http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/breaking_1.html
UN inspectors: Saddam shipped out WMD before war and after.
To europe ? Seem inflamatory and I haven't found news about it elsewhere.We had another thread about thisa day or two ago. Essentially the headline misstates the case. Some materials which theoretically could have been suitable for manufacturing WMDs (or for any number other things) were looted from Iraq and sold as scrap metal in Europe. Some missile components were also found in Jordan. the components were from a banned ballistic missile but a missile per se is not a WMD unless it’s armed with bio/chemical or nuclear warheads.
There’s no there there. The UN did not say that any WMDs had been shipped out of Iraq or that there were any programs to build them.
Over in the pit:
WMD shipped out of Iraq before and during the WAR!!!
The missile parts being sold as scrap are from the very same al Samoud 2’s that Saddam was prevented from destroying by Bush’s invasion. They weren’t WMD’s, but they may have had a range in excess of that permitted by the UN. Saddam said that they’d only go too far if they were fired without their guidance system. Bush, Blair et. al. told us they could be used to nuke London or Tel Aviv in “30 minutes or less.”
The one thing I WILL rely on the Bush Admin for is coming forward and informing me if they find real evidence of WMD. There damn well wouldn’t be a coverup involved with THAT. Until then, I disregard all “proof” as partisan desperation.
Now, let’s not talk crazy here – if the Administration thought they could get away with it, they’d present a box of metal screws found in a dusty Iraq bunker as proof of “WMD components” in a “weapons program” in a heartbeat. 
Oh, I never said I would ACCEPT it, but if they THOUGHT they had something resembling evidence, Colin Powell himself will be dragging Dan Rather out of his bed while Cheney is combing Bush’s hair for the interview with cameras rolling. Condi Rice will be in charge of letting out the parade and putting up the “WMDs Found” banner on the White House.
Don’t they still have their “Mission Accomplished” banner? It’d serve the purpose well enough, plus it’d save us taxpayers a bit of cash. A little nod to the fiscal conservatives like that might be all it takes to push Bush over the top come November.
I’m kinda hoping that banner ends up in the Smithsonian in a hundred years, so people can look back at it and laugh their asses off.
I’m starting early. I can’t wait that long. 
Y’know… I posted a link to one of the UNMOVIC source documents in that pit thread, and it was totally ignored. Let’s try again:
Here are the highlights:
[ul]
[li]There was new testimony regarding unmanned aerial vehicles and long-range missile development. The specifics of the testimony are not in the report.[/li][li]A scrapyard in the Netherlands was inspected after routine monitoring showed enhanced radiation levels. SA-2 missile engines were discovered in the scrap yard. The Sa-2 engines were proscribed.[/li][li]“In addition, a number of items and equipment that may also be relevant to the UNMOVIC mandate were seen among the scrap.”[/li][li]“Company staff confirmed that other items made of stainless steel and other corrosion-resistant metal alloys bearing the inscription “Iraq” or “Baghdad” had been observed in shipments delivered from the Middle East since November 2003. A number of items were examined and sampled on-site by UNMOVIC experts with a portable metal analyser and were determined to be composed of inconel and titanium — both dual-use materials subject to monitoring.”[/li][li]Items and equipment made of dual-use materials subject to the provisions of the monitoring plan may also be coming out of Iraq to other destinations.[/li][li]In addition, the Commission is aware from comparative analysis of recent satellite imagery that a number of sites previously known to have contained equipment and materials subject to monitoring have been either cleaned out or destroyed.[/li][li]While sites in Iraq were being monitored for updates through satellite imagery, it was detected that some sites subject to monitoring by UNMOVIC had been cleaned up and equipment and material had been removed from the sites (see figures A.4 and A.5 below). In other areas, whole buildings that had previously contained equipment and materials subject to monitoring had been completely dismantled. [/li][/ul]
The information in here so far could be consistent with post-war looting, OR dismantling of WMD facilities by the regime. In particular, that last point is interesting because a suspected WMD storage site was completely dismantled, buildings and all. In looking at the photos in the link, they look like large buildings, too. I can see looters clearing out a warehouse of high-quality aluminum, but it seems somewhat less likely that they would knock down the buildings themselves and cart them off. That requires heavy equipment and a lot of time. But I suppose it’s possible.
The key takeaway from this is that there is no smoking gun here, but that the question of Iraqi WMD is still not closed. There is still new evidence coming out, new discoveries being made, and an awful lot of questions that haven’t been answered satisfactorily.
Sam pretty much nailed it. The headline given by the World Tribune is ‘misleading’ at best.
Sam did miss a couple of ‘key takeaways’ though.
The security avaliable for these ‘suspected WMD storage sites’ was so inadequate that sometime between May 03 and Feb 04 someone was able to thoroughly remove a site. As Sam pointed out, it wasn’t a sneaky, under-cover-of-darkness kind of deal.
Because of this lack of adequate security the invasion of Iraq has failed to prevent the proliferation of “weapons of mass destruction components” from Iraq. Perhaps, it has even accelerated the proliferation to terrorist groups.
A war ostensibly to prevent the proliferation of WMDs was waged without the capacity to secure the “weapons of mass destruction components” in Iraq.
Was this failure in planning the result of mendacity or incompetence?
A Missed Highlight:
•In general, from 1999 to 2002 Iraq procured a variety of dual-use biological
and chemical items and materials, including chemicals, equipment and spare parts.
To date, UNMOVIC has found no evidence that these were used for proscribed
chemical or biological weapon purposes. Although some of the goods may have been acquired by Iraq outside the framework of mechanisms established under Security Council resolutions, most of them were later declared by Iraq to
UNMOVIC in its semi-annual monitoring declarations.
This testimony from the administration’s chief WMD finder sounds pretty scary:
Too bad all he’s got to talk about is the agriculturally important Bacillus thuringiensis, rather than the more sinister Bacillus anthracis.
With regard to the disappearance of “whole buildings that had previously contained equipment and materials”, a quick look at the satellite photos (A4 and A5) reveals structures that look more like pole barns than the brick and mortar edifices some have implied them to be. Pole barns are easy to set up and dismantle, and Operation Shock and Awe resulted in a severe building and material shortage in Iraq. I’ll bet some enterprising young entrepreneur carted them off, and sold them to the highest bidder. It’s not as if there were any cops to stop that sort of thing.
Looks like you are shifting your base from “Bush lied about Saddam’s WMD” to “Bush failed to secure Saddam’s WMD”. When are you going to make an official announcement?
Nope, no *Weapons of Mass Destruction * anywhere in that list. Not even plausibly Weapons of Mass Destruction Program-Related Activities. Some scrap metal that “could have been used” for dual purposes does not cut it, as **Sam ** has been pointedly told in the current Pit thread.
The indifference to security that the US forces showed at these sites most plausibly demonstrates that even they didn’t believe the shit was both dangerous and there.
“Misleading” doesn’t cover the situation. “Lying” does.
That isn’t what he said. Read it again. Pay special attention to the use of quotation marks as these may have facetious connotations. Also note the word “components,” which indicates a not insignificant distinction from WMD.
I see now. Apparently, Bush still lied about WMD. But having lied once, he must have preserved the appearances and commit US troops to guard some objects in the desert that couldn’t possibly be called WMD in any way at all, so that SimonX could continue bitching about how Bush lied about WMD. It’s all coming into focus now, thank you so much.
I haven’t seen the thread yet, but I’m not sure what the purpose would be of ‘pointedly’ telling me something that I already know. I never claimed there was a smoking gun here. In fact, if you were paying attention you’d notice that I specifically said it WASN’T a smoking gun, but merely an indication that facts were still being uncovered. You need to stop jerking your knee so hard. You’re going to tear a ligament.
Can I get a citation for this Bush lied about WMD thing I’m supposed to’ve said?
IIRC, I’ve only said that the danger presented by Hussein’s WMDs was misrepresented. I’ve no memory of making the case that Bush invented Hussein’s WMDs. More than once I’ve posted that I expected Iraqi WMDs to be found. I’m as surprised as most everyone that they haven’t been discovered yet.
So, you can see why it’d be a surprise to me that I had some sort of a ‘base’ that involved something like “Bush lied about Saddam’s WMD.”
If I didn’t say this thing you’re implying that I’ve said, where did you get the notion that I did say these things?
I know that I hear Beck, Boortz, Hannity and Limbaugh repeatedly make cases rebutting the idea that Hussein’s WMDs are just an invention of the GWB Admin. Yet, off the top of my head, I can’t recall having heard any serious commentator make the case that they rebutt. I think that in the case of everyone of them but Rush, their rebuttals are strawmen.
If you have a moment could you please be bothered to explain how you arrived at your conclusion here?
It appears entirely non sequitur. But, I’m sure it’s not. I’ve just not the mental agility of late to keep up like I should. What with me being so busy and short on my brain medicine and such.
Thanks for the link, Sam. I had searched the UN site and found nothing.
In evaluating the importance of the report, I think we should keep in mind that the report does say that most of the items found were previously declared by Iraq. Nothing new there except their location.