Iraqi arsenal of banned weapons discovered

SMH ^ | March 24 2003, | n/a

[maestro]

British troops outside Basra have discovered cruise missiles and warheads hidden inside fortified bunkers as part of a massive arsenal abandoned by Saddam Hussein's disintegrating southern army. Cases of rockets, giant anti-shipping mines and other ammunition are piled from floor to ceiling in dozens of bunkers at what is marked on maps as the Az Zubaya Heliport.

Mines,....Mines,.......MINES,......MINES,.......cruise missiles,......cruise missiles,........CRUISE MISSILES,........

12 years,........12 years,.........12 YEARS,.........1980-________!!!

[Boundless]

>> Some of the boxes are clearly marked with the names of
>> British manufacturers...the missiles - date-marked 2002...

> Odd?

Not really.
The Iraqis are masters at buying through intermediaries and
unprincipled gun runners.

"Made in UK" or "Fabrique en France" is less important than
the chain of delivery, which is likely to be highly indirect
in the UK case, and startling direct in the French.

Let's await the tracing.

[concerned about politics]

For those who may have missd this one....

US TROOPS CAPTURE CHEMICAL PLANT

[NautiNurse]

Thanks for the info

[Franking]

I remember seeing items from the SMH that later disappeared and were never backed up...will wait and see on this.

F

[TLBSHOW]

hummmmmmm least we forget Tony Blair is a socialist too~

Some of the boxes are clearly marked with the names of British manufacturers.

[concerned about politics]

"Iraq accuses Israel of taking part in war

CAIRO - Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said Sunday an Israeli missile had been found in Baghdad and accused Israel of taking part in the U.S.-led attack on Iraq.

"You know that Israel is taking part in this aggression against Iraq. It's sending missiles. We found a missile, an Israeli missile, in Baghdad," he told reporters in Cairo where was to attend a meeting of Arab foreign ministers scheduled for Monday.

Sabri offered no proof to back up the allegation.

Israeli political sources said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz told the cabinet Sunday that the missile in question bore the word Taas, an Israeli company that has made electronic components sold for use in missiles in the U.S. armoury.

Israel has said it is playing no part in the war.

article from Israel paper here "

[xJones]

How predictable. If you can't launch a Scud at Israel, blame 'em anyway for all your problems. It alwasys gives an excuse.

[cake_crumb]

"No mention on Fox yet. No mention during the CentCom briefing eiter; that press briefing included a British officer."

Nothing from the BBC yet either.

[Rocko]

cc: Blix, Chirac, Schröder, Putin.

cc: Dashle, Kennedy, Pelosi, Penn, Sarandon, Moore, A.N.S.W.E.R., etc.

[P-Marlowe]

Hopefully they left the invoices behind as well.

[OldFriend]

Paula Zahn hears only the sound of zippers!

[OldFriend]

Is Tom Hanks there too?

[meema]

bump

[Sabertooth]

Thanks for the bonk, C_O...

((((((growl)))))

[Walkin Man]

I wonder how much it cost Saddam \ France \Russia to make their UN boy Blix look the other way?

[supercat]

Tom Daschle is deeply saddened that the coalition forces have taken it upon themselves to violate Iraqi soveregnty and steal their (non-existent) weapons of mass destruction.

[Tommyjo]

A word of caution here guy and girls.

"Iraqi arsenal of banned weapons discovered"

NONE OF THOSE MISSILES REPORTED IN THE ARTICLE ARE BANNED WEAPONS.

Al-Harith is the state missile company. It maintains the Iraqi range of missiles. This maintains engines and systems for such missiles as SA-2, SA-3, SA-6 and SA-5. The Iraqi's are ALLOWED to possess ALL of these weapons. They are also allowed to operate the range of anti-ship missiles which includes the SILKWORM and SEERSUCKERs. Just because a missile look big to a soldier finding it does not mean that it is one of the BANNED MISSILES. If he was to report the finding of a SCUD and its Transport Erector Launcher then this is a coup. Yesterday we had on Freepers the posting of a picture of a "Iraqi missile" caught on video travelling through Baghdad. This was simply an SA-2 GUIDELINE surface to air missile. Totally LEGAL for the Iraqi's to possess.

[madison10]

Corporal Steven Airzee said: "The initial sight was a shock. We were trying to figure out what they were. You have to wonder whether the weapons inspectors have been there because they looked pretty big." Not if Hussein had anything to do with it. Those inspectors were dancing to quite a tune.

[Eva]

Thanks for article. It took me awhile to figure out what SMH was, though. It looks like they are getting information a lot faster than we are.