15-04-2003 06:33									#1
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quote: KARBALA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. troops have found 11 mobile laboratories buried south of Baghdad that are capable of biological and chemical uses, a U.S. general said Monday. There were no chemical or biological weapons with the containerized labs, which measure 20 feet square. But soldiers recovered "about 1,000 pounds" of documents from inside the labs, and the United States will examine those papers further, said Brig. Gen. Benjamin Freakley of the Army's 101st Airborne Division. "Initial reports indicate that this is clearly a case of denial and deception on the part of the Iraqi government," Freakley told CNN's Ryan Chilcote. "These chemical labs are present, and now we just have to determine what in fact they were really being used for." ...continued...

Full article

Do you guys think this is another 'pesticide' incident, or is this the real deal?
And whatever happened to those 10 or so warheads i heard about awhile back, that they thought contained chemicals?
Any other news or info?

discuss...

	15-04-2003 06:42									#2
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Well, if these are mobile labs, it is obvious they weren't working on innocent projects like medication. Whether they were regular military research labs, or chemical ones makes little difference to me.

In my opinion, it is nearly obvious Saddam had always wanted WMDs, probably chemicals since they are cheaper and more discreet to develop than nukes. Most of his economic potential to develop these weapons have been destroyed by Gulf War 1 and the sanctions, yet the program continued, despite being extremely weakened.

IMO, there are a few WMDs and a few labs in Iraq. It's nothing like an international threat, but Rummy et al. will jump on any tidbit, and explain to the world how much they were right, how much MadmanSaddam could have destroyed the whole world with his wommdies.

The presence of military chemical labs alone don't justify the war for WMDs. Such a justification will come only if there is enough infrastructure to make it actually threatening.

	16-04-2003 02:00									#3
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Another one bites the dust...

quote: KARBALA, Iraq (CNN) -- The buried labs U.S. troops found last week were not the mobile chemical and biological weapons labs one U.S. Army general suspected, CNN's Ryan Chilcote reported Tuesday. The 11 cargo containers were filled with new laboratory equipment apparently intended to make conventional weapons, said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Monte Gonzalez, the head of an expert team brought in to examine them. "Based on what we've seen, the containers are full of millions of dollars worth of high-tech equipment," he said. "It possibly has a dual use. But it does not appear to be weapons of mass destruction."

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast...labs/index.html

How many false alarms does this make?

By the way, the initial "Secret chemical weapons lab found!" headline was in red and white at the top of the main page. This was buried deep in the site.

	16-04-2003 05:26									#4
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Man, another false alarm... That just looks bad on the US.

	16-04-2003 05:32									#5
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I'm awaiting the "true alarm" to ring, but I'm not in a hurry. I am 99.9% positive there will be wommdies disclosed to the public at some time.
No need to hype each time the false alarm rings.

	16-04-2003 05:36									#6
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It's not like they really tried to bury it (no pun intended). They interviewed the warrant officer on CNN, and aired it repeatedly.