[XJarhead]

We simply cannot compare our NBC platoon training to that of the Iraqi and assume that the Iraqi have the same right of training as our NBC units.

I honestly don't know if that's correct. I recall during the invasion that we captured some very small quantities of agents that were considered to be only for detection purposes, rather than offensive use. And nobody really considered that to be an issue. And in fairness, I don't think it should have been.

The legit purpose of the resolutions was to prevent them from using chemical weapons on the battlefield, not preventing them from protecting themselves against someone else's use. I don't think anyone here would have supported a war if the sole basis is that the Iraqis had kept tiny quantities of chems for use in detection kits and defensive training. I'm as pro-war as they come, and I don't think that would have justified anything.

[jveritas]

All this is true if it was not SADDAM HUSSEIN. However since it was Saddam military who used Chemicals Weapons for offensive purposes more than any other military in history then we simply cannot allow them to possess any type of Chemical weapons agents even for a small quantity even for a defensive purpose, because if they were still in power and the appropriate time would have come they would have produce these type of weapons at much larger scale for offensive purposes.

[Steve_Seattle]

"The legit purpose of the resolutions was to prevent them from using chemical weapons on the battlefield, not preventing them from protecting themselves against someone else's use."

You raise some good points, but I do think it is interesting that the Iraqis hid this info in other documents that were purportedly about non-controversial topics. It does it least suggest the possibility that this training was not for the very narrow defensive purpose that you have described.