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"Dual use"

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/04/15/sprj.irq.no.labs/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/05/22/sprj.irq.powell.trucks/ http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/28/iraq/main555876.shtml http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A60140-2003May30?language=printer http://www.jinsa.org/articles/articles.html/function/view/categoryid/168/documentid/2036/history/3,2360,652,168,2036

Thanks for the resource material. All I see is claim and counterclaim.

The most negative comment from someone with any credibility is:

The 11 cargo containers were filled with new laboratory equipment apparently intended to make conventional weapons, said team leader Chief Warrant Officer 2 Monte Gonzalez.

"Based on what we've seen, the containers are full of millions of dollars worth of high-tech equipment," he said. "It possibly has a dual use. But it does not appear to be weapons of mass destruction."

I'm sorry, but that is not good enough. What purported conventional weapons? As for the weak mention of dual use - what is the purported dual use? Is this dual use really credible? Here is another quote from the same article:

Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, said Monday soldiers found what they thought were 11 mobile chemical and biological laboratories. (Full story) "Initial reports indicate that this is clearly a case of denial and deception on the part of the Iraqi government," Freakley said. "These chemical labs are present, and now we just have to determine what in fact they were really being used for."

So where does that leave us? Well CNN had no trouble coming to a conclusion. Their headline is Tests rule out suspect bio-labs. But that conclusion is clearly unwarranted from the information they provided.

What do I think? I think that few people have the guts to take on the Liberal News Industry. I remember the "spare parts horror story." I think only Aviation Week magazine stood up to the high tech lynching of the Department of Defense and its contractors. DoD officials did nothing. I bet the Army knows these are mobile biological labs but fears incurring the wrath of the MSM.