basiasubrosa
Posts: 130
Joined: 6/23/2004
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*Warning* Though i will try to refrain from opnions and interpretations in this post, it contains potentially controversial, and by no means complete, information.
Someone pointed out in another thread that WMD had been discovered in Iraq, but this was not reported on very much. Most mainstream media reported on the discovery of sarin shells in May and then in June/July, but few if any provided follow ups. This really irked me (the media coverage, not the someone who kindly brought it up  ), and i don't like to be accused of ignoring unpleasant information, so i've been trying to do some long distance investigation. Here is basically a summary of what i've come up with.
First of all, the search engine on Department of Defense (DoD) website is absolutely terrible. Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Or else it just really really does not like me, or my IP Address, because it does not process my searches, so i had to wade through entry by entry in the press/news/etc. archives for this info. Ugh! (Alright, i admit, that was an opinion, but i just had to get that out of my system.... Ugh!)
Secondly, i don't really know what media are 'liberal' or 'conservative' or 'right' or 'left'. From what i can tell from some offhanded googling is that nearly no media that i know of have published follow up reports on the discovered materials. Fox News might have given this more prominent coverage, but they did not provide solid information, either.
My primary source here is the DoD. As stated above, i waded through most of the archived press releases, news briefs and interviews from May, June and July. The CIA doesn't appear to have much info to offer the public yet. Links and specifics available, if anyone is interested.
5/17 Gen. Kimmitt says that "The Iraqi Survey Group confirmed today that a 155-millimeter artillery round containing sarin nerve agent had been found." He believes it was probably left over from pre-1991 Gulf War times, and that the person who rigged the shell was NOT aware that it contained the chemicals that create sarin, because it was rigged in a way that renders chemical weapons ineffective.
5/26 Gen. Rodriguez confirms that the shell was pre-1991. When questioned whether the age or scantiness of the materials makes the discovery less significant, Mr. Di Rita makes historical note of how Iraq used sarin before...
6/24 An anonymous journalist says that "the head of the Iraq Survey Group, Charlie Duelfer, told Fox today that his team has found a dozen artillery shells and rockets that confirmed contained sarin or mustard gas." (I could not find any previous mention of this on DoD or CIA.) Again, journalist asks whether aged materials can actually be used as WMD; again Mr. Di Rita notes how historically, Iraq did not come forth with all weapons, and "we know just through historical example that these groups have a thirst for weapons of mass destruction."
6/30 For what i could find, the first DoD record of Sec. Rumsfeld talking about the Polish troops' discovery of "something like 16 or 17 – warheads that contained sarin and mustard gas." (Transcript of interview with NewsRadio 600) He goes on to talk about how there might be a whole lot more of very lethal sarin. (The host does not ask about the big 'age' question.)
7/1 The Polish discoveries are brought up in a general DoD briefing. Mr. Di Rita talks about some confusion about who discovered how many of what between the Poles and the Iraqi Survey Group.
I could not find any further information provided by the DoD on the 10-12 or 16-17 weapons containing sarin and/or mustard gas, discovered by the Poles or the ISG. Nor could i find any DoD records of nuclear missile discoveries. In one of the press briefs a journalist asked why the DoD wasn't making a bigger deal of the (potentially)WMD discoveries, but received no reply.
Again, this is a very limited little attempt to find out what was/is going on. Additions, corrections, etc. more than welcome.
Tha-bda-bda-at's all folks! Need to go to bed now..... <stumbles off bleary eyed>
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