From: ReporterNotebook Sent: Tuesday, December 08, 2009 3:29 PM Subject: <Claim that Saddam Hussein could launch WMD within 45 minutes 'came from an Iraqi taxi driver'>
Dec. 8, 2009 Michael, My apologies for barging in with reminders of some almost forgotten happenings in our recent history, particularly at this time when our full national attention is focused on such important matters like the personal affairs of Tiger Woods. Here is a reminder of some of the claims made by some of our leaders from a government elected in an exercise of popular will that can only be described as a "miracle", by the greatest democracy of the greatest people known to history, in justifying the making of war against another country in a far away part of the world. ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---- CLAIM: "There can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more"Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets." --Colin Powell, 2/5/03 CLAIM: "[Saddam has] amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of biological weapons, including Anthrax, botulism, toxins and possibly smallpox. He's amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, Sarin and mustard gas." --Don Rumsfeld, 9/19/02 CLAIM: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." --Vice President Cheney, 8/26/02 CLAIM: "The Iraqi regime possesses biological and chemical weapons"And according to the British government, the Iraqi regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes." --President Bush, 9/26/02 CLAIM: "Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent." --President Bush, 1/28/03 CLAIM: "His regime has large, unaccounted- for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons -- including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas; anthrax, botulism, and possibly smallpox -- and he has an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons." --Don Rumsfeld, 1/20/03 ------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----- The source of the intelligence to advance such claims? It could be as plain and simple as an Iraqi taxi driver in the western desert of Iraq, overhearing a conversation by two passengers who are / were Iraqi military officers. This driver's statement, funnelled through another Iraqi "source" to British intelligence and eventually to the US intelligence (which costs a googooplex of dollars to maintain so it will ferret this kind of information to protect us from our enemies). All of our American officials above named, are well and enjoying their well-deserved and comfortable retirements or pursuits, unconcerned with such pedestrian matters as unemployment, health insurance, mortgages... Manuel Date: Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 9:30 AM Folks you can't make this stuff-up..!! ! "An Iraqi taxi driver was the source of the discredited claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, a Tory MP claimed today."http://www.guardian .co.uk/politics/ 2009/dec/ 08/45-minutes- wmd-taxi- driver ======= S1000+ ======= --- On Wed, 12/9/09, John Churchilly <[email protected]> wrote: -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World-thread" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/world-thread?hl=en.
