Chemical Weapons Found in Iraq

[akamifeldman]

Agree. Good post, Barnard.

 

[bluesmobile]

Thought this was interesting...shows what context each of those quotes are used under.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/wmdquotes.asp

 

[bunk22]

When you find proof that Saddam was trying to deal with Niger to get nuclear weapon parts, or when you find substantial proof of a link between Iraq and Al-Qaida OR a between Iraq and 9/11, you come and tell me. A mini roadside bomb that exploded more than a year after Saddam was taken out is not the massive weapons cahes Saddam was puported to have. Just my, $.02, I'll shut up now.

The war with Iraq was never solely about WMD or 9/11. Matter of fact, I don't remember this administration ever trying to prove a link between Iraq and Al Qaida. The link between Iraq and 9/11 would be prevention. After 9/11, there are no more second chances or excuses. Iraq was a nation ruled by a dictator that invaded two countries in a decade, used WMD, supported and trained terrorist organizations in country, violated several UN resolutions after being militarily defeated in the first Gulf War, continued to fire on US and coalition aircraft during ONW/OSW, etc. They were an obvious on our hitlist. Now, I would say Iraq was never a direct threat but neither was Al Qiada, or so we thought. That changed on 9/11. So our goal, especially when it came to WMD, was to keep them out of terrorist hands. Indirect warfare was the threat. Sadam selling a weapon to a terrorist and they in turn using it on the US. Who knows if Sadam had plans or not to attempt an indirect attack and who cares since we didn't give him the chance. Prevention. It seems now we have the added benefit of carrying the fight to the terrorist on their home turf and not near the CONUS. Since 9/11, as far as I know, there hasn't been another attack on the mainland and that in my mind is a good thing.

On a different note.

RANT ON

I love motivating young souls into becoming hard charging naval aviators. Probably the main reason I'm on this site. Those who know me (like kmac) also know I'm as laid back as they come. Yet even I know there is more to flying than stick and rudder. We aviators are officers first and pilot/nfo's second. Doesn't matter if you're a helo bubba or pointy nose bomb dropper. My last job at the RAG was the student control officer and if you came to see me after you checked in, it wasn't good. It meant you had a pink sheet in hand and some explaining to do. I found some guys were lazy, some had bad days, and others just weren't up to speed yet. Of the 4 guys booted while I was there, three of them had flaws that couldn't be chocked up to what I mentioned. These three were simply not hard charging, cock strong, patriotic, motivated student Naval Flight Officers. These guys were trying to live a wet dream of being in naval aviation while not understanding there is more to it than just flying. Having the correct attitude is such a huge deal. They had weak dick attitudes, questioned everything, integrity issues (one them at least) and just couldn't understand the hard work and motivation it takes to earn those wings. They were okay guys but just didn't have what it took. I mention them because I see this sort of attitude by a few on this site. Some people on this site are living in la la land. Naval aviation and the military is not for them, period. At some point in time in their training, if they make it that far, it will catch up to them. Just my observation. Thanks for listening.

RANT OFF

 

[NeoCortex]

Hey Bunk, from all of us aspiring NAs and NFOs, I'd like to say thank you to those of you that help motivate us. Most of us are realizing a dream that we've hoped for since we were little. So thank everyone again.

Back on Subject:
Anyone notice that the Chem Weapon story has been on Page 11 for all the major news channels?

 

[VetteMuscle427]

Did you notice that CNN.com doesn't even mention it... and last night it had "Weather-guesser's think this will be a bad hurricane season" as their main article?

 

[Flash]

To play a little bit of a devil's advocate for the media here, there is a reason that it has not been reported yet with most of the media. As far as I know, it has not been confirmed yet. From what I understand, the people possibly exposed to the sarin have shown symptoms but it has not been confirmed by everyone yet. I would wait for the experts to confirm it, even the Chem guys in the field sometimes get false positives from funny things.

You also have to remember it was a handful of soldiers from one bomb/shell, it is not a stockpile of weapons. The terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo was able to produce a fair quanity of sarin gas for their attack in Tokyo, so it is not impossible to produce it on your own.

What worries me is that is supposedly was an artillery shell from a stockpile destroyed a while ago. If this is right, it is very worrisome. My hope is that this is just one of a few or a single shell that just fell through the cracks (would not be too much of a suprise seeing how we account for things).

 

[BigSkyGuy]

...to date we've found no substantial ties between Saddam and 9/11, and no WMD's save for a single shell that injured two people. Mass destruction? Hardly.

To that I say THANK GOD!!! And to think what he could have done if we hadn't gone in there and disposed of him!!!!

How come those who think PRESIDENT BUSH lied to us haven't been up in arms screaming for the Arab Community to apologize for the murder of Nick Berg? How about asking for an important member of the U.N. to resign? Where is the anger and outrage from the Democratic Party now?

Do some people honestly think that 9/11 was an isolated incident? When Pearl Harbor was attacked our entire nation banded together. I personally feel that if we were in that day and age now President Bush would have been able to make a declaration of war, but thanks to a particluar political stance we have to worry about people's feelings . Do you think our leaders in WWII cared about how the U.S. was viewed or about Japanese or German feelings? Probably, but not to such an extent that the defense of our country didn't come first.

Watch Schindler's List :icon_rage . Think about Nick Berg :icon_rage . Think about the terrorist attacks on our home turf :icon_rage . Make the connection. They have declared war on us. Can anyone honestly say that flying a plane into the Pentagon is not an act of war, AND believe it? :icon_rage Listen to their words. That is what a jihad is .... a WAR. A war against Christians, Jews and decent peace loving people. Get on board or go back under the rock you crawled out from under!!!!!!

For anyone wanting to be a naval aviator, I suggest reading Flyboys: A Story of Courage by James Bradley. Heck, its good reading for anyone actually. It will make you sick at times. War is not pretty and to win you have to fight dirty sometimes. Sometimes you have to strike before your enemy has an opportunity. Because if you don't your enemy will and he will kick you till you're done. If you can't do what our Flyboys did in the Pacific Theater, get a job working for a French airline.

BTW, the First Article of the Code of Conduct is this: "I am an American, fighting in the forces, which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

That says "MY COUNTRY" and "OUR WAY OF LIFE". Are you prepared?

The Sixth Article is :I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.

Do you take RESPONSIBILITY and are you DEDICATED?

Man, I feel better now. Have a nice day.

 

[TurnandBurn55]

Meh... I ask the one question that none of the lefties want to deal with.

What was Saddam hiding?

You hear these reports from UNSCOM that they went for a 'surprise inspection' of a suspected WMD facility. They were held up at the entrance for 15, 20, 30 minutes at a time... then they go in and find... nothing.

And I mean nothing-- at a site Iraq claims is just a conventional military site, or an innocent pharmaceutical plant. Nothing in the file cabinets, the computers are only able to play video games. Zero. Zilch. Hrmmm... what was going on while the inspectors were being held up?

Intelligence isn't a perfect business, especially in a country with a Stalinist control of its people and a culture which implicity distrusts Westerners. So it's very, very difficult-- more likely impossible-- to get specific intelligence on what's going on. What you do start to wonder is... these guys are f#cking with inspections, these guys HAD WMDs and HAVE used them, these guys WERE flirting with Al-Qaeda-- if only in passing--, these guys like to beat up on their neighbors and hate the USA...

What're we supposed to say? Jee, we can't prove anything, let's just ignore it and hope they don't try anything frisky with us. Maybe we'll lob a missile or two at them and hope the problem goes away. Great idea. Worked real well with al-Qaeda, didn't it?

Sorry. This 'innocent until proven guilty' crap doesn't apply to national security. Besides, Saddam lost that privelege a long time ago.

 

[SirVLCIV]

Bremer and Powell have said they aren't making much over this finding of one shell, unless they find a larger stockpile hidden somewhere. It didn't appear as if the insurgents even knew what they had (it was misused).