Filed under: Foreign Policy, Iraq, Islam, Middle East, National Security, Terrorism, The United States | Tags: Fanatics in Action, ISIS Advances in Iraq, Obama Dithers
I just explained about the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) found in Iraq during the Iraq War. Douglas Hanson explained that the Iraqi Survey Group (ISG) did only a cursory search, neglected information directly under their noses and gave a phony report. The Media chose to emphasize that no WMD were found. Where did you think Assad got the chemical weapons he used on the people of Syria?
Today we have the news that “Iraq Crisis: ISIS jihadists have Seized Saddam Hussein’s Chemical Weapons Stockpile,”reported by the Telegraph in Britain and by the Wall Street Journal (paywall). In their advance to encircle Baghdad, ISIS has been stripping the banks in the cities they have taken. Estimates of how much cash they have captured range up to a billion, but it seems to be a lot. Officials don’t believe that the ‘militants’ will be able to create a functional weapon from the material. I imagine you can buy quite a few scientists and engineers with their new-found wealth.
U.S. officials don’t believe the Sunni militants will be able to create a functional chemical weapon from the material. The weapons stockpiled at the Al Muthanna complex are old, contaminated and hard to move, officials said.
Nonetheless, the capture of the chemical-weapon stockpile by the forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, known as ISIS or ISIL, the militant group that is seizing territory in the country, has grabbed the attention of the U.S.
Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman who has a graduate degree in empty speech, said “We remain concerned about the seizure of any military site by the ISIL. We do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely move the materials.” John Kerry is “concerned,” Hillary is “concerned.” I’d even bet that Obama is “concerned.”
The Muthanna complex is near Lake Tharthar, roughly 45 miles northwest of Baghdad, an area now firmly in control of the Sunni rebels. ISIS has taken control of most of Anbar province as well as Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city.
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American Elephants 
Reblogged this on Head Noises and commented:
In case anybody missed the last several “Yes, they found WMDs. No, ‘WMD’ is not a synonym for nuke, although nukes are WMDs” posts I did. I think it’s been a few years.
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Comment by Foxfier June 20, 2014 @ 6:14 pmThanks. See VOX where some lefty ignoramus attempts to prove Dick Cheney wrong because he says Saddam had WMD.
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Comment by The Elephant's Child June 20, 2014 @ 11:40 pmChemical weapons? We have them, sadly. Many other countries have them. The US exposed our own soldiers to nuclear contamination in the test run of the A Bomb in New Mexico. And, with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scientists were employed to determine the effects on the victims. England did the same:
“De-classified documents of the National Archives revealed that during the 1930s and 1940s, the British Army used hundreds of Irish and native British Indian Army soldiers as “guinea pigs” in their experiments to determine if mustard gas inflicted greater damage on Indian skin compared to British skin. It is unclear whether the trial subjects, some of whom were hospitalised by their injuries, were all volunteers. ( “Report: Britain Tested Chemical Weapons on Indian Colonial Troops”. Voice of America. 2007-09-02. Retrieved 2011-06-02.)
We used napalm in WWII and extensively in Vietnam: “[It] was used primarily as an anti-personnel weapon that sticks to skin and causes severe burns when on fire. Napalm was developed in 1942, in a secret laboratory at Harvard University in Massachusetts, by a team led by chemist Louis Fieser.[1] Its first recorded use was in the European theatre of war during World War II; it was used extensively in incendiary attacks on Japanese cities in the Pacific War.” (Wikipedia, Napalm).
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Comment by Kelso June 23, 2014 @ 8:07 amThe Germans used chemical weapons extensively in World War I. Once such a weapon is used, unfortunately other nations have to develop them in self protection, and to learn how to treat the victims. There was no serious exposure to nuclear contamination in New Mexico. If you do not understand the nuclear weapons used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, you do not understand World War II nor total war. The Japanese had no intention of surrendering under any circumstances and intended to fight to the last man. That was true after Hiroshima. Japanese cities were fire-bombed, and flame throwers were used as a last resort to get Japanese gunners in caves in the Pacific islands. I don’t believe it was ever used in the European theater. Don’t use Wikipedia as a source for anything serious. It is not reliable.
And this has what to do with my post? Democrats and the media used the claim that there were no WMD in Iraq as a political weapon against the Bush administration. They lied. They approved going in to Iraq when they were scared about terrorism from al Qaeda.When they got over that, they lied to win the next election. War is hell. Hardly my original statement. You do anything you can to avoid it, which means being so strong that no one wants to take you on. That’s how you have peace. There is no other way.
So wh
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Comment by The Elephant's Child June 23, 2014 @ 2:15 pm[…] or their remnants were stored along with other chemical warfare agents.” (What? I thought there were no WMD in Iraq?) “Terrorist groups entered the Muthanna site June 11 ans seized weapons and […]
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Pingback by You Should Probably Worry, Or At Least Pay Attention! | American Elephants July 8, 2014 @ 6:51 pmOf course we’ve found wmd,, we found them in 06 as well. Duelfer did a cursory search. we also know to where, by whom,, and how the rest were removed (see: general sada’s book, “Saddam’s Secrets”),, as also know that al qaeda and iraqi intel were working together,, providing a fussilage and training facility for the 9/11 hijackers. (“The Connection” by Stephen F. Hayes),, additionally, we hauled out (and gave to canada, oddly) 220 tons of “yellowcake” semi-processed uranium. (Amb. Joe Wilson, go f’ck yourself,, lying azzhole).
It’s no surprise they’ve found another 1500 sarin/mustard gas shells, full of nasty.
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Comment by Harry October 15, 2014 @ 3:57 pm