8 October 2003

Berkshire Eagle Online - Today's Editorials

The White House did not equivocate while making its case for war. President Bush asserted that Iraq had reconstituted a nuclear weapons program and could have a bomb within a year. The president claimed Iraq had 500 tons of chemical weapons, 25,000 liters of anthrax and 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin. Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed U.S. troops would discover four chemical munitions bunkers in Taji, a factory for making poisons and explosives in Khurmal and a center for testing biological and chemical weapons in Amiriyah. None of the above were found, and chief inspector David Kay's assertion that evidence was discovered of Saddam Hussein's 'intent' to develop such weapons is too feeble to take seriously.


The next time someone tells the prewar WMD claims are confirmed by the Kay report I will run through:


  • 500 tons of chemical weapons
  • 25,000 liters of anthrax and 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin
  • four chemical munitions bunkers in Taji
  • factory for making poisons and explosives in Khurmal
  • a center for testing biological and chemical weapons in Amiriyah
  • the massive terrorist facility in Iraqi Kurdistan


The last 4 are rather large items and (I would have thought) somewhat difficult to conceal. That is probably why the massive terrorist facility was exposed as a myth before the war even began. We are not told the size of the vial of mass destruction, but I suspect it does not hold 35 000 litres.

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