[Mr. Mojo]

Despite grave suspicions of what is on board, Britain and the US are afraid to order interception by naval ships because of fears the crews would scuttle the vessels, each between 35,000 and 40,000 tonnes. If they are carrying chemical, biological or nuclear weapons this could cause catastrophic environmental damage.

F/k the environmental damage and torpedo those G/D things!

[Destro]

Despite grave suspicions of what is on board, Britain and the US are afraid to order interception by naval ships because of fears the crews would scuttle the vessels, each between 35,000 and 40,000 tonnes. If they are carrying chemical, biological or nuclear weapons this could cause catastrophic environmental damage.

What kind of bull is this? Out in the high seas is where you want them to go off if they are to go off, right?

Scare tactics or stupid tactics?

[JimVT]

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

[Oldeconomybuyer]

 

Terror Ship ...

[theFIRMbss]

>Three huge cargo ships feared to be carrying Iraqi weapons of mass destruction are being tracked around the world by British and American intelligence.

The open ocean
probably isn't the best
place to hide weapons.

Even in calm seas,
rogue waves sometimes sink a ship.
And the Navy Seals,

I'm sure, can arrange
all manner of accidents,
if rogue waves don't come...

[LibWhacker]

Wonder if the e-bomb would work on 'em? In other words, cripple 'em, shut down all electronics onboard and perhaps give the SEALS a few minutes to storm the ship(s) before any terrorists could react and release biochemical/radiological agents and/or scuttle the ships?

[bandleader]

This sounds to me like a job for The Navy Seals!They could intercept via nuclear subs and board in total darkness!!They "OWN THE NIGHT"!!!!!

[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.

[Mr. Jeeves]

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

[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.

[k2blader]

Bump.

[guitfiddlist]

Let's pit scumbag against scumbag. We should call up Greenpeace and tell them about the really uncool eco-damage these guys might do.

Then we should promise them that no French Frogmen (now THAT was redundant) would sink their ship this time around - but that they really need to go out and harass these ships - and board them to inspect their cargo that might kill an otter or two.

[Cindy]

Here is a REALLY GREAT THREAD already on FR now regarding this subject:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/846384/posts

FYI.

[agenda_express]

BUMP. I haven't heard about this lately...could this be where the WMD's are???

[Minutemen]

bump