DOD: Munitions Found in Iraq Meet WMD Criteria
The 500 munitions that were found throughout Iraq after the 2003 invasion really WERE dangerous and DO meet the criteria to be considered a WMD, contrary to the beliefs of liberals who still cling to the belief that “Bush lied!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! about WMD:
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2006 – The 500 munitions discovered throughout Iraq since 2003 and discussed in a National Ground Intelligence Center report meet the criteria of weapons of mass destruction, the center’s commander said here today.
“These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes … they do constitute weapons of mass destruction,” Army Col. John Chu told the House Armed Services Committee.The Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. It was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 1997.
The munitions found contain sarin and mustard gases, Army Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said. Sarin attacks the neurological system and is potentially lethal.
“Mustard is a blister agent (that) actually produces burning of any area (where) an individual may come in contact with the agent,” he said. It also is potentially fatal if it gets into a person’s lungs.
The munitions addressed in the report were produced in the 1980s, Maples said. Badly corroded, they could not currently be used as originally intended, Chu added.
While that’s reassuring, the agent remaining in the weapons would be very valuable to terrorists and insurgents, Maples said. “We’re talking chemical agents here that could be packaged in a different format and have a great effect,” he said, referencing the sarin-gas attack on a Japanese subway in the mid-1990s.
This is true even considering any degradation of the chemical agents that may have occurred, Chu said. It’s not known exactly how sarin breaks down, but no matter how degraded the agent is, it’s still toxic.
“Regardless of (how much material in the weapon is actually chemical agent), any remaining agent is toxic,” he said. “Anything above zero (percent agent) would prove to be toxic, and if you were exposed to it long enough, lethal.”
This won’t matter in the eyes of liberals – they’ll still think Santorum and Hoekstra’s announcement about these WMD was ‘comical’ while at the same time continuing to proclaim at the top of their lungs that Bush “lied!!!!”
Hat tip: John B. Dwyer at The American Thinker
Prior:
- Hoekstra and Santorum to intelligence community: Declassify more WMD-related documents, and quit downplaying them
- Even more documents show Saddam targeted US interests
- Documents show more collaboration between AQ and Iraq
- Saddam’s Philippines terror connection
- Batch of pre-war Afghanistan and Iraq documents are released
- Prepare to learn more about Saddam’s WMD intentions
- House Permanent Select Committee to review Saddam recordings
- The Syria/Iraq WMD connection
- Saddam’s #2 air force official: WMDs were moved to Syria
- Confirmed: Iraq was a terrorist training center
- Pentagon briefing docs on Iraq/AQ connection from 2002
- Where did the WMDs go?
- Pre-war Iraq and Syria: closer than we thought
- AQ/SH connections: Must read
- More evidence of OBL/Hussein connections
- Iraq and Al Qaeda: More connections
- No terrorism in Iraq before the war?