Any WMD's found in Iraq yet?
- Thread starter Snubnoze
- Start date
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,83840,00.html
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Anywhere from seven to 15 vehicles are being tested for possibly containing biological or chemical weapons and for serving as mobile weapons labs, Fox News has learned.
Fox News' Rick Leventhal — embedded with the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines in Baghdad — reported Friday that an Army intelligence unit was heading toward a suspect vehicle Friday where they will test for the presence of chemical or biological agents.
Capt. Aaron Robertson, an intelligence officer, told Fox News that there are seven to 15 vehicles in proximity to that suspect vehicle that they will be searching. Other vehicles have raised similar concerns, but they do not yet know if they are rigged with the same devices that may imply they were used for manufacturing such harmful agents.
Robertson said gas masks and chemical suits were also discovered near the suspect site.
On Thursday, Army investigators looked inside what appeared to be a refrigerator truck at a construction site and saw what looked like a surface-to-air radar vehicle. But hidden inside fake side panels were an electronic pulley system, open jars and containers, a winch and hooks meant to move apparatus for rinsing and cooling substances without manual help.
Investigators from Echo Company said the system resembled a hazardous-materials lab, where substances could be mixed, cooled and heated without direct human contact.
Anti-aircraft guns, a surface-to-air missile and several caches of weapons and ammunition were also found at the site.
It was suspected that the truck may have been a mobile biological weapons lab. However, on Friday the Army said that specific vehicle was deemed not to be such a lab, but that the seven to 15 others discovered on the site are still being investigated.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has stressed that any substances or weapons found to be containing banned agents will be tested not only by U.S. weapons experts, but by others across the globe to be sure of the results.
The Bush administration has long argued that Saddam's regime has possessed banned weapons, yet U.N. weapons inspectors didn't exactly find any smoking guns when they returned to Iraq this year to check out various sites.
The White House has conceded that the mobile weapons labs may be hard to find because of their mobility.
White House officials on Thursday expressed "high confidence" that weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq. And they said that with the fall of Saddam, Iraqis will likely be more willing to lead American experts to the banned arms.
Over three weeks of war, coalition forces have checked out dozens of suspect sites — hunting for chemical, biological and nuclear arms materials. So far, no finds have been confirmed.
U.S. officials told Fox News that CIA officers are in Baghdad and throughout Iraq looking for scientists to point out the locations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Special operations teams are also trying to find and test possible weapons materials at 1,000 sites. Senior defense officials said, "The list has grown ... and [the teams] have only been through a small number of sites (fewer than 20)."
But White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer noted Thursday that the Iraqi regime has proven itself a master of hiding banned weapons.
Fox News' Rick Leventhal and Liza Porteus and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/13/sprj.irq.mobile.lab/
Second suspected mobile weapons lab found in Iraq
MOSUL, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces in northern Iraq have found a second suspected mobile chemical weapons laboratory, an American military official told CNN Tuesday.
There is "pretty conclusive evidence" that this is a mobile chemical weapons lab, the official said.
The trailer was discovered near Mosul Saturday by members of the Army's 327th Infantry at a former missile production facility that had been heavily looted. It was made up of refrigeration units and piping, compatible with chemical weapons production. What was also believed to be a spraying device was found nearby, the source said.
The suspected lab has been turned over to the military's mobile exploitation team.
Last week, U.S. officials seized another trailer in northern Iraq they suspect was used as a mobile biological weapons laboratory, a senior Defense Department official said.
According to Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone, the trailer matched descriptions of mobile biological laboratories provided by an Iraqi defector.
U.S. and British experts have concluded that the trailer "does not appear to perform any function beyond what the defector says it was for, which is the production of biological agents," Cambone said.
The trailer was captured at a Kurdish checkpoint on April 19 and has been brought to Baghdad, where it will be dismantled and subjected to further examination.
Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the defector's account of mobile laboratories to the United Nations in February in an effort to demonstrate that Iraq had violated U.N. resolutions requiring its disarmament.
Powell has since said the discovery "matches very closely" the information he presented at that time.
Last week's announcement came amid mounting questions for the Bush administration about the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
A mostly U.S. and British force invaded Iraq in March to oust longtime Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and strip the country of suspected caches of chemical and biological weapons, long-range missiles and efforts to develop a nuclear bomb.
Iraqi officials repeatedly insisted they had given up any efforts to produce banned weapons. No such weapons were used against advancing coalition troops, and none have so far been found by Pentagon experts.
No biological weapons were found inside the trailer, which Cambone said had been washed with "a very caustic substance." But he said it contained equipment not normally used for "legitimate biological processes" -- including exhaust gas recovery systems that could hide evidence of biological weapons production.
"Part of the reason for wanting to continue with the testing is to be able to reach into those parts of the equipment that can't be reached by the superficial testing that we've been able to do," Cambone said. "So that process has to go forward, and we'll see what that yields."
Cambone said weapons experts have visited about 70 of the nearly 600 sites U.S. officials believe are related to Iraq's weapons programs, plus another 40 locations Cambone said they were led to from information discovered since Saddam's government collapsed April 9.
Before the war, Pentagon officials warned that Iraqi troops had been equipped with chemical weapons and were prepared to use them against U.S. forces.
Asked about those reports last week, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the weapons may not have been used "because of the very conduct of the war -- the warnings that were issued immediately prior to the war and the manner in which the war was carried out."
-- CNN Correspondent Gaven Morris contributed to this story.
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Anywhere from seven to 15 vehicles are being tested for possibly containing biological or chemical weapons and for serving as mobile weapons labs, Fox News has learned.
Fox News' Rick Leventhal — embedded with the 2nd Battalion, 23rd Marines in Baghdad — reported Friday that an Army intelligence unit was heading toward a suspect vehicle Friday where they will test for the presence of chemical or biological agents.
Capt. Aaron Robertson, an intelligence officer, told Fox News that there are seven to 15 vehicles in proximity to that suspect vehicle that they will be searching. Other vehicles have raised similar concerns, but they do not yet know if they are rigged with the same devices that may imply they were used for manufacturing such harmful agents.
Robertson said gas masks and chemical suits were also discovered near the suspect site.
On Thursday, Army investigators looked inside what appeared to be a refrigerator truck at a construction site and saw what looked like a surface-to-air radar vehicle. But hidden inside fake side panels were an electronic pulley system, open jars and containers, a winch and hooks meant to move apparatus for rinsing and cooling substances without manual help.
Investigators from Echo Company said the system resembled a hazardous-materials lab, where substances could be mixed, cooled and heated without direct human contact.
Anti-aircraft guns, a surface-to-air missile and several caches of weapons and ammunition were also found at the site.
It was suspected that the truck may have been a mobile biological weapons lab. However, on Friday the Army said that specific vehicle was deemed not to be such a lab, but that the seven to 15 others discovered on the site are still being investigated.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has stressed that any substances or weapons found to be containing banned agents will be tested not only by U.S. weapons experts, but by others across the globe to be sure of the results.
The Bush administration has long argued that Saddam's regime has possessed banned weapons, yet U.N. weapons inspectors didn't exactly find any smoking guns when they returned to Iraq this year to check out various sites.
The White House has conceded that the mobile weapons labs may be hard to find because of their mobility.
White House officials on Thursday expressed "high confidence" that weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq. And they said that with the fall of Saddam, Iraqis will likely be more willing to lead American experts to the banned arms.
Over three weeks of war, coalition forces have checked out dozens of suspect sites — hunting for chemical, biological and nuclear arms materials. So far, no finds have been confirmed.
U.S. officials told Fox News that CIA officers are in Baghdad and throughout Iraq looking for scientists to point out the locations of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
Special operations teams are also trying to find and test possible weapons materials at 1,000 sites. Senior defense officials said, "The list has grown ... and [the teams] have only been through a small number of sites (fewer than 20)."
But White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer noted Thursday that the Iraqi regime has proven itself a master of hiding banned weapons.
Fox News' Rick Leventhal and Liza Porteus and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/13/sprj.irq.mobile.lab/
Second suspected mobile weapons lab found in Iraq
MOSUL, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. forces in northern Iraq have found a second suspected mobile chemical weapons laboratory, an American military official told CNN Tuesday.
There is "pretty conclusive evidence" that this is a mobile chemical weapons lab, the official said.
The trailer was discovered near Mosul Saturday by members of the Army's 327th Infantry at a former missile production facility that had been heavily looted. It was made up of refrigeration units and piping, compatible with chemical weapons production. What was also believed to be a spraying device was found nearby, the source said.
The suspected lab has been turned over to the military's mobile exploitation team.
Last week, U.S. officials seized another trailer in northern Iraq they suspect was used as a mobile biological weapons laboratory, a senior Defense Department official said.
According to Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone, the trailer matched descriptions of mobile biological laboratories provided by an Iraqi defector.
U.S. and British experts have concluded that the trailer "does not appear to perform any function beyond what the defector says it was for, which is the production of biological agents," Cambone said.
The trailer was captured at a Kurdish checkpoint on April 19 and has been brought to Baghdad, where it will be dismantled and subjected to further examination.
Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the defector's account of mobile laboratories to the United Nations in February in an effort to demonstrate that Iraq had violated U.N. resolutions requiring its disarmament.
Powell has since said the discovery "matches very closely" the information he presented at that time.
Last week's announcement came amid mounting questions for the Bush administration about the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
A mostly U.S. and British force invaded Iraq in March to oust longtime Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and strip the country of suspected caches of chemical and biological weapons, long-range missiles and efforts to develop a nuclear bomb.
Iraqi officials repeatedly insisted they had given up any efforts to produce banned weapons. No such weapons were used against advancing coalition troops, and none have so far been found by Pentagon experts.
No biological weapons were found inside the trailer, which Cambone said had been washed with "a very caustic substance." But he said it contained equipment not normally used for "legitimate biological processes" -- including exhaust gas recovery systems that could hide evidence of biological weapons production.
"Part of the reason for wanting to continue with the testing is to be able to reach into those parts of the equipment that can't be reached by the superficial testing that we've been able to do," Cambone said. "So that process has to go forward, and we'll see what that yields."
Cambone said weapons experts have visited about 70 of the nearly 600 sites U.S. officials believe are related to Iraq's weapons programs, plus another 40 locations Cambone said they were led to from information discovered since Saddam's government collapsed April 9.
Before the war, Pentagon officials warned that Iraqi troops had been equipped with chemical weapons and were prepared to use them against U.S. forces.
Asked about those reports last week, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the weapons may not have been used "because of the very conduct of the war -- the warnings that were issued immediately prior to the war and the manner in which the war was carried out."
-- CNN Correspondent Gaven Morris contributed to this story.
LOL, how is that comparable. They got wmd EXPERTS over there searchin for the shit. I'm not a Mclean expert, I don't even know wtf you look like. c'mon now. like heresy said, we're the most sophisticated country in the world. they should have been found by now. And besides, they been saying "WE KNOW THEY HAVE THEM" with certainty, so if they are so certain then how come they can't find them? If they had evidence that proved they had them then why don't they use that to find them? Its common sense, LOGIC! There ya go, logic.......
well here is another that is more specific
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200305/08/eng20030508_116365.shtml
Pentagon Claims to Find Biological Weapons Lab in Iraq
The Pentagon said Wednesday that US forces have found a trailer allegedly used by President Saddam Hussein's government as a mobile laboratory to develop biological weapons.
Stephen Cambone, under secretary of defense for intelligence, made the announcement at a Pentagon briefing.
The US military has reported discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq many times since the outbreak of war but none of them was substantiated later by tests or facts.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200305/08/eng20030508_116365.shtml
Pentagon Claims to Find Biological Weapons Lab in Iraq
The Pentagon said Wednesday that US forces have found a trailer allegedly used by President Saddam Hussein's government as a mobile laboratory to develop biological weapons.
Stephen Cambone, under secretary of defense for intelligence, made the announcement at a Pentagon briefing.
The US military has reported discovery of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq many times since the outbreak of war but none of them was substantiated later by tests or facts.
Well even if the U.S. turned a rock and found all these weapons all you U.S. protesting kids would continue to claim they were planted, so what does it matter any way. The U.S. could dig up a hole right now and find 100 nuclear warheads and none of you would believe it for shit. You all have a fixed opinion on what is going on in this world and well, not even logic can change that.
Well, I know I can't physically be in Iraq at the moment to be present when these WMD's are found. So I choose to doubt what I see on tv or read in the newspaper. The government has lied before, why should I think they won't do it again? I'm not saying that I believe all the conspiracy theories that go around. I'm just saying that I'm skeptical of what I see or hear in the media. If I'm not there to see it for myself, how can I know that it's true. And even if I am there, still, how can I know that it's true?