Article

2005-03-14 Iraq-Jordan

Sunday NY Times: Iraq Had WMD Stockplies in 2003 Before US Attack

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Posted by legolas 2005-03-14 12:20|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 When'd ya get the new comment layout?

Anyway, WOW!!!!!!!!

Does this mean that the heads of our feckless LLL will explode simultaneously, thereby showering unsuspecting innocents with shrapnel in the shape of skull fragments? (I certainly hope so ;^)

Posted by AlanC 2005-03-14 1:52:14 PM|| 2005-03-14 1:52:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 "In a stunning about-face, the New York Times reported Sunday that when the U.S. attacked Iraq in March 2003, Saddam Hussein possessed "stockpiles of monitored chemicals and materials," as well as sophisticated equipment to manufacture nuclear and biological weapons, which was removed to "a neighboring state" before the U.S. could secure the weapons sites."

Anyone have a direct NYT cite?

The source is, after all, Newsmax. They dont have a history of being accurate, just sensational.

Posted by OldSpook 2005-03-14 1:53:49 PM|| 2005-03-14 1:53:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 OS, This is the article which states in part:

In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting.
...

Dr. Araji said equipment capable of making parts for missiles as well as chemical, biological and nuclear arms was missing from 8 or 10 sites that were the heart of Iraq's dormant program on unconventional weapons. That program was the rationale for the United States-led invasion, but occupation forces found no unconventional arms and C.I.A. inspectors concluded that the effort had been largely abandoned after the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

...

The United Nations, worried that the material could be used in clandestine bomb production, has been hunting for it unsuccessfully, across the Middle East. In one case, investigators searching through scrap yards in Jordan last June found specialized vats for highly corrosive chemicals that had been tagged and monitored as part of the international effort to keep watch on the Iraqi arms program. The vessels could be used for harmless industrial processes or making chemical weapons.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-03-14 2:15:36 PM|| 2005-03-14 2:15:36 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 What the NY Times is doing is the "journalistic" equivalent of having your cake and eating it too.

(1) Bush lied when he said Saddam had WMD capability
(2) Bush failed to secure the elements of Saddam's WMD programs that provided that capability

You have to be a Dem to reconcile those two statements.

Posted by Justrand 2005-03-14 4:42:13 PM|| 2005-03-14 4:42:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Neighboring state being... Syria?

Posted by eLarson 2005-03-14 6:14:14 PM|| [http://larsonian.blogspot.com] 2005-03-14 6:14:14 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 eLarson - of course.

Why do you think the Syrians are pulling back only to the Bekaa Valley?

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2005-03-14 8:04:17 PM|| 2005-03-14 8:04:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Justrand - The Dems are good at reconciling two conflicting thoughts. Who can forget (pre-Iraq war): "Saddam doesn't have any WMD's, but if we attack him he'll use them on our troops".

Posted by DMFD 2005-03-14 11:53:24 PM|| 2005-03-14 11:53:24 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 "In a stunning about-face, the New York Times reported Sunday that when the U.S. attacked Iraq in March 2003, Saddam Hussein possessed "stockpiles of monitored chemicals and materials," as well as sophisticated equipment to manufacture nuclear and biological weapons, which was removed to "a neighboring state" before the U.S. could secure the weapons sites."

Anyone have a direct NYT cite?

The source is, after all, Newsmax. They dont have a history of being accurate, just sensational.

Posted by OldSpook 2005-03-14 1:53:49 PM|| 2005-03-14 1:53:49 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Off-topic or abusive comments deleted]

Posted by OldSpook 2005-03-14 1:53:49 PM|| 2005-03-14 1:53:49 PM|| Front Page Top

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