http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=34929

Poison Gas Shells Prompt Calls For WMD Search
BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 22, 2006
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/34929

WASHINGTON - Since the formal search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was called off in January 2005, the American military has found more than 500 shells of ordinance containing Sarin or mustard gas.

While the shells are believed to date from the Iran-Iraq war, two Republican lawmakers are saying it raises enough questions for the president to order a new search for the biological, chemical and nuclear weapons program he said Saddam Hussein was concealing from the international community before the invasion of Iraq.

"The information released today proves that weapons of mass destruction are, in fact, in Iraq," Senator Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania said yesterday. "It is essential for the American people to understand that these weapons are in Iraq. I will continue to advocate for the complete declassification of this report so we can more fully understand the complete WMD picture inside Iraq."

Pentagon officials, however, yesterday said the weapons disclosed in the partially declassified Army's National Ground Intelligence Center report were "not the weapons we were looking for." Indeed, unexploded chemical ordinance dating from before 1991 are different from the stockpiles of anthrax and other toxins the then Secretary of State, Colin Powell told the U.N. Security Council in January 2003 was awaiting inspectors in Iraq.

That said, under the terms of the 1991 cease-fire that ended the shooting part of the Gulf War, Iraq was obliged to account for and destroy the stocks of chemicals and germs he had acknowledged to have amassed prior to the invasion of Kuwait which sparked the Gulf War.

The latest information about the chemical weapons shells, however, is most damaging to those who suggest the work of former weapons inspectors David Kay and Charles Duelfer have provided the definitive word on the whereabouts of the suspected WMD, according to the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

"Duelfer after 18 months was not able to find this stuff," Mr. Hoekstra said. "We made this determination that hundreds [of weapons] were found. I think this is a significant quantity. What does this say about all of the other issues that continue to be raised [such as] stuff transported to Syria. I don't believe everything that is out there is credible, but it shows how much we still don't know."

Indeed, Mr. Duelfer's final report said numerous sites were ransacked before inspectors got there and there were reams of documents that his team did not analyze. Mr. Hoekstra said he did not consider yesterday's declassified findings to be a "silver bullet," nor was he prepared to get into details about what was in the new report.

Other former intelligence officials have said that some old ordinance from the Iran-Iraq war was left on the battlefield.

June 22, 2006 Edition > Section: Foreign > Printer-Friendly Version

They will be finding artillery shells and missle war heads containing chemical agents for years to come in Iraq.

I had no doubt that chemical weapons existed before we invaded Iraq and that there are still vast quanities of them in many stashes throughout the country.

Let's suppose you got something you want to hide and you got an area roughly the same size as California to hide things in. Are you catching on yet?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13480264/

Officials: U.S. didn’t find WMDs, despite claims


WASHINGTON - Senior U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday they have no evidence that Iraq produced chemical weapons after the 1991 Gulf War, despite recent reports from media outlets and Republican lawmakers.

Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan on Wednesday pointed to a newly declassified report that says coalition forces have found 500 munitions in Iraq that contained degraded sarin or mustard nerve agents.

They cited the report in an attempt to counter criticism by Democrats who say the decision to go to war was a mistake.


But defense officials said Thursday that the weapons were not considered likely to be dangerous because of their age, which they determined to be pre-1991.

Pentagon officials told NBC News that the munitions are the same kind of ordnance the U.S. military has been gathering in Iraq for the past several years, and "not the WMD we were looking for when we went in this time."

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.

"We were able to determine that [the missile] is, in fact, degraded and ... is consistent with what we would expect from finding a munition that was dated back to pre-Gulf War," an intelligence official told NBC. "However, even in the degraded state, our assessment is that they could pose an up-to-lethal hazard if used in attacks against coalition forces."

‘A bit suspicious’
Democrats said a report from the top U.S. weapons inspector contemplated that older munitions bearing traces of chemical agents would be found.

A leading Democrat on intelligence issues said Santorum's assertion that there were in fact weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was politically motivated.

"It's a bit suspicious that this was rolled out the night before" the debate and vote in the Senate on withdrawal from Iraq "by a senator in a close political race," said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif.

Santorum is down 18 points in his Senate re-election contest, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Harman said it was "unfortunate" that people have "not learned the lesson about hyping ... and cherry picking" intelligence to suit their own aims.

For his part, Hoekstra, appearing before cameras on Thursday, reiterated his assertions of Wednesday evening, saying, "Iraq is NOT a WMD-free zone" and it "amazes me" that members of Congress still say that there was no WMD in Iraq.

NBC News’ Robert Windrem, NBC News' Mike Viqueira and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

It amazes me too. Like I said, chemical agents are going to be uncovered in Iraq for decades.