U.S. finds buried mobile labs: General says initial reports indicate proof of Iraqi deception

Possible evidence of Iraqi deception has been uncovered with the discovery of 11 mobile laboratories capable of biological and chemical uses buried south of Baghdad, a U.S. general said, according to CNN.

"Initial reports indicate that this is clearly a case of denial and deception on the part of the Iraqi government," Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakley of the Army's 101st Airborne Division told CNN. "These chemical labs are present, and now we just have to determine what in fact they were really being used for."

The troops found no chemical or biological weapons with the containerized labs, but soldiers recovered "about 1,000 pounds" of documents from inside the labs, which will be examined further, said Freakley.

U.S. officials have repeatedly accused Iraq of using mobile laboratories to produce banned weapons. Secretary of State Colin Powell in February told the United Nations Security Council that U.S. intelligence indicated Iraq had production facilities for biological weapons "on wheels and on rails" and on at least 18 flatbed trucks.

Freakley said the laboratories – found near a weapons plant outside Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad – were "clearly marked so they could be found again." They appeared to contain about $1 million worth of equipment.

The 20-by-20-foot metal containers could be attached to semi-trailer trucks or railway cars, the general said.

In a Feb. 23 visit to an ammunition filling plant near the site, U.N. weapons inspectors "found nothing untoward," a U.N. inspection team spokesman said today.

"There was no hint by anybody, no special tip that led us there," one U.N. official said. "No banned weapons or related materials were found there."

In his presentation to the U.N. Security Council, Powell insisted that the mobile labs existed and called them "most worrisome."

"The trucks and train cars are easily moved and are designed to evade detection by inspectors," Powell said. "In a matter of months, they can produce a quantity of biological poison equal to the entire amount that Iraq claimed to have produced in the years prior to the Gulf War."

Powell cited four sources of evidence to back his assertion, including an Iraqi chemical engineer who supervised one of the facilities and an Iraqi civil engineer "in a position to know the details of the program."

However, U.N. weapons inspection chief Hans Blix said his inspectors never found evidence of such labs.

Blix told the U.N. Security Council on March 7, "Several inspections have taken place at declared and undeclared sites in relation to mobile production facilities. Food-testing mobile laboratories and mobile workshops have been seen, as well as large containers with seed-processing equipment. No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found."

Possible evidence of Iraqi deception has been uncovered with the discovery of 11 mobile laboratories capable of biological and chemical uses buried south of Baghdad, a U.S. general said, according to CNN.
Snip
The troops found no chemical or biological weapons with the containerized labs, but soldiers recovered "about 1,000 pounds" of documents from inside the labs, which will be examined further, said Freakley.

Well, we now only have 7 more to worry about. I feel just so much better now.

BTW John. I have been admiring your work for about 4 years and I want to thank you for informing me more and any other living human. You may become immortal within freeperdom.

Jon

"Blix told the U.N. Security Council on March 7, "Several inspections have taken place at declared and undeclared sites in relation to mobile production facilities. Food-testing mobile laboratories and mobile workshops have been seen, as well as large containers with seed-processing equipment. No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found."

Well, by now we all know the credibility of Blix.

He is still blaming us (even after what we've proven to be true of the butcherous Hussein regime) for invading Iraq!

PSSST! .. We Got Big Problems! We May Lose Our Iraqi Contracts!!

How history will tell the story:

A. The U.N. sent inspectors into Iraq to find weapons of mass destruction - the same WMD Saddamn said he did not have. Forming new alliances, France, Germany, and Belgium, continually sought prolonged inspection times in their attempts to restrain the U.S. and Britian from attacking Saddam. The U.N. Council repeatedly ruled in thir favor.

B. Saddamn, while insisting (and convincing France, Germany, and Belgium) he had no WMD, at the same time threatened the U.S. and Britian to destroy them (WITH THE SAME WMD HE CLAIMED NOT TO HAVE) if they attacked Iraq.

C. The United States and Britian agreed that Saddamn had not complied with U.N. resolution 1441, had WMD, then attacked and removed Saddamn from power to prevent him (or other terrorists) from using them.

D. After the U.S. and Britian attacked Iraq, vast stores of WMD, chemical, biological, and yes - even some nuclear - were uncovered by the prevailing U.S. and British forces.

E. Saddamn and his two sons were tried before a U.N. tribunal and unaimously found to be enemies of minkind perptetuating mass murders on their own people of magnitudes and ferociouceness not seen since Adolph Hitler's actions created the word "genocide." They were summarily hung for their crimes against humanity. Regrettably the knots where incorrectly tied and the distance of the drop was not sufficient to break their necks. They swung and kicked for almost thirty minutes before strangling to their infamous historical deaths.

F. The Democrats in the United States had their worst election returns in the 2004 elections in that party's history.

G. George W. Bush was elected president for a second term in 2004 by the largest landslide in U.S. history.

H. Ditto for Tony Blair.

I. Hillary Clinton was defeated for his (grin) bid for reelection in New York State.

J. Thanks to the "footdragging" tactics of France and Germany througout the entire world crisis, the United Nations was made to be a laughing stock of historical proportions and was deemed irrelevent and impotent and consequently vaporized into nothingness as did it's predecessor - The League of Nations.

Viva La France - French Military History in a Nutshell (Including *WAR ON TERRORISM*)

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