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Posted on 10/05/2003 10:04:26 AM PDT by freeperfromnj
Edited on 07/06/2004 6:39:12 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Weapons hunters in Iraq are following leads that point to the presence of anthrax research and Scud missiles still hidden in the country, the chief U.S. weapons searcher said Sunday.
David Kay told Congress last week that his survey team has not found weapons of mass destruction. But he argued against drawing conclusions, saying he can provide a full picture on Iraq's weapons programs in six months to nine months.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
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Cripes. What is wrong with the Republican Congress. The American public needs to know that they have found botuilnum toxin and that the same CB clown was asked to house a larger cache of Bio-toxins.
The party I am registered with is, sad to say, a stupid party.
We had an anthrax attack. We still haven't been able to trace it and at what point was it imminent....when it was dropped in the mailbox??
The Planes were the SECOND attack on the towers. When was that imminent?? When they boarded the planes??
BE WISE!!
Also, a-Q was reported to have 20 suitcase nukes late last year. Have you seen that report on ABC, CBS, NBC or CNN or read about it in the NY Times, LA Times, or the Wash Post? Gimme a break. They are too busy running around in circles calling Bush names as lying shills for the DNC.
The Associate Press offered no evidence their reporting is intended to be anything other than pro-Saddam spin.
U.S. Inspector Says Iraq Still Has Store of Biological Agents
Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. teams searching Iraq for banned weapons and materials suspect there is at least one undiscovered store of biological weapons agents that were hidden by Saddam Hussein's regime in the 1990s, David Kay, who is leading the U.S. inspections group, said.
In three cases, Iraqi scientists have come forward with information or documents about lethal biological materials that they were ordered to hide -- sometimes in their own homes -- as United Nations weapons inspections were getting underway after the 1991 Gulf War, Kay said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program.
``We're actively searching for at least one more cache of strains that we know exist,'' Kay said. ``It's much larger. It contains anthrax, and that's one reason we're actively interested in getting it.''
Kay, a former UN weapons inspector, turned in a preliminary report last week on the search evidence of chemical, biological and nuclear arms. President George W. Bush, who cited such weapons as justification for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, is being criticized by political opponents who say he exaggerated the threat from Hussein's government.
Although no actual weapons systems have been found by the 1,200-member Iraq Survey Group, they have found evidence that Iraq was actively researching biological and chemical weapons agents and developing missile technology in violation of UN prohibitions, Kay said. Some of the research continued up to 2003.
In the Refrigerator
In one case, Kay said an Iraqi scientist in 1993 was told to hide active research samples of Botulinum, a neurotoxin, and other strains including anthrax. The scientist placed them in his refrigerator.
Evidence also shows Iraq was conducting research on using Hemorrhagic Fever, the poison Ricin and other toxic biological agents.
``I'm sort of amazed at what was powerful information about both their intent and their actual activities that were not known and were hidden from U.S. inspectors seems not to have made it to the press,'' Kay said on the Fox program.
Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman, who is seeking to challenge Bush in the 2004 elections, said on the same show that he still believes the U.S. was correct to invade Iraq and oust Hussein, even though no weapons of mass destruction have been discovered since Bush declared major combat over on May 1.
``Noting in the Kay report changes my mind that we did the right thing,'' Lieberman said. At the same time, he said, ``there is some evidence that the Bush administration exaggerated unnecessarily'' about Iraq's weapons.
`Just Cause'
Some of those statements ``did discredit what was otherwise a very just cause of fighting tyranny and terrorism,'' he said.
Bush on Friday said Kay's interim report shows Hussein was in violation of UN resolutions, deceived the international community and ``was a danger to the world.''
Other Democrats, such as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have said the report makes it clear that the U.S. should have given the UN more time to search for weapons.
Kay said the U.S. is investigating reports that some documents or weapons might have been moved into Syria or Jordan before the U.S. invasion in April.
`We do know that documents were taken to Jordan, because we're engaged in negotiations with someone who is in Jordan to recover those documents,'' Kay said. ``I have no personal knowledge that weapons were moved into Jordan.''
Other reports about convoys of material moving into Syria also are being checked.
``The difficulty we have is proving what was in the convoys, and that's where we're stymied right now,'' he said.
More Time
Kay has said the search may need at least another six months to unearth weapons of mass destruction. He cited the size of Iraq, the volume of weapons storage sites and continued attempts to intimidate scientists of officials who might cooperate with the investigation.
The Survey Group has identified 130 ammunition storage depots, some larger than 50 square kilometers, containing a total stockpile of arms estimated at up to 650,000 tons.
``That's about one-third of the entire ammunitions stockpile of the much larger U.S. military,'' Kay said.
There is evidence that Iraq had restarted ``rudimentary experiments'' on nuclear weapons he said.
Kay said members of his team have been attack in Iraq as have scientists who have talked with U.S. investigators.
``They're talking to us in the face of active threats against them for collaborating with us,'' Kay said. ``We are taking steps to try to protect them, but we're never perfect of that.''
Last Updated: October 5, 2003 10:57 EDT
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