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Here's the situation.

First; need to calm down, read the article CAREFULLY, and go back and have a historical understanding of the 1991 terms of the war ending and the various UN resolutions.

The article isn't talking about WMDs at all.

It's talking about various industrial facilities, machines, etc. that could theoretically be used to MAKE WMDs, or make things that could then be used to make WMDs.

Iraq was prohibited from posessing WMDs. There were some things that are basically only used for making WMDs that it was prevented from having.

But there was a lot of equipment and industrial sites they were legally permitted to have as long as they had been regularly inspected by the UN; on the premise that the goal wasn't to shut down the Iraqi economy; it's impossible to have even a semi-functioning modern industrial base of a normal medium sized country like Iraq without having facilities that, while they can produce non-WMDs, could also be used to make WMD materials.

What the article is stating is that SINCE the war and US control of Iraq many of these items and facilities have been looted and scattered around.

"It's talking about various industrial facilities, machines, etc. that could theoretically be used to MAKE WMDs, or make things that could then be used to make WMDs."

*YAWN*

Ever read the ISG report? Wanna link?

ISG stated that the programs still existed at low levels and the duel use items facilitated a quick ramping up of these programs when Saddam deemed the time is right.

You can split hairs all you want. Been there and done that. Fact remains Saddam had in his possession items he was not supposed to have for programs he wasn't supposed to have that could be placed on missiles he wasn't supposed to have that could go beyond the ranges his missiles were not supposed to go. P.S. Some of these machines you refer to can not just be looted, stolen, or secreted away in the middle of the night. They are large heavy and cumbersome. To move one takes cranes, lifts, trucks, and knowledge of how to move them.

I see what you are getting at. What I am leery about is that no where in this article does it say when the UN received the satellite images or from whom. Why haven’t the images been given to our military to examine. From what I see is that they had stuff that could produce WMD at the flip of a switch. They also had banned long-range missiles that they were not supposed to have. Why wasn’t this disclosed before? It sounds like someone is trying to set W up before Bolton gets in.

But there was a lot of equipment and industrial sites they were legally permitted to have as long as they had been regularly inspected by the UN; on the premise that the goal wasn't to shut down the Iraqi economy; it's impossible to have even a semi-functioning modern industrial base of a normal medium sized country like Iraq without having facilities that, while they can produce non-WMDs, could also be used to make WMD materials.

What the article is stating is that SINCE the war and US control of Iraq many of these items and facilities have been looted and scattered around."

I second you statements. Things often get out of hand. People including myself sometimes fail to read things with care, and then in-advertantly change the nature of the issue. Cleary, this could be an explaination on what has been going on. Conversely, surely most of this forum understand that Iraq had a WMD program consisting of biochemical, biological, nuclear, and various weapon systems to distribute these things against invading forces, and countries they might attack in the future.