Monday, October 25, 2004

So we didn't secure the al-Qaqaa site from which massive amounts of explosives subsequently disappeared even though before the war the British thought nerve gas was being produced there?

The British dossier, released in September, alleged that parts of a phosgene production plant at al QaQaa had been rebuilt after being dismantled under U.N. supervision in the 1990s. Phosgene, the dossier said, has industrial uses, but "can also be used by itself as a chemical agent or as a precursor for nerve agent."

(Phosgene, of course, killed a lot of soldiers in the First World War.)

And the site wasn't secured even though it was believed by some to be connected to a Saddam missile program?

Iraq's forces still have potent weapons for delivering biological and chemical warheads such as the Scud B missiles used against Saudi Arabia and Israel during Desert Storm in 1991 and the longer range Al Hussain missile fired against Iran in the Gulf war from 1980 to 1988....

Most of the functioning missile sites are now believed to be around Baghdad at Qa Qaa, Yawm al Azim, Taj al Marik and Thu al Fiqar....


I know skepticism about prewar tales of Saddam's danger was rife among us peaceniks, but didn't the hawks believe their own scare stories?

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