Ok ok ok back to the thread topic for a moment: Forgery, Hyperbole, Half-Truth March 18, 2003 MEMORANDUM FOR: The President FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity apart from what happened to President Johnson, the Vietnam War was the most serious US foreign policy blunder in modern timesâ¦until now. Forgery In your state-of-the-union address you spoke of Iraqâs pre-1991 focus on how to âenrich uranium for a bombâ and added, âthe British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.â No doubt you have now been told that this information was based on bogus correspondence between Iraq and Niger. Answering a question on this last week, Secretary Powell concededâwith neither apology nor apparent embarrassmentâthat the documents in question, which the US and UK had provided to the UN to show that Iraq is still pursuing nuclear weapons, were forgeries. Powell was short: âIf that information is inaccurate, fine.â But it is anything but fine. This kind of episode inflicts serious damage on US credibility abroadâthe more so, as it appears neither you nor your advisers and political supporters are in hot pursuit of those responsible." Who Did It? Who Cares! Last week Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey cited a recent press report suggesting that a foreign government might be behind the forgeries as part of an effort to build support for military action against Iraq and asked Secretary Powell if he could identify that foreign government. Powell said he could not do so âwith confidence.â Nor did he appear in the slightest interested. We think you should be. In the absence of hard evidence one looks for those with motive and capability. The fabrication of false documentation, particularly what purports to be official correspondence between the agencies of two governments, is a major undertaking requiring advanced technical skills normally available only in a sophisticated intelligence service. And yet the forgeries proved to be a sloppy piece of work. Hyperbole The forgery aside, the administrationâs handling of the issue of whether Iraq is continuing to develop nuclear weapons has done particularly severe damage to US credibility. On October 7 your speechwriters had you claim that Iraq might be able to produce a nuclear weapon in less than a year. Formal US intelligence estimates, sanitized versions of which have been made public, hold that Iraq will be unable to produce a nuclear weapon until the end of the decade, if then. In that same speech you claimed that âthe evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons programââa claim reiterated by Vice President Cheney on Meet the Press on March 16. Reporting to the UN Security Council in recent months, UN chief nuclear inspector Mohammed ElBaradei has asserted that the inspectors have found no evidence that Iraq has reconstituted its nuclear weapons program. In Sum What conclusions can be drawn from the above? Simply that forgery, hyperbole, and half-truths provide a sandy foundation from which to launch a major war. more details: http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/article.asp?id=558 Ex-CIA Officers Questioning Iraq Data http://truthout.org/docs_03/031703F.shtml Agency disavows report on Iraq arms The International Atomic Energy Agency says that a report cited by President Bush as evidence that Iraq in 1998 was "six months away" from developing a nuclear weapon does not exist. Top Stories "There's never been a report like that issued from this agency," Mark Gwozdecky, the IAEA's chief spokesman, said yesterday in a telephone interview from the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020927-500715.htm But why let the truth stand in front of all the deceptions?? How many times did we hear on all the major news... SH is 6 months away from building nukes??? how many times did we hear the truth about the report? ZERO These are truly sad times I want my country back and what IT USED to stand for!!!
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23206111 24 Mar 2003 02:25 Huge Iraqi chemical arms factory found-reports -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Adds background from U.S. Central Command briefing, paras 9-12) WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. forces on Sunday found what they believe to be a "huge" chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of Najaf, about 100 miles (160 km) south of Baghdad, U.S. networks and the Jerusalem Post reported. Fox News and the Jerusalem Post, which had a reporter traveling with the U.S. forces, cited unidentified Pentagon officials as saying the facility was seized by the First Brigade of the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division as they advanced north toward Baghdad. About 30 Iraqi troops, including their commanding general, surrendered to U.S. forces as they overtook the installation, apparently used to produce chemical weapons, the Jerusalem Post reported. While the Iraqi troops surrendered without a fight, one U.S. soldier was lightly wounded when a booby-trap exploded as he was clearing the sheetmetal-lined facility, the report said. The 100-acre (40 hectare) complex is adjacent to military barracks and surrounded by an electric fence, the report said. It was not immediately clear what chemicals were being produced at the facility, but both reports said the Iraqis had tried to camouflage the facility so it looked like the surrounding desert and would not be spotted from the air. ABC News cited one unidentified official as saying of the captured Iraqi general: "He is a potential gold mine of evidence about the weapons Saddam Hussein said he does not have." Asked to comment on the reports, a Central Command official said in an e-mail: "While media reports are premature, we are looking into sites of interest." Earlier on Sunday, U.S. Lt. Gen. John Abizaid told reporters at Central Command headquarters in Qatar that there had been reports that some Iraqi units in the vicinity of Al Kut "may have some type of chemical weapons." Abizaid refused to confirm the report in the Jerusalem Post about the Najaf discovery. "I will not confirm that report," he said in response to a question. "We have an Iraqi general officer, two Iraqi general officers that we have taken prisoner, and they are providing us with information." Fox News reported from the United Nations late on Sunday that U.N. weapons inspectors had been unaware of any factory in the area of Najaf that might be capable of producing chemical weapons, citing a spokesman for the inspectors. The United States and Britain launched their war on Iraq last week to oust President Saddam Hussein because they said he had stockpiles of banned chemical and biological weapons. (Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria in Washington)
max max max.. More fictitious claims & halftruths? better read some more Chemical weapons find report 'premature' The Pentagon says that reports of a "huge" cache of chemical weapons being found by allied troops south of Baghdad are ``premature'', although the US is "looking into sites of interest". He said top Iraqi officers had been questioned about chemical weapons. ``We have an Iraqi general officer, two Iraqi general officers that we have taken prisoner, and they are providing us with information,'' Abizaid said. The Pentagon later issued a brief statement saying the reports of a ``huge'' chemical weapons factory in central Iraq were ``premature''. http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003...8354488685.html History: No. 18, 22 - Najaf - Chemical weapons facilities bombed 1991. http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news...asp?idart=10250 jumping the gun early http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=225135#post225135
Sure. Premature is a natural stance to take. The Admin. is making sure that they are not taking this as a cut in stone fact. But really, electrified fence, General in charge, completely camo'd? Something's up at this location, at least a former factory waiting for an opportune time to restart; in any event, undeclared.
To wrap this up, and I'm not even going to ask how do you know if this was undeclared - in any event. all in good fun tho No Chemical Weapons Found At Site In Najaf - TV 03/24/2003 Dow Jones News Services (Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--U.S. officials said Monday that no chemical weapons were found at a suspected site at Najaf in central Iraq, U.S. television networks reported. NBC News reported from the Pentagon that no chemicals at all were found at the site. CNN, also reporting from the Pentagon, said officials now believe the plant there was abandoned long ago by the Iraqis. http://www.datekdj.newsalert.com/bin/djstory?StoryId=CpN6q0a... (END) Dow Jones Newswires
This comes as statements made by US Secretary of State Colin Powell revealed that the US knew that a second UN Security Council Resolution was needed for any military action against Iraq, making the US aware that any military action against Iraq are illegal. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/030319/2003031930.html What the friggin f%^k are we doing?????? The one nation that needs regime change is ours.
This is a twisted statement. Read real news sources and not Al Bawaba crap, particularly if you have no clue to the applicable historical facts. The second res. Powell stated was 1441 and it was not needed. The first was Res. 660, from 1991, gave the power to disarm Iraq and Sad And Insane by force.
"for the sake of peace"(G. W. Bush) US accused of using cluster bombs Richard Norton-Taylor and Dan Plesch Saturday March 29, 2003 US forces have fired cluster bombs in attacks near the towns of Najaf and Kabala, according to reports yesterday. US central command said the American army was using surface-to-surface missiles, in an apparent reference to multiple launch rocket systems which Britain's armoured brigade near Basra also has in its inventory. These systems, and the US army's longer-range tactical missile system, fire cluster bombs which are spread over a wide area. Campaigners say they should be banned because some of the "bomblets" fail to explode and present a big danger to civilians similar to that posed by landmines. Several reliable analysts shared the view that the bombs were being used by the American army but there was no independent confirmation that they had caused civilian casualties, said Richard Lloyd, director of Landmine Action, the UK arm of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. "Unexploded ordnance are a forgotten but lethal legacy of every war," he said. Iraq's information minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, said yesterday that US forces had fired the bombs at Najaf, killing 26 civilians and wounding 60. General Sir Mike Jackson, head of the army, declined to comment on whether British forces were using them. The Ministry of Defence has admitted that British forces have depleted uranium weapons but it refused on national security grounds to say whether they are armed with cluster bombs. Challenger 2 tanks of the 7th armoured brigade around Basra are armed with depleted uranium shells. The defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, has suggested there is no evidence that they are dangerous. Veterans of the first Gulf war and a body of medical opinion say that radioactive dust from the shells can be deadly.
Max, don't you realise you are pretty offensive to people like Trader555 when you call his mate "Sad And Insane" instead of using his proper name ? freealways