http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Republic...dence_0621.html
Republican Congress members claim that evidence of Saddam's WMD have been identified
Michael Roston
Published: Wednesday June 21, 2006
(UPDATE: Live on Fox News Senator Santorum is informed that a Defense Department official disavowed his conclusions. More at end of article)
Republican Congress members claimed late today that evidence of weapons of mass destruction hidden by Saddam Hussein had at last been identified in Iraq.
Speaking at a late afternoon press conference, Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, spoke with Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. They claimed that 500 chemical weapons shells allegedly containing degraded sarin or mustard gas have been recovered by coalition forces since 2003, and that other filled and unfilled munitions have been found.
Santorum also attacked his "colleagues...on the other side of the aisle" for "repeatedly" claiming that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.
Rep. Hoekstra has called strongly for the release of a large cache of Arabic-language documents, believing that they would clarify the original case for war with Iraq. It is not known at this time if the information in any of the documents, available online at this Defense Department site led to the cache of alleged weapons of mass destruction.
This is not the first time that such chemical shells have been found in Iraq. Fox News announced in May 2004 that a sarin gas shell had been detonated near Fallujah, dispersing a small amount of agent. It was not evident that the insurgents using the shell understood what they were using.
The discovery of poorly accounted for stocks of WMD is not unheard of around the world. Researcher Jonathan Tucker detailed in 2001 for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists the discovery of a significant number of chemical weapons shells in Northwest DC.
Think Progress counters Santorum's announcement with the words of President Bush backing up reports by his own WMD inspectors which said that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.
"While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991," the Iraq Survey Group reported in 2004. "There are no credible Indications that Baghdad resumed production of chemical munitions thereafter, a policy ISG attributes to Baghdad’s desire to see sanctions lifted, or rendered ineffectual, or its fear of force against it should WMD be discovered."
"The chief weapons inspector, Charles Duelfer, has now issued a comprehensive report that confirms the earlier conclusion of David Kay that Iraq did not have the weapons that our intelligence believed were there," said President Bush in October of 2004, as cited at Think Progress.
"There is nothing new here," said Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) in a statement. "Nothing in this report, classified or otherwise, contradicts the Duelfer Report, which assessed that we would find degraded pre-1991 weaponry in Iraq.
Harman also blasted what she feels is selective declassification by the Bush administration. "When the intelligence community disseminated classified intelligence conclusively establishing that one of the Vice President's much-touted justifications for war was blatantly wrong, my request to declassify that information was denied," she added. "When the request comes from Republicans and can be spun in an attempt to support a Republican position, however, the answer is markedly different."
Santorum Blog, a "grassroots site dedicated to keeping Santorum supporters and political nerds up-to-date with the latest breaking Senate race news" unaffilliated with the Santorum for Senate campaign has a transcript of the press conference.
"I guess this debate hasn't yet ended," writes the site's editor.
A press release about the conference has been posted on Santorum's official Website.
"This is critically important information that the world community needs to know," reads a quote by Santorum above the press release.
Santorum's press release:
#
U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, joined Congressman Peter Hoekstra, (R-MI-2), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, today to make a major announcement regarding the release of newly declassified information that proves the existence of chemical munitions in Iraq since 2003. The information was released by the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, and contained an unclassified summary of analysis conducted by the National Ground Intelligence Center. In March, Senator Santorum began advocating for the release of these documents to the American public.
“The information released today proves that weapons of mass destruction are, in fact, in Iraq,” said Senator Santorum. “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.”
The following are the six key points contained in the unclassified overview:
• Since 2003 Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent.
• Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq’s pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.
• Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for Coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out.
• The most likely munitions remaining are sarin and mustard-filled projectiles.
• The purity of the agent inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives, and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal.
• It has been reported in open press that insurgents and Iraqi groups desire to acquire and use chemical weapons.
#
In an appearance later in the evening on Fox News, Santorum was told that an unnamed Defense Department official speaking for the Administration objected to his conclusions.
"Fox News’ Jim Angle contacted the Defense Department who quickly disavowed Santorum and Hoekstra’s claims," reports Think Progress. A Defense Department official told Angle flatly that the munitions hyped by Santorum and Hoekstra are 'not the WMD’s for which this country went to war.'"
"I’d like to know who that is," Santorum responded. "The fact of the matter is, I’ll wait and see what the actual Defense Department formally says or more important what the administration formally says."
Full Version: Republican Congressmembers claim that evidence
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > U.S. Military Issues > U.S. Military Issues Archive
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,200499,00.html
Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq
Thursday, June 22, 2006
WASHINGTON — The United States has found 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003, and more weapons of mass destruction are likely to be uncovered, two Republican lawmakers said Wednesday.
"We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons," Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said in a quickly called press conference late Wednesday afternoon.
Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."
• Click here to read the declassified portion of the NGIC report.
He added that the report warns about the hazards that the chemical weapons could still pose to coalition troops in Iraq.
"The purity of the agents inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal," Santorum read from the document.
(Story continues below)
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"This says weapons have been discovered, more weapons exist and they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
The weapons are thought to be manufactured before 1991 so they would not be proof of an ongoing WMD program in the 1990s. But they do show that Saddam Hussein was lying when he said all weapons had been destroyed, and it shows that years of on-again, off-again weapons inspections did not uncover these munitions.
Hoekstra said the report, completed in April but only declassified now, shows that "there is still a lot about Iraq that we don't fully understand."
Asked why the Bush administration, if it had known about the information since April or earlier, didn't advertise it, Hoekstra conjectured that the president has been forward-looking and concentrating on the development of a secure government in Iraq.
Offering the official administration response to FOX News, a senior Defense Department official pointed out that the chemical weapons were not in useable conditions.
"This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991," the official said, adding the munitions "are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war."
The official said the findings did raise questions about the years of weapons inspections that had not resulted in locating the fairly sizeable stash of chemical weapons. And he noted that it may say something about Hussein's intent and desire. The report does suggest that some of the weapons were likely put on the black market and may have been used outside Iraq.
He also said that the Defense Department statement shortly after the March 2003 invasion saying that "we had all known weapons facilities secured," has proven itself to be untrue.
"It turned out the whole country was an ammo dump," he said, adding that on more than one occasion, a conventional weapons site has been uncovered and chemical weapons have been discovered mixed within them.
Hoekstra and Santorum lamented that Americans were given the impression after a 16-month search conducted by the Iraq Survey Group that the evidence of continuing research and development of weapons of mass destruction was insignificant. But the National Ground Intelligence Center took up where the ISG left off when it completed its report in November 2004, and in the process of collecting intelligence for the purpose of force protection for soldiers and sailors still on the ground in Iraq, has shown that the weapons inspections were incomplete, they and others have said.
"We know it was there, in place, it just wasn't operative when inspectors got there after the war, but we know what the inspectors found from talking with the scientists in Iraq that it could have been cranked up immediately, and that's what Saddam had planned to do if the sanctions against Iraq had halted and they were certainly headed in that direction," said Fred Barnes, editor of The Weekly Standard and a FOX News contributor.
"It is significant. Perhaps, the administration just, they think they weathered the debate over WMD being found there immediately and don't want to return to it again because things are otherwise going better for them, and then, I think, there's mindless resistance to releasing any classified documents from Iraq," Barnes said.
The release of the declassified materials comes as the Senate debates Democratic proposals to create a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq. The debate has had the effect of creating disunity among Democrats, a majority of whom shrunk Wednesday from an amendment proposed by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to have troops to be completely withdrawn from Iraq by the middle of next year.
At the same time, congressional Republicans have stayed highly united, rallying around a White House that has seen successes in the last couple weeks, first with the death of terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then the completion of the formation of Iraq's Cabinet and then the announcement Tuesday that another key Al Qaeda in Iraq leader, "religious emir" Mansour Suleiman Mansour Khalifi al-Mashhadani, or Sheik Mansour, was also killed in a U.S. airstrike.
Santorum pointed out that during Wednesday's debate, several Senate Democrats said that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, a claim, he said, that the declassified document proves is untrue.
"This is an incredibly — in my mind — significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false," he said.
As a result of this new information, under the aegis of his chairmanship, Hoekstra said he is going to ask for more reporting by the various intelligence agencies about weapons of mass destruction.
"We are working on the declassification of the report. We are going to do a thorough search of what additional reports exist in the intelligence community. And we are going to put additional pressure on the Department of Defense and the folks in Iraq to more fully pursue a complete investigation of what existed in Iraq before the war," Hoekstra said.
FOX News' Jim Angle and Sharon Kehnemui Liss contributed to this repor
Report: Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq
Thursday, June 22, 2006
WASHINGTON — The United States has found 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003, and more weapons of mass destruction are likely to be uncovered, two Republican lawmakers said Wednesday.
"We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons," Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said in a quickly called press conference late Wednesday afternoon.
Reading from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, Santorum said: "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."
• Click here to read the declassified portion of the NGIC report.
He added that the report warns about the hazards that the chemical weapons could still pose to coalition troops in Iraq.
"The purity of the agents inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal," Santorum read from the document.
(Story continues below)
ADVERTISEMENTSAdvertise Here
"This says weapons have been discovered, more weapons exist and they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
The weapons are thought to be manufactured before 1991 so they would not be proof of an ongoing WMD program in the 1990s. But they do show that Saddam Hussein was lying when he said all weapons had been destroyed, and it shows that years of on-again, off-again weapons inspections did not uncover these munitions.
Hoekstra said the report, completed in April but only declassified now, shows that "there is still a lot about Iraq that we don't fully understand."
Asked why the Bush administration, if it had known about the information since April or earlier, didn't advertise it, Hoekstra conjectured that the president has been forward-looking and concentrating on the development of a secure government in Iraq.
Offering the official administration response to FOX News, a senior Defense Department official pointed out that the chemical weapons were not in useable conditions.
"This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991," the official said, adding the munitions "are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war."
The official said the findings did raise questions about the years of weapons inspections that had not resulted in locating the fairly sizeable stash of chemical weapons. And he noted that it may say something about Hussein's intent and desire. The report does suggest that some of the weapons were likely put on the black market and may have been used outside Iraq.
He also said that the Defense Department statement shortly after the March 2003 invasion saying that "we had all known weapons facilities secured," has proven itself to be untrue.
"It turned out the whole country was an ammo dump," he said, adding that on more than one occasion, a conventional weapons site has been uncovered and chemical weapons have been discovered mixed within them.
Hoekstra and Santorum lamented that Americans were given the impression after a 16-month search conducted by the Iraq Survey Group that the evidence of continuing research and development of weapons of mass destruction was insignificant. But the National Ground Intelligence Center took up where the ISG left off when it completed its report in November 2004, and in the process of collecting intelligence for the purpose of force protection for soldiers and sailors still on the ground in Iraq, has shown that the weapons inspections were incomplete, they and others have said.
"We know it was there, in place, it just wasn't operative when inspectors got there after the war, but we know what the inspectors found from talking with the scientists in Iraq that it could have been cranked up immediately, and that's what Saddam had planned to do if the sanctions against Iraq had halted and they were certainly headed in that direction," said Fred Barnes, editor of The Weekly Standard and a FOX News contributor.
"It is significant. Perhaps, the administration just, they think they weathered the debate over WMD being found there immediately and don't want to return to it again because things are otherwise going better for them, and then, I think, there's mindless resistance to releasing any classified documents from Iraq," Barnes said.
The release of the declassified materials comes as the Senate debates Democratic proposals to create a timetable for U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq. The debate has had the effect of creating disunity among Democrats, a majority of whom shrunk Wednesday from an amendment proposed by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts to have troops to be completely withdrawn from Iraq by the middle of next year.
At the same time, congressional Republicans have stayed highly united, rallying around a White House that has seen successes in the last couple weeks, first with the death of terror leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, then the completion of the formation of Iraq's Cabinet and then the announcement Tuesday that another key Al Qaeda in Iraq leader, "religious emir" Mansour Suleiman Mansour Khalifi al-Mashhadani, or Sheik Mansour, was also killed in a U.S. airstrike.
Santorum pointed out that during Wednesday's debate, several Senate Democrats said that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, a claim, he said, that the declassified document proves is untrue.
"This is an incredibly — in my mind — significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false," he said.
As a result of this new information, under the aegis of his chairmanship, Hoekstra said he is going to ask for more reporting by the various intelligence agencies about weapons of mass destruction.
"We are working on the declassification of the report. We are going to do a thorough search of what additional reports exist in the intelligence community. And we are going to put additional pressure on the Department of Defense and the folks in Iraq to more fully pursue a complete investigation of what existed in Iraq before the war," Hoekstra said.
FOX News' Jim Angle and Sharon Kehnemui Liss contributed to this repor
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/37966/
DOD disavows Santorum's WMD claims
Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 7:53 AM on June 22, 2006.
Sen. cites U.S. government's own report denying WMDs. Blog Tools
Sen Rick Santorum (R-Pa) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) held a press conference yesterday to announce that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, only to have their claims flatly disavowed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Santorum and Hoekstra were talking about the degraded and inoperable remnants of Saddam's pre-1991 chemical weapons program that are turning up at various sites around Iraq. Their allegations are based on the U.S. government's own Iraq Survey Group. The very same report convinced President Bush that Iraq did not have WMD.
The DOD flatly disavowed the Congressmen's WMD claims. ThinkProgress: "Fox News’ Jim Angle contacted the Defense Department who quickly disavowed Santorum and Hoekstra’s claims. A Defense Department official told Angle flatly that the munitions hyped by Santorum and Hoekstra are “not the WMD’s for which this country went to war.”
[Think Progress, Global Security]
DOD disavows Santorum's WMD claims
Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 7:53 AM on June 22, 2006.
Sen. cites U.S. government's own report denying WMDs. Blog Tools
Sen Rick Santorum (R-Pa) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) held a press conference yesterday to announce that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, only to have their claims flatly disavowed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Santorum and Hoekstra were talking about the degraded and inoperable remnants of Saddam's pre-1991 chemical weapons program that are turning up at various sites around Iraq. Their allegations are based on the U.S. government's own Iraq Survey Group. The very same report convinced President Bush that Iraq did not have WMD.
The DOD flatly disavowed the Congressmen's WMD claims. ThinkProgress: "Fox News’ Jim Angle contacted the Defense Department who quickly disavowed Santorum and Hoekstra’s claims. A Defense Department official told Angle flatly that the munitions hyped by Santorum and Hoekstra are “not the WMD’s for which this country went to war.”
[Think Progress, Global Security]
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Z...2QyOGEwMGRlYmI=
“Strenuous work is necessary to save the House GOP majority this year.”
THE CORNER:
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Re: That WMD STory [Andy McCarthy]
If I could just pile on for a moment to the characteristically astute points made by Jim and Jonah, I concede — at least based on what we currently know — to being underwhelmed by the WMD information. It is not insignificant by any means, and Sen. Santorum and Rep. Hoekstra are absolutely right to be sticking it to people who continue disingenuously saying there was no WMD. But, what we have at the moment is paltry compared to what was predicted in the run-up to the war on the basis of the then-existing intelligence, and it's thus understandable that the administration does not want to make a big deal out of this information and potentially re-open what I think Jonah correctly argues is a closed issue as far as the public is concerned.
The same cannot be said, however, for Saddam and terrorism. The killing of Zarqawi opened up a golden opportunity to exploit the fact that he was in place in Iraq long before our invasion — especially after his successor, al-Masri, was named and it turned out that he, too, had been operating in Iraq since 2002.
Add to that, for example, Bin Laden and Zawahiri both had high-level meetings with Saddam's underlings from about 1994 forward; Iraqis helped train and gave safe harbor to al Qaeda members; Iraq gave a lot of money to Zawahiri; if you read Bin Laden's 1998 fatwa about killing all Americans — two months before the embassy bombings — you are struck by how much he relies on American action against Iraq; Saddam wanted jihadists to blow up Radio Free Europe in Prague in 1998-99; an al Qaeda detainee at Gitmo at Gitmo is an Iraqi who — the same month as our embassies were blown up in August 1998 — is alleged to have gone to Pakistan with an Iraqi intelligence agent to investigate the possibility of blowing up the U.S. and/or British embassy there; the possibility remains that Mohammed Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague in April 2001; and there has never been any explanation for what an Iraqi intelligence operative, Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, was doing in Kuala Lampur in January 2000 at what most agree was the initial planning meeting for the 9/11 attacks (Shakir having ushered eventual hijacker Khalid al-Midhar through customs at the airport — a job he got through Iraqi intelligence). I could go on, but you get the point.
I remain as mind-boggled as Jim is that the administration has resisted making this case known to the American people. It seems to me that the unspeakable depravity with which our two soldiers were brutalized by al Qaeda in Iraq would provide a unique teaching moment — to remind those whose memory of the horror of 9/11 has grown dim about just how evil is what we are fighting and how necessary it is that we defeat it and any regime that facilitates it. And if I were asked to imagine a perfect spokesman for making that case, I can't think of a smarter, more effective one than Tony Snow.
What on earth are they waiting for?
Posted at 11:30 AM
© National Review Online 2006-2007. All Rights Reserved.
“Strenuous work is necessary to save the House GOP majority this year.”
THE CORNER:
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Re: That WMD STory [Andy McCarthy]
If I could just pile on for a moment to the characteristically astute points made by Jim and Jonah, I concede — at least based on what we currently know — to being underwhelmed by the WMD information. It is not insignificant by any means, and Sen. Santorum and Rep. Hoekstra are absolutely right to be sticking it to people who continue disingenuously saying there was no WMD. But, what we have at the moment is paltry compared to what was predicted in the run-up to the war on the basis of the then-existing intelligence, and it's thus understandable that the administration does not want to make a big deal out of this information and potentially re-open what I think Jonah correctly argues is a closed issue as far as the public is concerned.
The same cannot be said, however, for Saddam and terrorism. The killing of Zarqawi opened up a golden opportunity to exploit the fact that he was in place in Iraq long before our invasion — especially after his successor, al-Masri, was named and it turned out that he, too, had been operating in Iraq since 2002.
Add to that, for example, Bin Laden and Zawahiri both had high-level meetings with Saddam's underlings from about 1994 forward; Iraqis helped train and gave safe harbor to al Qaeda members; Iraq gave a lot of money to Zawahiri; if you read Bin Laden's 1998 fatwa about killing all Americans — two months before the embassy bombings — you are struck by how much he relies on American action against Iraq; Saddam wanted jihadists to blow up Radio Free Europe in Prague in 1998-99; an al Qaeda detainee at Gitmo at Gitmo is an Iraqi who — the same month as our embassies were blown up in August 1998 — is alleged to have gone to Pakistan with an Iraqi intelligence agent to investigate the possibility of blowing up the U.S. and/or British embassy there; the possibility remains that Mohammed Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague in April 2001; and there has never been any explanation for what an Iraqi intelligence operative, Ahmed Hikmat Shakir, was doing in Kuala Lampur in January 2000 at what most agree was the initial planning meeting for the 9/11 attacks (Shakir having ushered eventual hijacker Khalid al-Midhar through customs at the airport — a job he got through Iraqi intelligence). I could go on, but you get the point.
I remain as mind-boggled as Jim is that the administration has resisted making this case known to the American people. It seems to me that the unspeakable depravity with which our two soldiers were brutalized by al Qaeda in Iraq would provide a unique teaching moment — to remind those whose memory of the horror of 9/11 has grown dim about just how evil is what we are fighting and how necessary it is that we defeat it and any regime that facilitates it. And if I were asked to imagine a perfect spokesman for making that case, I can't think of a smarter, more effective one than Tony Snow.
What on earth are they waiting for?
Posted at 11:30 AM
© National Review Online 2006-2007. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.ncrumors.com/modules/news/artic...hp?storyid=2068
Opinion : Senate Intel Committee Members: WMD Exist in Iraq
Posted by JimKouri on 2006/6/22 13:55:02 (5 reads)
by Jim Kouri, CPP
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) announced Wednesday the discovery of over 500 munitions or weapons of mass destruction. The WMD found were sarin gas and mustard gas contained in projectiles, according to Fox News Channel's Special Report.
Sen. Santorium, reading from a newly declassified intelligence, said, "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist." The statement was aired on The Mark Levin Show, as well as FNC.
"That means in addition to the 500, there are filled and unfilled munitions still believed to exist within the country," said Santorium.
Reading from the document on camera, Santorum added, "Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the Black Market. Use of these weapons by terrorist or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside of Iraq cannot be ruled out. The most likely munitions remaining are sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles. And I underscore filled."
Santorum also said the "purity of the agents inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives and environmental storage conditions."
While acknowledging that the agents "degrade over time," the document said that the chemicals "remain hazardous and potentially lethal," according to Levin.
The media has reported that "insurgents and Iraqi groups" want to "acquire and use chemical weapons," Santorum noted said during a press conference.
The Pennsylvania senator called the finding "incredibly" significant.
"The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction is in fact false," Santorum said.
"We have found over 500 weapons of mass destruction and in fact have found that there are additional chemical weapons still in the country."
Other portions of the intelligence report provide a glimpse of what some Iraq experts say is Saddam's attempt to continue to wage war against the US after the first Gulf War ended.
Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that in the days before the US-led invasion of Iraq, one of Saddam's generals, Georges Sada, said he witnessed what he believes were large volumes of WMD being transported into Syria. He also states that members of the Russian military assisted the Iraqis in removing the weapons.
In another story, also in the Times, it was reported that Saddam's top commanders were demoralized when he told them he had no WMD for them to use in order to repel the invaders.
Except for Fox News and a couple of newspapers, the news media have not reported on the Santorum press conference and the details contained in the intelligence report.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri's own website is located at http://jimkouri.us[/i]
Opinion : Senate Intel Committee Members: WMD Exist in Iraq
Posted by JimKouri on 2006/6/22 13:55:02 (5 reads)
by Jim Kouri, CPP
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) announced Wednesday the discovery of over 500 munitions or weapons of mass destruction. The WMD found were sarin gas and mustard gas contained in projectiles, according to Fox News Channel's Special Report.
Sen. Santorium, reading from a newly declassified intelligence, said, "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist." The statement was aired on The Mark Levin Show, as well as FNC.
"That means in addition to the 500, there are filled and unfilled munitions still believed to exist within the country," said Santorium.
Reading from the document on camera, Santorum added, "Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the Black Market. Use of these weapons by terrorist or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside of Iraq cannot be ruled out. The most likely munitions remaining are sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles. And I underscore filled."
Santorum also said the "purity of the agents inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives and environmental storage conditions."
While acknowledging that the agents "degrade over time," the document said that the chemicals "remain hazardous and potentially lethal," according to Levin.
The media has reported that "insurgents and Iraqi groups" want to "acquire and use chemical weapons," Santorum noted said during a press conference.
The Pennsylvania senator called the finding "incredibly" significant.
"The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction is in fact false," Santorum said.
"We have found over 500 weapons of mass destruction and in fact have found that there are additional chemical weapons still in the country."
Other portions of the intelligence report provide a glimpse of what some Iraq experts say is Saddam's attempt to continue to wage war against the US after the first Gulf War ended.
Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that in the days before the US-led invasion of Iraq, one of Saddam's generals, Georges Sada, said he witnessed what he believes were large volumes of WMD being transported into Syria. He also states that members of the Russian military assisted the Iraqis in removing the weapons.
In another story, also in the Times, it was reported that Saddam's top commanders were demoralized when he told them he had no WMD for them to use in order to repel the invaders.
Except for Fox News and a couple of newspapers, the news media have not reported on the Santorum press conference and the details contained in the intelligence report.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri's own website is located at http://jimkouri.us[/i]
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=1887870&C=america
Hundreds of Chemical Weapons Found in Iraq : U.S. Intelligence
By CHARLOTTE RAAB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq have found some 500 chemical weapons since the March 2003 invasion, Republican lawmakers said June 21, citing an intelligence report.
“Since 2003, Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent,” said an overview of the report unveiled by Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, head of the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives.
“Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq’s pre-Gulf war chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf war chemical munitions are assessed to still exist,” it says.
The lawmakers cited the report as validation of the U.S. rationale for the war, and stressed the ongoing danger they pose.
“This is an incredibly — in my mind — significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false,” Santorum said.
A Pentagon official who confirmed the findings said that all the weapons were pre-1991 vintage munitions “in such a degraded state they couldn’t be used for what they are designed for.”
The official, who asked not to be identified, said most were 155 millimeter artillery projectiles with mustard gas or sarin of varying degrees of potency.
“We’re destroying them where we find them in the normal manner,” the official said.
In 2004, the U.S. army said it had found a shell containing sarin gas and another shell containing mustard gas, and a Pentagon official said at the time the discovery showed there were likely more.
The intelligence overview published June 21 stressed that the pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market.
“Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out,” it said.
Santorum said the two-month-old report was prepared by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a military intelligence agency that started looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when the Iraq Survey Group stopped doing so in late 2004.
Last year the head of Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, said that insurgents in Iraq had already used old chemical weapons in their attacks.
Nevertheless, “the impression that the Iraqi Survey Group left with the American people was they didn’t find anything,” Hoekstra said.
“But this says: Weapons have been discovered; more weapons exist. And they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq,” he said.
Asked just how dangerous the weapons are, Hoekstra said: “One or two of these shells, the materials inside of these, transferred outside of the country, can be very, very deadly.”
The report said that the purity of the chemical agents — and thus their potency — depends on “many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives, and environmental storage conditions.”
“While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal,” it said.
Reporters questioned the lawmakers as to why the Bush administration had not played up the report to boost their case for continued warfare in Iraq.
“The administration has been very clear that they want to look forward,” Santorum said. “They felt it was not their role to go back and fight previous discussions.”
Fear that Saddam Hussein might use his alleged arsenal of chemical and biological weapons was may reason U.S. officials gave for launching the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Hundreds of Chemical Weapons Found in Iraq : U.S. Intelligence
By CHARLOTTE RAAB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq have found some 500 chemical weapons since the March 2003 invasion, Republican lawmakers said June 21, citing an intelligence report.
“Since 2003, Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent,” said an overview of the report unveiled by Sen. Rick Santorum and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, head of the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives.
“Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq’s pre-Gulf war chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf war chemical munitions are assessed to still exist,” it says.
The lawmakers cited the report as validation of the U.S. rationale for the war, and stressed the ongoing danger they pose.
“This is an incredibly — in my mind — significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false,” Santorum said.
A Pentagon official who confirmed the findings said that all the weapons were pre-1991 vintage munitions “in such a degraded state they couldn’t be used for what they are designed for.”
The official, who asked not to be identified, said most were 155 millimeter artillery projectiles with mustard gas or sarin of varying degrees of potency.
“We’re destroying them where we find them in the normal manner,” the official said.
In 2004, the U.S. army said it had found a shell containing sarin gas and another shell containing mustard gas, and a Pentagon official said at the time the discovery showed there were likely more.
The intelligence overview published June 21 stressed that the pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market.
“Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out,” it said.
Santorum said the two-month-old report was prepared by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a military intelligence agency that started looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when the Iraq Survey Group stopped doing so in late 2004.
Last year the head of Iraq Survey Group, Charles Duelfer, said that insurgents in Iraq had already used old chemical weapons in their attacks.
Nevertheless, “the impression that the Iraqi Survey Group left with the American people was they didn’t find anything,” Hoekstra said.
“But this says: Weapons have been discovered; more weapons exist. And they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq,” he said.
Asked just how dangerous the weapons are, Hoekstra said: “One or two of these shells, the materials inside of these, transferred outside of the country, can be very, very deadly.”
The report said that the purity of the chemical agents — and thus their potency — depends on “many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives, and environmental storage conditions.”
“While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal,” it said.
Reporters questioned the lawmakers as to why the Bush administration had not played up the report to boost their case for continued warfare in Iraq.
“The administration has been very clear that they want to look forward,” Santorum said. “They felt it was not their role to go back and fight previous discussions.”
Fear that Saddam Hussein might use his alleged arsenal of chemical and biological weapons was may reason U.S. officials gave for launching the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5063462&nav=0Rce
Hoekstra says Army report provides evidence of WMDs
Updated: June 22, 2006 08:41 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- Holland Congressman Pete Hoekstra wants to know why the White House hasn't publicized an Army report that details hundreds of Weapons of Mass Destruction that have been found in Iraq.
Hoekstra, who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, spoke to 24 Hour News 8 Wednesday night. He said troops have been finding the weapons as they move through Iraq and that around 500 munitions have been found. While many date back as far as 1991, they are still deadly.
Hoekstra couldn't say where the weapons were found but said they have been found in multiple locations.
Hoekstra says he learned of the Army report from U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Santorum heard about it from a source outside the government.
Hoekstra asked for and received a copy of it. He now wants to know why the information has been kept from the American public, as questions about Weapons of Mass Destruction have played a key role in the debates and discussions about America's role in Iraq.
Hoekstra says Army report provides evidence of WMDs
Updated: June 22, 2006 08:41 AM EDT
WASHINGTON -- Holland Congressman Pete Hoekstra wants to know why the White House hasn't publicized an Army report that details hundreds of Weapons of Mass Destruction that have been found in Iraq.
Hoekstra, who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, spoke to 24 Hour News 8 Wednesday night. He said troops have been finding the weapons as they move through Iraq and that around 500 munitions have been found. While many date back as far as 1991, they are still deadly.
Hoekstra couldn't say where the weapons were found but said they have been found in multiple locations.
Hoekstra says he learned of the Army report from U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Santorum heard about it from a source outside the government.
Hoekstra asked for and received a copy of it. He now wants to know why the information has been kept from the American public, as questions about Weapons of Mass Destruction have played a key role in the debates and discussions about America's role in Iraq.
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.
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.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/se...html?view=print
Bob Cesca
06.23.2006
Senator Rick Santorum Finds Old Crap, Makes Ass Of Himself
Senator Santorum is my kind of guy. Not only did he make a complete ass of himself on the national stage, but he perfectly exemplified the specious, delusional fearnauts currently occupying our government.
In case you missed it, the senator found weapons of mass destructions (WMDs) in Iraq. These canisters, left in the desert decades ago and armed with depleted and useless mustard and sarin gas, could cause deadly harm to countless people if used in conjunction with a time machine powered by a 1.21 gigawatt flux capacitor set for Hill Valley, 1988.
Now if only Senator Santorum could also go back in time and prevent his parents from meeting, well then, bonus! Look out for that poop truck, Senator!
Secretary of Defense Doc Brown, in an awesomely ridiculous move, confirmed that these weapons, which predate the Gulf War, could hurt someone and therefore qualify as weapons of mass destructions (WMDs).
"They are weapons of mass destruction. They're harmful to human beings. And they have been found."
Based on Doc Brown's description and reacting from my gut, I'm saddened to announce that I found a weapon of mass destructions (WMDs) in my garage. This weapon doesn't have a cool name like Taepodong 2 (pronounced "Type O' Dong" -- thanks Rob Corddry) but it's a weapon none-the-less.
It's called a Grass Hog. You may know it by the pejorative "Weed Whacker." Some folks call it a Weed Whacker; I call it a Grass Hog. Whatever you choose to call it, believe you me, if I ever decided to harm human beings with it, I could. Oh yes. I could go batshit crazy from hating America and run right up to my neighbor, Wayne, and BZZZ! thwack him in the ankles, inflicting a really, really severe minor abrasion. That qualifies as harm, right? My neighbor Wayne qualifies as a human, right? I found it, didn't I?
Weapons of mass destruction. They're everywhere. And Republicans need them. So gather up your collection of old bicentennial firecrackers that you've kept preserved in a jar of denture juice. Send them news of toast! Not just any toast, but that crappy diner triple-decker toast that somehow rips the flesh off the roof of your mouth! Send them news of your snakes! On airplanes! Send them news of the lead Civil War minié balls from Gettysburg gift shops and tell them you found evidence that General Lee is about to attack Little Round Top! Send him some mustard and a fat guy suffering from gas!
For without the ability to incite irrational fear in American voters, the Republicans are rendered powerless. Sadly, these fear props are often as ridiculous as Senator Santorum's 20-year-old Iran-Iraq War relics. Ban same-sex marriage because it'll destroy hetero marriage, but sue for divorce as much as you want. Spy on Americans to fight the war on terror, while voting in favor of the pardoning of insurgents who attacked American soldiers. Round up illegal immigrants, but continue to allow corporations to send American jobs to Mexico. Wheel out breaking news stories about ancient terror plots, but ignore the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, leave our ports vulnerable, and act surprised when North Korea unveils its Taepodong missile. And if none of it works and a majority of Americans recognize that it's all mostly horseshit Karl Rove thought of while glazing his forehead, just rig the elections.
No, we shouldn't deny Senator Santorum his scary campaign props, just so long as they embarrass the hell out of him. I have a great idea for his October surprise. Who wants to send the senator an anatomically correct sex toy with the word Taepodong scribbled on the side? Get your TiVO ready, John Amato!
Bob Cesca
06.23.2006
Senator Rick Santorum Finds Old Crap, Makes Ass Of Himself
Senator Santorum is my kind of guy. Not only did he make a complete ass of himself on the national stage, but he perfectly exemplified the specious, delusional fearnauts currently occupying our government.
In case you missed it, the senator found weapons of mass destructions (WMDs) in Iraq. These canisters, left in the desert decades ago and armed with depleted and useless mustard and sarin gas, could cause deadly harm to countless people if used in conjunction with a time machine powered by a 1.21 gigawatt flux capacitor set for Hill Valley, 1988.
Now if only Senator Santorum could also go back in time and prevent his parents from meeting, well then, bonus! Look out for that poop truck, Senator!
Secretary of Defense Doc Brown, in an awesomely ridiculous move, confirmed that these weapons, which predate the Gulf War, could hurt someone and therefore qualify as weapons of mass destructions (WMDs).
"They are weapons of mass destruction. They're harmful to human beings. And they have been found."
Based on Doc Brown's description and reacting from my gut, I'm saddened to announce that I found a weapon of mass destructions (WMDs) in my garage. This weapon doesn't have a cool name like Taepodong 2 (pronounced "Type O' Dong" -- thanks Rob Corddry) but it's a weapon none-the-less.
It's called a Grass Hog. You may know it by the pejorative "Weed Whacker." Some folks call it a Weed Whacker; I call it a Grass Hog. Whatever you choose to call it, believe you me, if I ever decided to harm human beings with it, I could. Oh yes. I could go batshit crazy from hating America and run right up to my neighbor, Wayne, and BZZZ! thwack him in the ankles, inflicting a really, really severe minor abrasion. That qualifies as harm, right? My neighbor Wayne qualifies as a human, right? I found it, didn't I?
Weapons of mass destruction. They're everywhere. And Republicans need them. So gather up your collection of old bicentennial firecrackers that you've kept preserved in a jar of denture juice. Send them news of toast! Not just any toast, but that crappy diner triple-decker toast that somehow rips the flesh off the roof of your mouth! Send them news of your snakes! On airplanes! Send them news of the lead Civil War minié balls from Gettysburg gift shops and tell them you found evidence that General Lee is about to attack Little Round Top! Send him some mustard and a fat guy suffering from gas!
For without the ability to incite irrational fear in American voters, the Republicans are rendered powerless. Sadly, these fear props are often as ridiculous as Senator Santorum's 20-year-old Iran-Iraq War relics. Ban same-sex marriage because it'll destroy hetero marriage, but sue for divorce as much as you want. Spy on Americans to fight the war on terror, while voting in favor of the pardoning of insurgents who attacked American soldiers. Round up illegal immigrants, but continue to allow corporations to send American jobs to Mexico. Wheel out breaking news stories about ancient terror plots, but ignore the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, leave our ports vulnerable, and act surprised when North Korea unveils its Taepodong missile. And if none of it works and a majority of Americans recognize that it's all mostly horseshit Karl Rove thought of while glazing his forehead, just rig the elections.
No, we shouldn't deny Senator Santorum his scary campaign props, just so long as they embarrass the hell out of him. I have a great idea for his October surprise. Who wants to send the senator an anatomically correct sex toy with the word Taepodong scribbled on the side? Get your TiVO ready, John Amato!
QUOTE(Snuffysmith @ Jun 23 2006, 07:50 AM)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/se...html?view=print
Bob Cesca
06.23.2006
Senator Rick Santorum Finds Old Crap, Makes Ass Of Himself
Bob Cesca
06.23.2006
Senator Rick Santorum Finds Old Crap, Makes Ass Of Himself
When did Santorum become a democrat?
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/...on/14882285.htm
Discovered weapons don’t prove stockpile
Chemical munitions found in Iraq were too old, likely had been discarded, officials say
From Wire Reports
THE U.S. AND IRAQ
WASHINGTON — A new, partially declassified intelligence report provides no new evidence that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion, as President Bush alleged in making the case for war, U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday.
The hundreds of chemical weapons found in Iraq were produced before the 1991 Gulf War and probably are so old they couldn’t be used as designed, officials said.
Two lawmakers — Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and House Intelligence chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich. — on Wednesday circulated a summary of the report that says coalition forces have recovered about 500 munitions with mustard or sarin agents, and more could be discovered around Iraq.
“We now have found stockpiles,” Santorum asserted.
Intelligence officials offered a less alarming view. They said the old munitions had been found in groups of one and two, indicating they had been discarded, not part of a program to stockpile arms.
Santorum and Hoekstra had urged the release of the report this week during debates on Iraq.
“Rolling out some old fairly toxic stuff sounds to me like a desperate claim by those who wish that we could find some new way to rationalize the ongoing devastation in Iraq,” said Rep. Jane Harman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
Discovered weapons don’t prove stockpile
Chemical munitions found in Iraq were too old, likely had been discarded, officials say
From Wire Reports
THE U.S. AND IRAQ
WASHINGTON — A new, partially declassified intelligence report provides no new evidence that Saddam Hussein had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion, as President Bush alleged in making the case for war, U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday.
The hundreds of chemical weapons found in Iraq were produced before the 1991 Gulf War and probably are so old they couldn’t be used as designed, officials said.
Two lawmakers — Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and House Intelligence chairman Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich. — on Wednesday circulated a summary of the report that says coalition forces have recovered about 500 munitions with mustard or sarin agents, and more could be discovered around Iraq.
“We now have found stockpiles,” Santorum asserted.
Intelligence officials offered a less alarming view. They said the old munitions had been found in groups of one and two, indicating they had been discarded, not part of a program to stockpile arms.
Santorum and Hoekstra had urged the release of the report this week during debates on Iraq.
“Rolling out some old fairly toxic stuff sounds to me like a desperate claim by those who wish that we could find some new way to rationalize the ongoing devastation in Iraq,” said Rep. Jane Harman of California, the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
I don't know that its necessarily the case that the weapons were "too old" to be useless. I live in an area where World War One munitions were unearthed back in 1992, and a number of the weapons still had live fuses on them even though they had been buried in a munitions pit and discarded 80 years earlier. They contained mustard gas and phosgene. Removal was treated like an archeological dig. We were under military occupation for four months while the munitions were being removed because of the hazards they posed. All reference material relating to army practices at the site were subsequently classified under the Patriot Act.
QUOTE(Marine @ Jun 23 2006, 11:34 AM)
When did Santorum become a democrat?
Methinks 'tis as curious a quandry as when did the idiocy of a politician in either party become a topic for "U.S. Military Issues", eh? 'Tis a puzzlement!Is this thread really 'bout a U. S. military issue? I think not! IMHO 'tis either commentin' on a devolopement in the war in Iraq (in which case methinks it belongs in the "Afghanistan and Iraq" sub forum, or just another editorial comment takin' a shot 'cross the bow of a GOP politician (in which case methinks it probably belongs somewhere else too).
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/fe...ml?id=110008568
Saddam's WMD
Why is out intelligence community holding back?
BY PETER HOEKSTRA AND RICK SANTORUM
Monday, June 26, 2006 12:01 a.m.
On Wednesday, at our request, the director of national intelligence declassified six "key points" from a National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) report on the recovery of chemical munitions in Iraq. The summary was only a small snapshot of the entire report, but even so, it brings new information to the American people. "Since 2003," the summary states, "Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent," which remains "hazardous and potentially lethal." So there are WMDs in Iraq, and they could kill Americans there or all over the world.
This latest information should not be new. It should have been brought to public attention by officials in the intelligence community. Instead, it had to be pried out of them. Mr. Santorum wrote to John DeFreitas, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, on April 12, asking to see the report. He wrote, "I am informed that there may well be many more stores of WMDs throughout Iraq," and added, "the people of Pennsylvania and Members of Congress would benefit from reviewing this report." He asked that the "NGIC work with the appropriate entities" to declassify as much of the information as possible.
The senator received no response. On June 5, he wrote again, this time to John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, "concerning captured Iraqi documents, data, media and maps from the regime of Saddam Hussein." He mentioned his disappointment that many captured Iraqi documents had been classified, and that he still had received no response from Gen. DeFreitas. Some 10 days later, still with no response, he shared his dismay with one of us, Pete Hoekstra, chairman of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, who on June 15 wrote to Mr. Negroponte, urging him to declassify the NGIC analytic piece. Mr. Hoekstra was also dismayed because he had not been informed through normal intelligence channels of the existence of this report.
To compound matters, during a call-in briefing with journalists held at noon on June 21, intelligence officials misleadingly said that "on June 19, we received a second request; this time asking that we, in short order--48 hours--declassify the key points, which are sort of the equivalent to key judgments from something like a National Intelligence Estimate, from the assessment." The fault was their own; we had been requesting this information for nine weeks and they had not acted.
On Thursday, Mr. Negroponte's office arranged a press briefing by unnamed intelligence officials to downplay the significance of the report, calling it "not new news" even as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was reiterating the obvious importance of the information: "What has been announced is accurate, that there have been hundreds of canisters or weapons of various types found that either currently have sarin in them or had sarin in them, and sarin is dangerous. And it's dangerous to our forces. . . . They are weapons of mass destruction. They are harmful to human beings. And they have been found. . . . And they are still being found and discovered."
In fact, the public knows relatively little about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Indeed, we do not even know what is known or unknown. Charles Duelfer, former head of the Iraq Survey Group, stated that the ISG had fully evaluated less than 0.25% of the more than 10,000 weapons caches known to exist throughout Iraq. It follows that the American people should be brought up to date frequently on our state of knowledge of this important matter. That is why we asked that the entire document be declassified, minus the exact sources, methods and locations. It is also, in part, why we have fought for the declassification of hundreds of thousands of Saddam-era documents.
The president is the ultimate classifier and declassifier of information, but the entire matter has now been so politicized that, in practice, he is often paralyzed. If he were to order the declassification of a document pointing to the existence of WMDs in Iraq, he would be instantly accused of "cherry picking" and "politicizing intelligence." He may therefore not be inclined to act.
In practice, then, the intelligence community decides what the American public and its elected officials can know and when they will learn it. Sometimes those decisions are made by top officials, while on other occasions they are made by unnamed bureaucrats with friends in the media. People who leak the existence of sensitive intelligence programs like the terrorist surveillance program or financial tracking programs to either damage the administration or help al Qaeda, or perhaps both, are using the release or withholding of documents to advance their political desires, even as they accuse others of manipulating intelligence.
We believe that the decisions of when and what Americans can know about issues of national security should not be made by unelected, unnamed and unaccountable people.
Some officials in the intelligence community withheld the document we requested on WMDs, and somebody is resisting our request to declassify the entire document while briefing journalists in a tendentious manner. We will continue to ask for declassification of this document and the hundreds of thousands of other Saddam-produced documents, and we will also insist on periodic updates on discoveries in Iraq.
This is no small matter. It is not--as a few self-proclaimed experts have declared--a spat over ancient history. It involves life and death for American soldiers on the battlefield, and it involves the ability of the American people to evaluate the actions of their government, and thus to render an objective judgment. The people must have the whole picture, not just a shard of reality dished up by politicized intelligence officers.
Information is a potent weapon in the current war. Al Qaeda uses the Internet very effectively and uses the media as a terrorist tool. If the American public can be deceived by people who withhold basic information, we risk losing the war at home, even if we win it on the battlefield. The debate should focus on the basic question--what, exactly, we need to do to succeed both here and in Iraq. We are dismayed to have learned how many people in our own government are trying to distort that debate.
Mr. Hoekstra is the chairman of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence. Mr. Santorum is the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference Committee.
Copyright © 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Saddam's WMD
Why is out intelligence community holding back?
BY PETER HOEKSTRA AND RICK SANTORUM
Monday, June 26, 2006 12:01 a.m.
On Wednesday, at our request, the director of national intelligence declassified six "key points" from a National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) report on the recovery of chemical munitions in Iraq. The summary was only a small snapshot of the entire report, but even so, it brings new information to the American people. "Since 2003," the summary states, "Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent," which remains "hazardous and potentially lethal." So there are WMDs in Iraq, and they could kill Americans there or all over the world.
This latest information should not be new. It should have been brought to public attention by officials in the intelligence community. Instead, it had to be pried out of them. Mr. Santorum wrote to John DeFreitas, commanding general, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, on April 12, asking to see the report. He wrote, "I am informed that there may well be many more stores of WMDs throughout Iraq," and added, "the people of Pennsylvania and Members of Congress would benefit from reviewing this report." He asked that the "NGIC work with the appropriate entities" to declassify as much of the information as possible.
The senator received no response. On June 5, he wrote again, this time to John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, "concerning captured Iraqi documents, data, media and maps from the regime of Saddam Hussein." He mentioned his disappointment that many captured Iraqi documents had been classified, and that he still had received no response from Gen. DeFreitas. Some 10 days later, still with no response, he shared his dismay with one of us, Pete Hoekstra, chairman of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence, who on June 15 wrote to Mr. Negroponte, urging him to declassify the NGIC analytic piece. Mr. Hoekstra was also dismayed because he had not been informed through normal intelligence channels of the existence of this report.
To compound matters, during a call-in briefing with journalists held at noon on June 21, intelligence officials misleadingly said that "on June 19, we received a second request; this time asking that we, in short order--48 hours--declassify the key points, which are sort of the equivalent to key judgments from something like a National Intelligence Estimate, from the assessment." The fault was their own; we had been requesting this information for nine weeks and they had not acted.
On Thursday, Mr. Negroponte's office arranged a press briefing by unnamed intelligence officials to downplay the significance of the report, calling it "not new news" even as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was reiterating the obvious importance of the information: "What has been announced is accurate, that there have been hundreds of canisters or weapons of various types found that either currently have sarin in them or had sarin in them, and sarin is dangerous. And it's dangerous to our forces. . . . They are weapons of mass destruction. They are harmful to human beings. And they have been found. . . . And they are still being found and discovered."
In fact, the public knows relatively little about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Indeed, we do not even know what is known or unknown. Charles Duelfer, former head of the Iraq Survey Group, stated that the ISG had fully evaluated less than 0.25% of the more than 10,000 weapons caches known to exist throughout Iraq. It follows that the American people should be brought up to date frequently on our state of knowledge of this important matter. That is why we asked that the entire document be declassified, minus the exact sources, methods and locations. It is also, in part, why we have fought for the declassification of hundreds of thousands of Saddam-era documents.
The president is the ultimate classifier and declassifier of information, but the entire matter has now been so politicized that, in practice, he is often paralyzed. If he were to order the declassification of a document pointing to the existence of WMDs in Iraq, he would be instantly accused of "cherry picking" and "politicizing intelligence." He may therefore not be inclined to act.
In practice, then, the intelligence community decides what the American public and its elected officials can know and when they will learn it. Sometimes those decisions are made by top officials, while on other occasions they are made by unnamed bureaucrats with friends in the media. People who leak the existence of sensitive intelligence programs like the terrorist surveillance program or financial tracking programs to either damage the administration or help al Qaeda, or perhaps both, are using the release or withholding of documents to advance their political desires, even as they accuse others of manipulating intelligence.
We believe that the decisions of when and what Americans can know about issues of national security should not be made by unelected, unnamed and unaccountable people.
Some officials in the intelligence community withheld the document we requested on WMDs, and somebody is resisting our request to declassify the entire document while briefing journalists in a tendentious manner. We will continue to ask for declassification of this document and the hundreds of thousands of other Saddam-produced documents, and we will also insist on periodic updates on discoveries in Iraq.
This is no small matter. It is not--as a few self-proclaimed experts have declared--a spat over ancient history. It involves life and death for American soldiers on the battlefield, and it involves the ability of the American people to evaluate the actions of their government, and thus to render an objective judgment. The people must have the whole picture, not just a shard of reality dished up by politicized intelligence officers.
Information is a potent weapon in the current war. Al Qaeda uses the Internet very effectively and uses the media as a terrorist tool. If the American public can be deceived by people who withhold basic information, we risk losing the war at home, even if we win it on the battlefield. The debate should focus on the basic question--what, exactly, we need to do to succeed both here and in Iraq. We are dismayed to have learned how many people in our own government are trying to distort that debate.
Mr. Hoekstra is the chairman of the House Permanent Committee on Intelligence. Mr. Santorum is the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference Committee.
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Munitions Found in Iraq Renew Debate
By Walter Pincus
Do the 20-year-old Iraqi chemical munitions found by U.S. and coalition forces support the prewar contention that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and justify the invasion of Iraq?
To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle
By Walter Pincus
Do the 20-year-old Iraqi chemical munitions found by U.S. and coalition forces support the prewar contention that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and justify the invasion of Iraq?
To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...er=emailarticle
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