Free Republic

Mideast: Iran tests an advanced warhead design as it gets caught shipping weapons to Hezbollah. Syria is reported to give the group operational control over Scud missiles. It's five minutes to midnight. Tyranny abhors a vacuum. While the U.S. and the West dither in Hamlet-like fashion over whatever we shall do in places such as Afghanistan and Iran, the Axis of Evil is in full swing in its plans to destroy Israel and threaten Europe and America. Israel last week seized what it said was the largest arms cache ever intercepted in the region. Israeli navy commandos boarded the Francop,...

Arab media in the Persian Gulf have been reporting that Syria, apparently on the orders of Iran, has turned over about 300 long range ballistic missiles to Hezbollah control. The missiles have apparently not left Syria (they would be hard to miss, being driven around southern Lebanon). The reports add that Hezbollah personnel are being trained to operate the missiles. Syria has underground storage and launch facilities for its arsenal of over a thousand SCUD missiles. Armed with half ton high explosive and cluster bomb warheads, the missiles have ranges of 500-700 kilometers. Syria also has some 90 older Russian...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

Strategic Defense: A new report says the United States must develop robust missile and space defenses to counter China. If you think the current economic crisis is something, imagine the effects of a nuke over Iowa.Imagine a world in which you can't get money from your bank or can't get a loan. You can't get money from your ATM even if it's within walking distance. You can't drive to one because your car won't work. No, it's not what would happen if the Congress doesn't pass a bailout bill. This is a small snapshot of what would happen if a...

20 Killed in Failed Syrian Scud Missile Test by Hana Levi Julian (IsraelNN.com) At least 20 Syrian civilians were killed and 60 were wounded in a failed missile test in May, Japan's Kyodo News reported Friday. The test involved two updated Scud missiles developed together by Syria, North Korea and Iran. Both exhibited defective guidance systems, according to a Middle Eastern military source quoted in the report. One of the short-range ballistic missiles hit a market near the Syrian-Turkish border, causing dozens of civilian casualties. Syrian forces attributed the blast to a gas explosion and blocked off the site to...

SDI: If you missed the news, which isn't hard given how poorly these things are covered, our "unproven" missile defense proved itself again last week, when a U.S. warship downed a simulated North Korean missile in flight.The test, conducted in Hawaiian waters by the Navy and the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), was the 23rd firing by ships equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. It was the 19th success, including the shoot-down of a dead U.S. spy satellite last year. A short-range ballistic missile simulating a missile like North Korea's Nodongs or Scuds was fired from...

Honolulu (AP) -- The U.S. military says it has intercepted a ballistic missile near Hawaii in a test. The sea-based test Thursday was the military's first since an errant satellite was shot down earlier this year. A target was fired from a decomissioned amphibious assault ship about 100 miles off the island of Kauai. It was a Scud-like missile with a range of a few hundred miles.

An accidental explosion in a secret weapons facility in Syria killed dozens of Syrian and Iranian military engineers as they were attempting to mount a chemical warhead on a Scud missile, according to an authoritative military journal. Fifteen military personnel and “dozens” of Iranian advisers died when the fuel for the missile caught fire and the weapon exploded, according to unnamed Syrian sources quoted by Jane’s Defence Weekly. The report said that the explosion sent out a cloud of chemical and nerve gases, including the deadly VX and Sarin agents as well as mustard gas, across the facility in the...

<p>Proof of cooperation between Iran and Syria in the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction was brought to light Monday in a Jane's Magazine report that dozens of Iranian engineers and 15 Syrian officers were killed in a July 23 accident in Syria.</p>

/begin my translation N. Korea: 'Missile Vehicle' Movements Spotted in Kittaeryong "Watching out for a possibility of launch in mid-September" (Seoul=Yonhap News) Kim Kwi-keun = Recently, S. Korea and U.S. intelligence agencies are  watching out for the possibility of more missile launches in N. Korea, after spotting large vehicles at Kittaeryong, Anbyun County, where N. Korea's missile training base are located. The sources revealed on Sept. 3, "The agencies spotted movements of many large vehicles recently, at Kittaeryong, N. Korea. We do not rule out the possibility that they are preparing for another launch of Rodong and Scud missiles." On...

DoD Finds Cruise Missile Defense 'Gaps' InsideDefense.com NewsStand | John Liang | August 17, 2006 A Pentagon assessment of the U.S. capability to defend the homeland against incoming enemy cruise missiles has found what it calls “capability gaps” that may not be solved until 2015. As a result, the Air Force's directorate of operational capability requirements is leading a Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System study “to determine the best approaches for mitigating high-risk joint gaps in the [Homeland Air and Cruise Missile Defense of North America] mission area,” according to an Aug. 9 request for information posted on Federal...

DPRK Scud, Rodong tests 'successful' The Yomiuri Shimbun Six of seven missiles that North Korea test-fired on July 5 fell inside a sea zone that was put off-limits for ships in advance by Pyongyang, government sources said Saturday, adding that the missiles' accuracy indicates the tests were successful. Soon after the launches, the government announced the six missiles, which were Rodong and Scud missiles and exclude the launch of a Taepodong-2 long-range ballistic missile, were estimated to have hit points 400 to 500 kilometers out to sea. But the government later learned the six missiles likely slashed down in an...

(LEAD) N. Korea building new missile bases, silos along east coast: Report SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been constructing new underground missile bases and silos along its east coast in recent years to deploy intermediate-range rockets targeting Japan and U.S. military facilities on the archipelago, a report said Thursday. "The new bases clustered along the east coastal line, in particular, are short- and medium-range missile bases aiming at Japan and U.S. military installations in Japan," said a report written by Yun Deok-min, a security expert at the state-funded Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. About 200...

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has been constructing new underground missile bases and silos along its east coast in recent years to deploy intermediate-range rockets targeting Japan and U.S. military facilities on the archipelago, a report said Thursday. "The new bases clustered along the east coastal line, in particular, are short- and medium-range missile bases aiming at Japan and U.S. military installations in Japan," said a report written by Yun Deok-min, a security expert at the state-funded Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security. About 200 Rodong missiles with ranges of up to 2,200 kilometers and 50...

Intelligence services in Seoul and Washington are analyzing suspicions that the seven missiles North Korea test-fired on July 5 include two new intermediate-range ballistic missiles with a range of 2,500-4,000 km. A government source said spy agencies detected electronic signals different from the North’s Rodong or Scud missiles from two of six medium-range missiles the North test-launched on July 5. Intelligence services considered whether they could be Scud-ERs with a range of up to 1,000 km, but additional analysis produced the suspicion that they could be a whole new type of IRBM, the source said. If so, they are...

/begin my translationLegislator Chung, "N. Korea to make up to 17 Taepodong's" Supreme Council Member Chung Hyung-geun   National Assemblyman Chung Hyung-geun, a member of Supreme Council of Hannara Party(note: S. Korea's conservative opposition) made a claim on July 14 regarding N. Korean missile launches. He said, "N. Korea intends to make up to 17 (Taepodong-2) missiles." Supreme Councilman Chung added this remark, at the council meeting held in (Hannara) party headquarter at Yom-chang-dong(, Seoul,) while adding, "N. Korea has plenty of black budget." He further explained, "N. Korea has No. 1 budget, which is for the Cabinet, and No. 2 budget, the...

N.Korea Has Eight Medium-Range Missile Pads: NIS The secret service says it has spotted eight launch pads for medium range missiles in North Korea. National Intelligence Service Director Kim Seung-gyu told a parliamentary committee Wednesday the launch pads were believed to be for Rodong-2 or Scud missiles. The NIS believes the missiles can be fired from the pads within three or four hours of preparation but the likelihood that they will be is small, a member of the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee said. The NIS chief was quoted as saying that a long-range Taepodong-2 missile North Korea test-fired on July...

Starting on the Fourth of July, North Korea launched a salvo of seven short-, medium- and long-range missiles. Despite the failure of the single long-range missile, the Taepo Dong-2, the launches confirmed that North Korea is seeking to advance its missile arsenal in order to threaten both the United States and its allies in Asia. The short- and medium-range missiles, the Scud and No Dong respectively, all flew in the direction of Japan, so it seems that North Korea is focused on achieving a military capability to threaten Japan in particular. It remains unclear at this point whether North Korea...

The same North Korean ICBM efforts that throw a rock at Alaska can throw a large nuclear warhead at every ally the United States has in Northeast Asia. Japan and South Korea are not only close allies, they are critical trading partners. The risk of a war in this part of the world would inevitably threaten Chinese involvement in some form, and possible bloc trade with much of China for an extended period even if China did not become involved. Our troops and our bases in most of Asia would be at hazard as well. Americans need to stop thinking...

When it became clear that the Taepodong 2 missile North Korea test-launched early on July 4 had broken up less than a minute into flight and plunged into the Sea of Japan, many Americans felt a sense of relief. After all, the missile — belonging to a class that is thought capable of reaching the U.S. mainland — had failed, and Kim Jong Il had been embarrassed in the eyes of the world, if not those of the North Koreans who were told nothing of the test’s outcome. But an embarrassed menace is a menace nonetheless. Despite North Korea’s failure...

The US missile defense system was put to its first real test Tuesday and Wednesday with North Korea's launch of a long-range missile and a half dozen shorter range missiles. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he was on and off the phone with top US commanders almost continuously for days before the missile tests. "I received the notification of the launch of these missiles probably within of a minute of when they occurred," he told reporters before a meeting with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Pentagon officials were circumspect, though, about how the multi-billion dollar missile defense system performed. "What...

/begin my summaryN. Korea: Launch Prep Complete for Additional 3 or 4 MissilesGovernment sources said, "In addition to missiles already launched, N. Korea has set up three or four of Nodong and Scud B & C missiles on mobile launcher, with all launch preparation complete. N. Korea declared the prohibited sea-travel zone which is in effect from July 5th to 11th, due to missile launches, and banned fishing boats from leaving port. Theoretically, more launches are possible for next five days. N. Korean missile launches so far./end my summary

/begin my translation N. Korea May Have Fired Up To 12 Missiles Six launches including Taepodong-2 were confirmed...the additional launches were being investigated It is possible that N. Korea launched six additional launches of short-range and shore-to-ship missiles, in addition to six launches of Taepodong-2, Nodong, and Scud surface-to-surface missiles, during dawn and morning hours of July 5th. Senior government sources said, "The confirmed launches so far by N. Koreans are one Taepodong launch and five launches of Nodong and Scud missiles, totaling six. However, we have indications that, between 7am and 8:13am, six additional missiles are launched, which we...

TOKYO - A defiant North Korea test-fired a long-range missile Wednesday that may be capable of reaching America, but it failed seconds after launch, U.S. officials said. The North also tested four of shorter range in an exercise the White House termed "a provocation" but not an immediate threat. The audacious military tests by isolated communist nation came despite stern warnings from the United States and Japan — and carried out as the U.S. celebrated the Fourth of July and launched the space shuttle. None of the missiles made it as far as Japan. The Japanese government said all landed...

most things about North Korea, little is known for certain about the Taepodong 2 missile. But there is no doubt North Korea does have a very long standing and pretty sophisticated missile programme. North Korea's intentions are under the global spotlight In 1998, before it began observing a moratorium on tests, North Korea launched a Taepodong 1 missile which passed over northern Japan and surprised Western intelligence agencies by the use of three stages in the missile's propulsion system. What is striking about the Taepodong 2 is that it could well be North Korea's first genuine intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)...

Since the story broke yesterday about finding 500 Shells of Chemical Weapons in Iraq, shells that contain Sulfur Mustard Gas or Sarin Gas, the Left and their media were quick to dismiss this extremely important find by using the lame excuse that these Chemical weapons Shells were produced before 1991 and hence its not effective anymore because it has much lower quality”. However in March 2003 UN report about Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction there is the following on page 77 (Page 79 of the pdf file), paragraph 1 of the report http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/documents/6mar.pdf : “ The Sulfur Mustard contained in...

Document ISGP-2003-00300134 contains Top Secret And Personal letters that carry Saddam orders to do radiation and biological testing on the Presidential sites that were attacked by the US in December 1998. Beginning of translation of the first top secret and personal memo In the Name of God the Most Merciful The Most Compassionate Top Secret And Personal The Republic of Iraq The Presidential Secretariat Number: 537304/1 18/12/1998 ORDER Mr. President The Leader (God Protects Him) Order: Form committees from the Ministry of Health and the Military Industrialization Commission and The Atomic Energy Organization and The Special Security Service with its...

The United States is highly vulnerable to attack from electronic pulses caused by a nuclear blast in space, according to a new book on threats to U.S. security. A single nuclear weapon carried by a ballistic missile and detonated a few hundred miles over the United States would cause "catastrophe for the nation" by damaging electricity-based networks and infrastructure, including computers and telecommunications, according to "War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World." "This is the single most serious national-security challenge and certainly the least known," said Frank J. Gaffney Jr. of...

Excerpt - TEL AVIV, June 2 - Syria test-fired three Scud missiles last Friday, including one that broke up over Turkish territory and showered missile parts down onto unsuspecting Turkish farmers, Israeli military officials revealed Thursday. These were the first such Syrian missile tests since 2001, the Israelis said, and were part of a Syrian missile development project using North Korean technology and designed, the Israelis contend, to deliver air-burst chemical weapons. The missiles included one older Scud B, with a range of about 185 miles, and two Scud D's, the Israelis say they believe, with a range of about...

http://www.therealcuba.com/Missile1A.JPG http://www.therealcuba.com/Missile2.JPG These unauthorized photos were taken by a tourist who, as he said in his e-mail to us, "sneaked out of the tourist area while visiting the Morro fortress" in Havana, Are these missiles operational? He says that he is 100% positive that they are. "They are behind the back wall. There is a military base there, as I saw jeeps approaching, I got the hell out of there pronto. It is a huge crime to photo things like that," he said. Maybe someone who is familiar with these type of missiles can identify them for us and provide...

It was confirmed that North Korea promised Iraq missile technology worth $10 million (approximately 10.5 billion won) when Saddam Hussein was in power. An additional part of the Duelfer Report (CIA) was made available to the public on December 11 and says that the Hussein regime raised money through oil-for-food programs under the supervision of the U.N. to finance the 10 million dollar arms contract with North Korea. According to sources at western intelligence agencies, North Korea is estimated to have sold about 540 missiles so far. The number includes 250 SCUD missiles worth $580 million, to Iran, Syria, Pakistan,...

This time, the shot heard round the world was fired in California. In an area better known for surfing than for strategic impact, last week's test-firing of an Arrow anti-missile off sleepy Point Magu barely made wave one in the States, coinciding as it did with the prime-time, straw hat and Chuck Berry hullabaloo coronation of a Democratic presidential candidate. The demonstration, in which the U.S.-financed, Israeli developed Arrow for the first time successfully intercepted a Scud missile in flight, may well have made more noise halfway around the globe, in places like Tehran and Damascus. To be sure, some...

An Arrow anti-ballistic missile successfully intercepted and destroyed a Scud missile yesterday during a joint United States-Israel test program off the California coast. All the Arrow system components performed successfully in their full operational configuration. This was the twelfth Arrow intercept test, and the seventh test of the complete system. Its objectives were to demonstrate the Arrow's improved performance against an actual - not simulated - Israel-threatening target. The Scud was launched from a maritime platform, and its trajectory demonstrated an operational scenario - one that could not have been tested in Israel due to test-field safety restrictions...

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - With ballistic missiles a growing threat in the region, Israel on Thursday successfully tested its Arrow anti-missile system against a live Scud missile for the first time off the coast of California. Israel began developing the anti-missile system 12 years ago after U.S.-made Patriot missiles - designed to intercept aircraft rather than missiles - were largely ineffective in stopping Iraqi Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War. At least 39 Iraqi Scud missiles slammed into Israel in the first Gulf War. The estimated $2 billion, one-of-a-kind Arrow anti-missile system is being developed jointly by the Israel and...

/begin my translation [Ryongchon Mystery]Who Blew Up Ryongchon? It has been almost two months since Ryongchon Train Explosion occurred in N. Korea. A plenty of relief aids were sent from all over the world, when the world saw pictures of children badly wounded by the blast. According to Lee Jong-hyuk, the vice chairman of N. Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, who visited Seoul on June 14th, the reconstruction and repair of Ryongchon would be complete by coming October. Its residents, especially those wounded children, could soon start smiling again at their new homes and schools. However, under such an uplifting outlook,...

Col. Charles A. Anderson During Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), America once again placed its trust and confidence in Patriot soldiers, as it had during Operation Desert Storm, to protect the force from ballistic missile attack. At the end of OIF, however, there was no acrimonious debate as there was at the end of Operation Desert Storm about Patriot's performance. In the maelstrom of combat, Patriot answered any question about its lethality against tactical ballistic missiles. Out ahead or keeping pace with the Patriot units on the contested highways leading toward Baghdad, air defense artillery (ADA) Avengers, Bradley Linebackers and forward...

Media's Focus After Interim Report Surprises Top Arms Inspector By John D. Banusiewicz American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2003 – The man leading the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq expressed surprise here today that media reports focused mainly on what his team has yet to find and not on what it has turned up so far after his Oct. 2 interim report to Congress. David Kay, chief U.S. arms inspector, told host Tony Snow on the "Fox News Sunday" that while his team indeed has yet to find illicit weapons, "I'm sort of amazed that...

The United States views with "serious concern" Syria's expanding weapons of mass destruction (WMD) capabilities and its continued state sponsorship of terrorism, the State Department's top arms control official says.Testifying September 16 before a House International Relations subcommittee, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said Syria also has taken "a series of hostile actions" toward Coalition forces in Iraq.He said Syria allowed military equipment to flow into Iraq on the eve of and during the war, and has "permitted volunteers to pass into Iraq to attack and kill our service members during the...

5:00 p.m. Monday (9/8) Eastern TimeIt is now 6:00 a.m. Tuesday, September 9, 2003 in Pyongyang, North Korea. Under rainy skies and with a current temperature of 70 degrees F, 95% humidity, slight breeze, with expected thunderstorms today in Pyongyang. Many FReepers and others are taking close note of today. Sunrise will occur in 12 minutes. And then, within a few hours, something rather noteworthy, historic and perhaps stunning is expected in the capital of the D.P.R.K. (North Korea).SBS-TV (S. Korea) today has obtained photographs of a new and provocative 15.5 meter-tall Nodong version missile, capable of attacking the...

First of two articlesNEW DELHI -- Tae Min Hun, the dour captain of the North Korean freighter Kuwolsan, glared icily from the bridge as tempers around him soared in the midday heat. On June 30, 1999, as customs agents in India's northwestern port city of Kandla waited impatiently to board the vessel, Tae received urgent instructions from Pyongyang: At all cost, let no one open the cargo boxes.The Indians tried to look anyway, and a melee erupted. Tae and his crew rained blows on inspectors and barricaded the doors with their bodies, according to witness accounts and video footage of...

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Taiwan boards N Korean ship Taiwan boards N Korean ship Taiwanese customs officers have boarded a North Korean freighter at the request of US intelligence authorities, reports say. The Taiwanese Central News Agency reports the US as saying the ship could be transporting illegal chemicals that could be used in the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Officials from Taiwan's Ministry of Finance and Customs Bureau (MFKCB) subsequently boarded the ship, which arrived in Kaohsiung Harbour on Thursday from Bangkok, Thailand. The Taiwanese newspaper Lien Ho Pao reported the US had urged Taiwan's National Security Council...

CANBERRA, Australia, May 09, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Elite Australian special forces charged with knocking out Scud missile bases entered deep into Iraq two days before the opening salvo of the war, defense officials said Friday. Releasing details on the role of Australia's 150 Special Air Services troops in Iraq for the first time, defense officials said a large contingent of Australian special forces went into Iraq the night of March 18. The commandos were mainly charged with reconnaissance and "shoot and scoot" missions tracking key military targets and destroying them, either with their own weapons or...

CAMP DOHA, KUWAIT -- All but two of nine U.S. and Kuwaiti Patriot intercepts of Iraqi missiles over a 13-day period beginning March 20 were performed by Guidance Enhanced Missiles, or GEMs, introduced into the fleet seven years ago, according to Army Brig. Gen. Howard Bromberg, commanding general of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command. Just two rockets Iraq launched were shot down by brand new Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles. Most engaged missiles were Al-Samoud and Ababil-100 surface-to-surface rockets fired from southern Iraq towards Kuwait, often operating on the outer limits of their approximately 90-mile maximum range,...

NEW YORK - A number of Scuds that could be within striking distance of Israel are still believed to be in western Iraq, Time magazine says in an exclusive report today. "Washington has pointed to the capture of two airfields in western Iraq as a blow to Saddam's ability to menace Israel with Scud missiles, as he did in the 1991 war," the magazine writes. "But the U.S. has what it considers credible intelligence that some Scuds have eluded detection in western Iraq, within striking distance of Israel." A senior U.S. intelligence official told Time: "We are not out of...

The Air Force is readying the first airborne laser weapon, which could be used to intercept Scud missiles. Mark Farmer takes you inside the project. In a starkly sanitized clean room, a stocky Lockheed Martin engineer wearing a shower cap and laboratory smock scuttles in and about black plastic curtains, talking with near-manic intensity and flashing his bright eyes and wry smile. "Want to see something really cool?" asks Paul Shattuck as he yanks back the curtains, revealing a maze of psychedelically colored optics and black anodized metal hardware. "This," he says, "is what they call the Wall of...

While watching the lastest "update" and subsequent "comments" by the Sky news journos, I couldn't help but wonder at their intelligence. (I know, I know... they are journos after all :o)) "Where are the weapons of mass destruction?" "They haven't found any weapons of mass destruction yet, have they?" And the "expert" seemed at a loss to answer. Tap. Tap. Tap. Is this brain on? Chinese missiles? Scuds? Don't they count? And if not, fine. The other explanation is simple... "Sod Him, He's Insane" is not mental enough to give his precious WMDs to a bunch of soldiers/conscripts he knows...

<p>March 21, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix yesterday said Iraq violated its agreement with the United Nations if the missiles it fired at American troops were Scuds.</p> <p>"I'm very interested to know whether they used Scuds," Blix said in an interview with the Fox News Channel. "If they're firing [Scuds], of course that shows that there's a violation," he said.</p>

IN THE KUWAITI DESERT — Iraq fired missiles into Kuwait in a series of apparently ineffectual counterattacks against U.S. troops and Kuwaiti civilians Thursday, forcing American soldiers to put on gas masks and chemical protective suits. Fox News has learned from Coalition Defense officials that at least one of the missiles fired was a Scud.

US Marines had a near miss when one of several Iraqi missiles fired at Kuwait landed near their camp in the Gulf Arab state's northern desert. "An unidentified missile struck outside Camp Commando at approximately 10.28 (0728 GMT) this morning," a statement by the US Marine Corps First Marine Expeditionary Force said."Initial reports cited that soldiers from the UK and (US) Marines sighted a grey missile land just outside the compound."Iraq retaliated after US missiles rained down on Baghdad - by firing four missiles on targets in Kuwait.Washington insisted the missiles were scuds but Baghdad insisted it did not...

Iraq Destroys Prohibited Scud Missile Rip Rowan Thu 20 Mar 2003 Today in Kuwait, Iraq destroyed one of its prohibited Scud missiles during the first day of a US-led disarmament program. The Scud, which was destroyed with the help of US weapons experts, was the first Scud destroyed in Iraq since the mid-1990's. "This act represents real disarmament on the part of Iraq," said UN weapons inspector Hans Blix. "We support Iraq's decision to disarm itself of these dangerous prohibited weapons." "Already in the first day of a US-led disarmament effort, we have seen more progress on the issue of...