Iraqi WMD was also stored in the city of Sjinsjar on Syria’s border with Lebanon.
Shoham concluded:

‘Apparently, then, the prevailing perception of the “failure” to find Iraq’s CBW arsenal ought to be rethought...Strategically, Iraq’s enduring arsenal may affect Syria’s CBW capabilities, provided that the transfer did in fact take place...’

 

[Politico]

I can't help but notice the OP is lacking of quotes from all the Democrats who also said Saddam had WMDs. Including our current Secretary of State.

He's also lacking any creativity, originality and material seeing as he's gotta reach back a decade.

 

[CaféAuLait]

The Bush Administration Was "ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN" That Saddam Hussein Had WMDs

Partially thanks to CIA Director George "Slam Dunk" Tenet.

Guess the other part was Clinton and the dems swearing that he had WMD's far prior to 9-11...

snopes.com: Weapons of Mass Destruction Quotes


Democrat Quotes on WMD

 

[Billo_Really]

I note that you didn't have a response to my question about the Downing Street Memos, Marc. Tough to make the case that Bush "lied" us into war in Iraq when the secret war planning memos show quite clearly that both the Americans and the British planning the invasion of Iraq were deeply concerned about Saddam using WMD's against allied troops.

You can make a case that they believed bad intelligence...but it's rather apparent that Bush Administration weren't "lying" when they told the public that Saddam's WMD were a threat because the Downing Street Memos prove that they WERE worried about somthing which you propose they knew didn't exist...and THAT makes zero sense.

Are you on crack?

DSM clearly showed Bush telling the British, he was going to "fix the intel" around the policy.

That's not reviewing the intel, then deciding the policy, it's just the opposite.

 

[Billo_Really]

This is the basic argument for those on the right that think that dog can hunt!​

​

 

[Oldstyle]

I note that you didn't have a response to my question about the Downing Street Memos, Marc. Tough to make the case that Bush "lied" us into war in Iraq when the secret war planning memos show quite clearly that both the Americans and the British planning the invasion of Iraq were deeply concerned about Saddam using WMD's against allied troops.

You can make a case that they believed bad intelligence...but it's rather apparent that Bush Administration weren't "lying" when they told the public that Saddam's WMD were a threat because the Downing Street Memos prove that they WERE worried about somthing which you propose they knew didn't exist...and THAT makes zero sense.

Are you on crack?

DSM clearly showed Bush telling the British, he was going to "fix the intel" around the policy.

That's not reviewing the intel, then deciding the policy, it's just the opposite.

What's amusing, Loinboy is that part of one sentence is what prompted a liberal to leak the Downing Street Memo's to "prove" that the Bush Administration lied. Unfortunately if you read ALL of the DSM's you come to the part where the planners of the invasion are worrying about casualty levels if Saddam DID use his WMDs which...proves that not only did the Bush Administration believe the intelligence that said the Iraqi leader had weapons of mass destruction but so did the British and Democrats like Clinton and Kerry.

So if Bush "lied"...then why were the planners worried about something they supposedly KNEW didn't exist? That makes zero sense and totally blows your premise that Bush lied about WMD's right out of the water. Sorry, but it is what it is...

 

[Oldstyle]

"On the first, CDS said that we did not know yet if the US battleplan was workable. The military were continuing to ask lots of questions.

For instance, what were the consequences, if Saddam used WMD on day one, or if Baghdad did not collapse and urban warfighting began? You said that Saddam could also use his WMD on Kuwait. Or on Israel, added the Defence Secretary."

That's a direct quote from the Minister's meeting notes. Why pray tell are they worried about "consequences" if Saddam used WMDs on day one or used them on Kuwait or even Israel if they knew that he had no WMDs?