IRAQI SOLDIER CAPTURED WITH ANTHRAX & INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO KILL COALITION SOLDIERS

MSNBC | 3/2203 | Bob Arnot

[Steven W.]

Breaking: Bob Arnot of NBC News reports coalition forces have captured an Iraqi soldier who was found to have an envelope with a suspicious powder, presumably anthrax, and instructions on how to kill coalition soldiers using it. Arnot is stationed with the medivac units supporting coalition forces.

[Kevin Curry]

UH OH! If this pans out, . . .

The Iraqis and their comforters will merely claim the envelope was planted on the soldier by US forces.

[what's up]

I believe I heard Tommy Franks on Fox about 15 minutes ago saying there is NO DOUBT that Iraq has WMD and they will find them and those who are guarding them.

He was very strong in saying there was NO Doubt. This must be an issue in many quarters today.

[concerned about politics]

It won't surprise me if we hear nothing further about this report. And that won't necessarily be because the report is false.

Yep. If the military feels it shouldn't be reported right now, I'll support them.
If it's not real anthrax, that's even better.

[gabby hayes]

Is it too much to wait for confirmation of test results?

[wolf24]

"Fair-minded" people probably won't assume that we are planting and faking these things. The people who believe that we would manufacture evidence in their knee-jerk manner will never be convinced anyway. IMHO.

[Peach]

Harder for the appeasers to be believed we planted anything when embedded journalists are swarming around. They'll claim it but only the far left Hate America First crowd will believe it - because they want to believe it.

[EllaMinnow]

I accept your apology. We are all on edge right now.

[Carry_Okie]

i dont know who planted it, i just think a package is a crummy way to distribute anthrax in the middle of a war.

Burning oil to obscure bombing targets with smoke when we have JDAMS is equally stupid. Don't give them too much credit if it isn't deserved.

We'll just have to wait for the verification or possibly an associated replicant. If there was one guy like this, there should be more.

[Sofa King]

"and wouldn't the instructions be likely to say "destroy these instructions after you read them" saddam doesn't want people to know he has WMD"

First off, everyone who is actually in a position to know already knows (excluding Hans Blix, because having your head up your as does not qualify as a 'position to know'). Secondly, if our troops are attacked with antrax, we'll know who was responsible anyway.

[EllaMinnow]

Here.

[MattAMiller]

If whatever he was carrying was in an "envelope", then it wasn't anthrax. This is bull.

Yeah who's ever heard of envelopes full of anthrax?

[demlosers]

Here's some proof for your brother.

Ping!

[Sofa King]

typo in previous post; as=ass

[concerned about politics]

Who is that woman wearing pink,grey and brown jacket, I getting sick looking at it?

OMG. I saw that outfit. It's horrid! Even my husband said "look at that woman." He even noticed how awful it was. LOL

[Peach]

Freepers on the Live thread listening to MSNBC heard Peter Arnette say the same thing. It's great to have a link, and in a perfect world we ask them them and get them. War isn't a perfect world and something Peter Arnette reports, on camera, before millions of people, especially about ANTHRAX IN IRAQ, is news. How do you link to his words on camera? It's up to MSNBC to decide what they put on their website and they've not gone with it yet. Doesn't mean this didn't happen - not when so many Freepers heard the same thing.

[Recovering_Democrat]

URL?

[browardchad]

If whatever he was carrying was in an "envelope", then it wasn't anthrax. This is bull.

I don't know if the story's true or not, but carrying anthrax in an envelope wouldn't prove or disprove its authenticity.

True, it would expose the person carrying it to anthrax, but it may take a week or more to actually debilitate the carrier, by which time he could be expected to infect many. Considering how the Iraqi regime has total disregard for its troops' life or safety, it wouldn't be inconsistent for them to use them this way. An uneducated peasant might not even know that he was being set up, but he would certainly know that refusal to do it would mean summary execution. Not much of a choice.

[ez]

So it is your supposition that at least one member of the US Armed Forces, and at least one other person who could speak "Arabic" conspired to create an envelope of Anthrax and instructions for using it. Since it would be QUITE difficult for a regular troop to get Anthrax, he would have to also have the help of higher ups in the chain of command with the power to get Anthrax, so we essectially need an organized military effort.

That leaves us in the position of deciding whether US troops are enacting an organized effort to plant evidence on Iraqi soldiers, or whether the Iraqi's actually DO have WMD's, as the US government has claimed for at least twelve years.

I have to say, the "planted evidence" theory is much more inlikely, and smacks of desperation not to be proven wrong.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Ping!

[aristeides]

The deliverer could also be immunized.

[Nita Nuprez]

You give newbies a bad name.

[Petronski]

This is a direct ping to myself and you. If this story is discredited, I'll expect your public apology.

Likewise, if this story is proven true, I will tender my public apology to you.

That said, I've lived through enough wars to know that the only thing that flies across the globe faster than a lie is a rumor. I do not believe my skepticism is unwarranted or wrong.

Your priggish attitude is unnecessary--and unseemly for someone as new here as you.

[alnick]

Did our troops get Anthrax vacinnations?

[Sofa King]

"That said, I've lived through enough wars to know that the only thing that flies across the globe faster than a lie is a rumor. I do not believe my skepticism is unwarranted or wrong."

I'd say that skepticism about conspiracy theories is more called for.

[BRL]

What threw me for a loop, and why I got confused then angry is this:

Ewing posted the same info in a thread he started. He sourced the information by linking it to the MSNBC homepage. I (and another) spent some time searching that page (before I even knew about this thread) for the story. Nothing was there. I became suspect. I don't appreciate people making things up.

[aristeides]

Did our troops get Anthrax vacinnations?

I think I've read that they did.

[Peach]

OKAY - I'm over 200 posts through this thread - there's no new info - just a bunch of people arguing about something that's stupid to argue about. Cut it out - some people want actual news.

[Carry_Okie]

One could also patch it out in the desert to be kicked up as dust by armored vehicles.

IMO, it's still a stupid choice of a bug for warfare, as the spores are persistent in soil and may dust up for years and spread by Bedouin livestock. Using it near Baghdad is really dumb unless you want to take your countrymen with you.

[concerned about politics]

just a bunch of people arguing about something that's stupid to argue about.

Give 'em hell, Peach! :-)

[Peach]

I'm not defending anyone but please - I GET IT. You've repeated it enough times everyone gets it. Let's move on. People should NOT have to read through such useless drivel tring to find if there's more information on this important topic. Let's all act like grown-ups.

[BRL]

Nice of you to start a conversation with me and then tell me to cut it out.

[cowtowney]

I am "deeply saddened" by this news.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Ewing posted the same info in a thread he started. He sourced the information by linking it to the MSNBC homepage. I (and another) spent some time searching that page (before I even knew about this thread) for the story. Nothing was there. I became suspect. I don't appreciate people making things up.

The part you are missing is the fact that NOBODY MADE ANYTHING UP... All they did was post a link to the website of the NETWORK THAT AIRED THE REPORT... Get a grip...

[RAT Patrol]

Did our troops get Anthrax vacinnations?

I was under the impression they did.

[TomGuy]

Wonder whether J Garofalo is getting a bit nervous. She promised to crawl on broken glass, etc.

[wastoute]

My wife and I have been talking about this for weeks. O'Reily has said that when the evidence is found he is going to "hold some people's feet to the fire", but those people have had their feet to the fire before and they haven't changed their minds one bit. The "Hate America" first crowd won't ever give up.

[over3Owithabrain]

Tell me about it. I have an old friend on the Left Coast who is barraging me with emails reagrding his opposition to this war. The amount of half-truths, conspiracy theories, and pure propoganda is mind-boggling. It comes down to him simply taking a side and not willing to believe anything good from the US/Bush. Even as he braces for a successful liberation of Iraq, he concludes that will only be dumb luck.

Some people...

[laz17]

Their every move and involvement will carry implied entrapment with it.

Yes indeed. From this moment on, we should treat our former "allies" as if they had the plague and keep them at a distance. No more playing games, no more making nice in the interest of diplomacy. We are dealing with evil, and evil will kill you if you blink for an instant. Bush and Blair cannot afford to let ONE single Frenchman set foot on Iraqi soil and have the opportunity to seize or destroy evidence. No one belonging to any nation not a member of our coalition should come anywhere NEAR Iraq. So Chirac doesn't want the US and UK administering post-war Iraq? What are you gonna do about it, Jacques? Send troops? Go ahead, if you want to lose them. You're gonna find out we are NOT playing games.

And let me say something which just occurred to me. For weeks now, it's been apparent that part of the reason for Turkey's intransigence has been the meddling of Chirac. Has anyone considered that Chirac could actually go so far as to ask that Turkish troops going into northern Iraq to deal with Kurds also be on the lookout for evidence they can seize or destroy?

[Quix]

Reminds me of a prophecy on the other thread!

Thanks.

[mikegi]

and didn't somebody plant atta's wallet at the WTC site?

Yep, and what's more, the entire 9/11 terrorist attack was organized by Cheney using Israel's Mossad agents who installed remote-controlled auto-pilots on the jets. There were supposed to be only three (3) airliners attacking (WTC1, WTC2, Pentagon) but Bush insisted on a fourth plane to hit the White House while he was gone. GWB's eyes began roving after seeing all the young interns and Laura was getting on his nerves. Unfortunately for GWB, the fourth plane was hastily rigged up and failed to complete its mission.

If we put our heads together, we can unravel this whole conspiracy! Keep up the good work!

[jpl]

Our troops get vaccinated for anthrax, smallpox, and practically everything else under the sun. You get on line, and walk down like an assembly line while the doctors stick you like a pin cushion.

[over3Owithabrain]

The "Hate America" first crowd won't ever give up. Yep. They've managed to spin utter defeat regarding the Cold War and Soviet communism. They will no doubt do the same here.

[Freedom of Speech Wins]

Surprised the cable networks aren't even mentioning this! At least in the wrap-ups I have seen in the last hour.

[Boot Hill]

  "How in the hell are we going to handle such finds in a way that convinces fair-minded people that we didn't plant or fake this?"

Frankly, I don't care about the opinions of the "international community". The fair minded will recognize the truth, the America haters wouldn't be convinced if the truth came to them inscribed on stone tablets (Oh wait, that's already been done).

Besides, if this report is true, that envelope will have come from a very much larger source. When that is found, the skeptics, naysayers and conspiracy theorists will have just too hard a time explaining that away.

--Boot Hill

[cyncooper]

Exactly the reason there are embedded journalists among our military units.

Exactly. I made the same point yesterday on a thread that spoke of the history of atrocities committed by Saddam's son Uday, and someone started handwringing that the press would cover it up.

No way. The embedded journalists will be there when this stuff is found and be witnesses to it, plus get to tell the story.

I hate the media along with the best (witness the idiots at the press briefings), but the reporters along for the ride with the troops will be invaluable to keeping the record accurate.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

What were the libs saying about proof that Iraq has hidden WMD and wants to use them? As usual, the libs and American muslims will dismiss this with a wave of the hand and flatly say that it was fabricated.

[EllaMinnow]

There are some who can be convinced, and some who are providing real evidence.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872426/posts