[KriegerGeist]

"Perhaps chief among those worries, officials said Thursday, are the location and intentions of Iraqi militias and security forces, which were battling the United States in Baghdad and other cities but have now mostly melted away.

"Have they run away for good, or are they operating more like the al-Qaida model, to go away for a while and then come back?" a senior defense official said."

I sure hope not!

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[68skylark]

I posted this story last night here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/890530/posts

[Conspiracy Guy]

Pull our guys back a little and slam 4 or 5 MOABS on this baby.

[Born to Conserve]

"...according to senior military and defense officials."

Unsourced fiction.

[jerseygirl]

Could this have something to do with their resistance?

Didn't he have chem/bio stashed near the border with Syria? Al Quayum? Excerpt from old article (U.K. Telegraph)




Saddam's poison gas kills 20 of his men
By Jessica Berry
(Filed: 02/09/2001)


AT least 20 specially-trained Iraqi soldiers are dead and up to 200 have been admitted to hospital after taking part in a chemical weapons exercise that went wrong.


Curbing BaghdadUnited Nations workers prepare to destroy Sarin tipped Iraqi rockets in 1988
News of the training accident emerged last week amid concerns that Saddam Hussein has rebuilt his chemical weapons arsenal. The soldiers, based in the Zaafarnia region south of Baghdad, were suffering from severe respiratory problems, according to intelligence received from Iraq.

A diplomat said: "They were training in the Al Suwayrah and Basmaya camps three months ago. We know that the accident has not stopped the training. Fresh soldiers were brought in soon after." The Al Suwayrah camp has been rebuilt since it was attacked in February by American and British aircraft.

Saddam last used chemical weapons against the Kurds in March 1988 at Halabjah causing thousands of injuries. In December 1998, American and British warplanes mounted Operation Desert Fox in an attempt to destroy Iraq's chemical weapons capability.

However, evidence surfaced last week that Iraqi scientists are working around the clock to rebuild the Iraqi leader's conventional weapons and self-defence arsenal as well as his chemical capability.

In the past three months, eight military factories have begun working at almost full strength. The most significant, in the unpopulated Syrian border area of Al Qayem, is said to be building chemical weapons and missiles.

A Western military observer said: "The Al Qayem base has only recently expanded. It has just passed under the total control of Saddam's son and heir Qusay. To ensure total secrecy, each scientist has been hand-picked by Qusay."

[OldFriend]

Be a good thing if Israel lobbed a missile into that area from behind their lines.

[ez]

. It is highly possible that while we dicked around at the UN, Saddam moved a large portion of his WMDs toward and into Syria. In fact the Mossad claimed just that.

It is not only possible that this site contains WMDs or Scuds, it is possible that there is an underground facility that allows them to move materials into Syria out of the view of everyone.

We need to take this site ASAP, before we have to get an act of Congress to go into Syria and find Saddam's WMDs.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST

[Carry_Okie]

American officials say the sheer tenacity of the Iraqi fight has led them to suspect that the Iraqis might be defending Scud missiles or other weapons.

Are they sure those are Iraqi forces? I have received information from the front (second hand) that the intense fighting elsewhere hasn't been brought by Iraqis, but by Palestinians and other Arabs.