Iraq Arms Inspector Says Search Is a Tangle

[kskiska]

Iraq Arms Inspector Says Search Is a Tangle

WASHINGTON, March 30 — The new chief weapons inspector in Iraq told Congress on Tuesday that a lack of cooperation from ousted Iraqi officials was thwarting American efforts to untangle the many remaining mysteries surrounding Iraq's suspected illicit weapons program.

In the public version of testimony delivered behind closed doors to two Senate committees on Tuesday, the inspector, Charles A. Duelfer, acknowledged that American inspectors had still not found any evidence of an illicit arsenal. But he seemed less inclined than his predecessor, David Kay, to close the door on the possibility that such weapons might yet be found, saying that inspectors were continuing to pursue leads — "some quite intriguing and credible" — about concealed caches.

A top Democratic senator, Carl Levin of Michigan, later complained that the public version of Mr. Duelfer's testimony had omitted information contained in the classified version that would have raised further doubts about whether Iraq possessed illicit weapons at all.

Through a spokesman, Mr. Duelfer responded by saying that the two versions of his testimony "mirror each other, consistent with the protection of sources, methods and other classified intelligence information."

more…
http://nytimes.com/2004/03/31/politics/31WEAP.html

[Wickerman]

1. Yeah, Kay went in with enthusiasm, too

How did that end, Mr. Duelfer? Or, do you know something that he didn't- like where the Special Ops boys planted the stuff? :tinfoilhat:

[JaySherman]

2. Why does that sound disturbingly like...

"Oh we'll find them alright. As soon as we finish *cough* unloading them *cough*... Oops. Did I just say that?"

[pinto]

3. "many remaining mysteries"?, I'm tired of this game, as are the families

of those who have died in Iraq, I would suspect. The war in Iraq has no conclusion, as far as I can see, it's a serial B thriller. We're in, what?, Part 6: Many Remaining Mysteries!

gimme a break.

[Eye and Monkey]

4. Tangled? that reminiscent of any famous line?

Perhaps someone should remind this errand boy. What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.

[daleo]

5. He could do an episode of "Unexplained Mysteries"

"efforts to untangle the many remaining mysteries surrounding Iraq's suspected illicit weapons program"

- perhaps it has something to do with the Sphinx, which isn't so far away.
- maybe some ancient Babylonian curse.
- it could be that the weapons were abducted by aliens.
- or perhaps they were taken up in The Rapture, to be used by the forces of good in the battle of Armageddon.

So many possibilities, "some quite intriguing and credible".

[Eye and Monkey]

6. What the British military spelunkers were doing in Mexico:

Contacting the Subterranean Lizard People Cave-Dwellers. However, I believe that the Lizard People responded with a quote from Peter Tosh: "Rastaman don't work for no C-I-A."

[LibertyorDeath]

7. the Lizard People responded

the Lizard People responded with a quote from Peter Tosh: "Rastaman don't work for no C-I-A." LOL

[el_gato]

8. this may be the setup

I got this email the other day:


> TEHRAN (Tehran Times, Mehr News Agency)
> Over the past few days, in the wake of the bombings in
> Karbala and the ideological disputes that delayed the
> signing of Iraq's interim constitution,
> there have been reports that U.S. forces have unloaded
> a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range
> missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the
> southern ports of Iraq.
>
> A reliable source from the Iraqi Governing Council,
> speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mehr News
> Agency that U.S. forces, with the help of British
> forces stationed in southern Iraq, had made extensive
> efforts to conceal their actions.
>
> He added that the cargo was unloaded during the night
> as attention was still focused on the aftermath of the
> deadly bombings in Karbala and the signing of
> Iraq's interim constitution.
>
> The source said that in order to avoid suspicion,
> ordinary cargo ships were used to download the cargo,
> which consisted of weapons produced in the 1980s
> and1990 s.
>
> He mentioned the fact that the United States had
> facilitated Iraq WMD program during
> the1980 - 1988Iran-Iraq and said that some of the
> weapons being downloaded are similar to those weapons,
> although international inspectors had announced Saddam
> Hussein's Baath regime had destroyed all
> its WMD.
>
> The source went on to say that the rest of the weapons
> were probably transferred in vans to an unknown
> location somewhere in the vicinity of Basra overnight.
>
> Most of these weapons are of Eastern
> European origin and some parts are from the former
> Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. The U.S. obtained
> them through confiscations during sales of banned arms
> over the past two decades, he said.
>
> This action comes as certain U.S. and Western
> officials have been pointing out the fact that no
> weapons of mass destruction have been discovered in
> Iraq and the issue of Saddam's trial begins
> to take center stage.
>
> In addition, former chief UN weapons inspector Hans
> Blix has emphasized that the U.S. and British
> intelligence agencies issued false reports on Iraq
> leading to the U.S. attack.
>
> Meanwhile, the suspicious death of weapons inspector
> David Kelly is also an unresolved issue in Britain.
>
> ------Occupation Forces Official Claims to Have No
> Information About Transfer of WMD to Iraq -------
>
> A security official for the coalition forces in Iraq
> said that he has not received any information about
> the unloading of weapons of mass destruction in ports
> in southern Iraq.
>
> Shane Wolf told the Mehr News Agency that the
> occupation forces have received no reports on such
> events, but said he hoped that the coalition forces
> would find the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction one
> day.
>
> Coalition forces and inspectors have so far been
> unable to find any Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
> The U.S. invaded Iraq under the pretext that Iraq
> possessed a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction.
>
> Source: Tehran Times