Iraqi 'terror ships' at sea

Associated News Media London ^ | 19/02/03 | Patrick McGowan

[Blood of Tyrants]

NUKES AWAY!

[Robe]

No need for any violent action...

they have been steaming round in everdecreasing circles.

We just need to wait and they will disappear up thier own arses

[mercy]

What do you call fifty tons of VX nerve gas dumped into the ocean?

Wormwood?

[nightdriver]

"All three were chartered by a shipping agent based in Egypt and are understood to be sailing under three different flags of convenience."

Perhaps that agent should answer a few questions.

[Salgak]

Think a little more subtlety. Let a SEAL team limpet-mine the ships from a sub. . . . and they just "disappear". . .

[Aquinasfan]

Out in the high seas is where you want them to go off if they are to go off, right?

Except for smallpox?

[Destro]

especially smallpox--smallpox is not transmitted via fish.

[uncbob]

In the SecDef news conference just aired neither Rumney nor Gen. Myers had any info on this.

And when they go under they will have no knowledge either

Ships that never existed

[Mr. Jeeves]

Tactical nuclear warheads are very good at sterilizing anthrax-contaminated surfaces...

[Leto]

Couple of things, If these boats are sunk by subs the material will be in the sea, when the containers rust away (may take a long time depending on the depth (not much O2 in the deep) the water will neutralize the chemicals, no problem.

Why sink them now? Al Queda had a fleet of ships (according to other threads) Just shadow these boats and note which ships are used to resupply, lots of valuable info to be gathered here. I'll bet a LA class boat is shadowing every on of these vessels and monitoring everything they do.

[KriegerGeist]

"especially smallpox--smallpox is not transmitted via fish."

Exactly! smallpox is a virus and viruses aren't very "hardy" like bacteria are or chemicals.

That being said, it would be nice to know exactly what is aboard these ships and if it's nasty stuff, then documenting it would be very valuable.

Afte documenting the ship's contents, then use those explosives that incinerate everything including any deadly chemicals. If it's nukes they are carrying, then I suppose other measures would need to be taken...

[Destro]

I fthis is true we have morons in our defense. What are they waiting for? For the ships to reach port? Secondly if true it would provide the iron clad proof to silence the nti-American crowds so seizing these ships is a must.

If this is a flase story it was planted by some overzealous intel officer who should know better or the AP is into publishing stupid rumours.

[Rockitz]

This is a standard tactic to avoid taxation of inventory by businesses. Put it in the mail. Saddam has learned well.

I have no doubt he has other stuff in trucks which are waiting in storage yards across the border.

[Lady In Blue]

Rush was talking about this on his show this morning.

[Lady In Blue]

Thanks for the thread!

[Nick Danger]

This seems to be a ping-pong story, with one questionable media outlet quoting another... nothing new ever gets added. One version has an unidentified "Egyptian shipping agent" in it; another has the three flags under which the ships are supposedly sailing. If they know all that, how come no one can name the ships? The line about the environmental damage seems to be pure BS... the ScienceFreepers have pretty well debunked that idea.

In addition, the NavyFreepers assure us that the Seals could make fast work of taking over any of these vessels before the crews knew what hit them.

This looks like an urban legend in the making.

[Steel Wolf]

The vessels, which have been at sea for three months, are believed to be carrying weapons smuggled out through Syria or Jordan.

Why, that implies that our good friends have been helping Saddam conceal his WMD program. It hardly seems possible that such steafast allies would try to pull such an underhanded trick.

However, environmental concerns are preventing boarding of the vessels, whose positions are provided by satellite 24 hours a day.

Environmental concerns? Like the environmet on board the may be saturated with C4, to deter boarders and hide the evidence by scuttling the ships with the flip of a switch.

The vessels have called briefly at a handful of Arab countries, including Yemen, but they have been resupplied at sea with food, fuel and water by other ships.

Well, they're really busy, too busy to stop into port. Yep, they're in a big hurry to.. sail around with no destination...?

A shipping industry source said: "These ships have maintained radio silence for long periods and for a considerable time they have been steaming round in everdecreasing circles.

Hey, they're just peaceful cargo vessels, trying to make an honest living by... sailing in circles? That doesn't sound like a good way to make money at all.

[Wonder Warthog]

"What do you call fifty tons of VX nerve gas dumped into the ocean?"

Harmless. It would rapidly be diluted below any toxic threshold.

[k2blader]

Bump.