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ALBANY -- The spiritual leader of an Albany mosque repeatedly called a phone number in Syria that an FBI report indicates had been used to gather terrorist intelligence for Osama bin Laden, according to classified documents unsealed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court. The FBI report, which was based on information from a confidential informant, was among several once-secret documents that federal authorities say raise questions about Yassin Aref's connections to terrorist organizations across the Middle East. Aref, 35, a Kurdish refugee who moved to Albany with his family in 1999, is in jail without bond while awaiting trial on...

The following is a translation of a newly posted Iraqi document done by an unofficial translator. The document, posted in Arabic, is from a Department Of Defense program. It is dated July 13 -- probably 2003.In it an Iraqi opposition source (a Kurd) working in Syria reports on the movement of Iraqi trucks to Syria before the start of the US invasion of Iraq. It is his understanding that the trucks contained proscribed weapons of mass destruction.EnlargeEnlargeHere is one page from the pdf file showing the original document in Arabic:Enlarge

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq took the unusual step of issuing an explanation for a missile warhead discovered yesterday by UN arms inspectors -- before the monitors themselves made the news public. The inspectors found the abandoned case of a small rocket and a "modified, damaged and abandoned warhead" at a missile parts factory south of Baghdad, the Iraqi News Agency said, describing it as a Russian-made Luna -- a short-range rocket permitted under UN resolutions. Iraq, however, rarely reports on what the inspectors find. The report appeared timed to give Iraq's version of events before the discovery was publicized by...

The U.S. government suppressed information about chemical weapons it found in Iraq, and several servicemembers were injured by their exposure to those weapons, The New York Times is reporting. In an article published late Tuesday, the newspaper says it found 17 American servicemembers and seven Iraqi police officers who were exposed to mustard or nerve agents after 2003. They were reportedly given inadequate care and told not to talk about what happened. "From 2004 to 2011, American and American-trained Iraqi troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam...

he Central Intelligence Agency, working with American troops during the occupation of Iraq, repeatedly purchased nerve-agent rockets from a secretive Iraqi seller, part of a previously undisclosed effort to ensure that old chemical weapons remaining in Iraq did not fall into the hands of terrorists or militant groups, according to current and former American officials. The extraordinary arms purchase plan, known as Operation Avarice, began in 2005 and continued into 2006, and the American military deemed it a nonproliferation success. It led to the United States’ acquiring and destroying at least 400 Borak rockets...

UN experts are to destroy four plastic containers filled with mustard gas registered by previous UN disarmament inspectors and recently found north of Baghdad. Spokesman Hiro Ueki said chemical experts had visited the Al-Muthanna military site today to prepare for the destruction of the containers. Ten 155 millimetre artillery shells will also be destroyed. "The destruction process will begin tomorrow and is expected to (take) four to five days to complete," he said.

The release by Julian Assange's web site Wikileaks of classified documents reveals that U.S. military intelligence discovered chemical weapons labs, encountered insurgents who were specialists in the creation of toxins, and uncovered weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. However, Washington, DC officials and the news media have ignored this information.

This story is disturbing on multiple levels. It has been revealed that stockpiles of expired or degraded chemical munitions were discovered in Iraq during the initial years of the war and both American and Iraqi forces were exposed to them in more than twenty instances. This information was never revealed to the public. American troops were exposed to chemical weapons multiple times in the years following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, while the Pentagon kept their discoveries of the expired or degraded weapons secret from investigators, fellow soldiers, and military doctors, according to a published report. The New York...

No Chemical or other WMDs in Iraq? Here are some pictures from our Annonymous Freeper in Iraq. Barrels of chemicals and other material he has observed in Iraq this year. Note the picture of the Dimethyl sulfate barrel. This chemical was used as a chemical warfare agent in World War I. Its Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) gives the following information: This compound is extremely hazardous because of its lack of warning properties and delayed biological effects. It may cause burns of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes. Eye damage may be permanent. Effects may be delayed occurring hours after...

The New York Times...details U.S. forces in Iraq finding thousands of chemical weapons during the Iraq war. "From 2004 to 2011...troops repeatedly encountered, and on at least six occasions were wounded by, chemical weapons remaining from years earlier in Saddam Hussein’s rule," "In all, American troops secretly reported finding roughly 5,000 chemical warheads

NBC reporter Dana Lewis reporting live video from newly discovered PLO terrorist training camp that was discovered in Iraq. It has obstacle course, shooting range, pretty much looks like one of the familiar AlQaeda terrorist training camps. Dana Lewis also reports that this camp is close to the infamous pesticide site and that there are some of the same French pesticide drums (not the others suspected of containing the CW "Cocktail" mixture) at the PLO camp along with gas masks and chemical suits. They're not sure what to make of it and the officer in charge was hesitant to say...

I’ve written about this before … but with the release of the WIKILEAKS documents, even Wired magazine acknowledges that US troops found chemical and biological weapons in Iraq. But don’t worry; if you liberals keep telling yourself “Bush Lied”… you’ll get through this. By late 2003, even the Bush White House’s staunchest defenders were starting to give up on the idea that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But for years afterward, WikiLeaks’ newly-released Iraq war documents reveal, U.S. troops continued to find chemical weapons labs, encounter insurgent specialists in toxins, and uncover weapons of mass destruction In...

"Since May 2004, ISG has recovered a total of 53 chemical weapons from various sources and military units throughout Iraq. A preliminary assessment indicates they are part of Iraq's pre-1991 stockpile. Variations in size, type, and agent fill raise the possibility that other, similar rounds remain at large." - Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq's WMD, Volume 3, page 30. Including in Khamisiyah forty-one 122-mm sarin/cyclosarin SAKR=18 rockets!!!!!!!! 4-Jun, 25-Jun, 29 July 2004