Iraqi insurgency has possession of chemical weapons
Posted on 06/22/2006 12:50:39 PM PDT by Enchante
The chemical weapons that have been recovered by US forces in Iraq were all made before the 1991 Gulf War and were too degraded for their intended use, US intelligence officials said. ADVERTISEMENT
Republican lawmakers have cast the disclosure that about 500 chemical weapons have been found in Iraq as evidence that Saddam Hussein had a stockpile of the weapons before the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
But the intelligence officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the weapons were too degraded to have posed a threat to US forces in March 2003.
They said all chemical weapons found since 2003 were produced before the 1991 Gulf War and they had no evidence Saddam was producing or stockpiling chemical weapons after that.
"Generally they are in poor condition," one official said.
"We assess that they are not in condition to be used as designed. And detailed analysis of the toxic agents shows they are degraded and represent a much lower hazard," he said.
The munitions have been tested and computer simulation models created to determine what effect they might have under a variety of scenarios, the officials said.
Although not suitable for their intended purposed, the officials said such weapons remain a potential hazard if obtained by insurgents and modified in ways they would not discuss.
The officials, however, said they had no evidence that any element of the Iraqi insurgency has possession of chemical weapons.
"I would simply say we have seen a degree of improvisation on the part of the insurgency with regard to conventional munitions," said an official.
"They might apply that same degree of improvisation if in fact they came in contact with these types of munitions. And again we have no evidence that they have," the official said.
The weapons were found "in small numbers over time" since 2003, an official said. They were recovered in one, two or three at a time -- not in large caches, the officials said.
"We would characterize these recovered munitions as being consistent with weapons that have been not maintained, that have not been part of an organized inventory," he said.
Senator Rick Santorum and Representative Peter Hoekstra (news, bio, voting record), both Republicans, on Wednesday made public information from a classified report prepared in April on the subject by the National Ground Intelligence Center that said 500 chemical weapons have been recovered.
The intelligence officials said "key points" from the report were declassified at the request of Hoekstra, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee.
The "key points," however, ommitted the fact that the 500 weapons all were of a pre-1991 vintage. The officials indicated that the age of the weapons was not considered classified but were unable to explain why it was not included in the key points given to the senators.
More backstabbing by the CIA.
They could still be used as IED's couldn't they?
The report which was declassified says that the weapons pose a threat to the region.
And the reporter really didn't do their homework so freeper jveritas has done it for him.
UNSCOM says that WMD in canisters is still viable and danger even beyond 12 years of storage.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1653841/posts
This question was just asked of Rummy...whether these kinds of weapons could harm our troops when/if found in Iraq.
Rummy said, with Gen. Casey next to him...that YES, our troops would be in danger from them.
12 years. Wow.
Listening now to Rumsfeld and Casey giving a news conf...on FOX now FYI
AP and 'unnamed sources' are pretty much the same
story tellers
Ahhh, so we have yet another case of mindless MSM drones and their 'anonymous' sources desperately trying to spin a major story to protect the depraved libs. How enlightening.
Thanks to jveritas and everyone here working for actual knowledge as opposed to MSM/lib fantasies on these issues.
WTF?? Too old to use? We are destroying stockpiles that go back to WWII and WWI today.. while there potentcy may not be what it once was... I guranatee you, you don't want to be around when a WWI mustard gas shell goes off.
First, we're told there's no WMDs.
Then, it's those that were found out in the desert were nothing more than snow cone trucks and agricultural fertilizers.
Today, the WMDs recently found are old and not of any significance despite the fact we've spend untold millions of taxpayer dollars and man hours between investigators and military.
Next, they'll tell us Saddam was a good guy... oh, never mind, they've played that card already.
They ignore historic facts. As someone else posted earlier, mustard gas canisters from WWI are still being found and in some instances killing people. These people are added to the casualty list of WWI.
Pueblo Colorado chemical weapons depot as still being cleaned up as the munitions there, some as old as 60 years, are still viable.
unbelievable. Backstabbers in our own government.
It makes exactly zero difference at all if they had degraded. We had no way to know beforehand, due to Saddaam's kicking out the inspectors, that every chemical round was not brand spanking new and lethal.
They were there, they are there and we found them. That is all that matters
Intelligent officials could be democrat lawmakers. Oops, that's a contradiction in terms isn't it?
Question is, "Would this guy want 10-15 of them in his living room?" As an Officer in the Chemical Corp, I took basic at Ft McClelland/Ft Rucker (God bless the WACS) Ala and were constantly warned to not sit on the groud in certain places as you'd get blisters from their WW1 mustard gas testing.
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