Iraq Weapons Debate

Powell told the UN that Iraq possessed as many as 500 tons of chemical weapons, was actively producing more and had authorized its field commanders to use them. Kay reports that no such weapons have yet been found; that large-scale Iraqi production of chemical weapons ended in 1991; that the capacity to resume such production had been 'reduced if not entirely destroyed' by subsequent sanctions, inspections and hostile military action; and that his team had found no evidence 'to confirm prewar reporting that Iraqi military units were prepared to use' chemical weapons against U.S. forces.

Powell told the Security Council that Hussein possessed warheads containing biological weapons, was actively producing more and had constructed mobile laboratories to carry out production surreptitiously. Kay reports that no such weapons have been found, that his team has 'not yet been able to corroborate the existence' of a mobile production effort - and that two trailers found by U.S. forces and called bioweapon labs by some U.S. intelligence agencies are not well suited for that purpose or any other.

Powell portrayed Iraq's nuclear weapons development program as a full-scale effort that was ominously close to success, asserting that Hussein 'already possesses two of three key components' to achieve that goal. Kay reports that while Hussein had shown interest in restarting his nuclear weapons development program, no evidence has been found to show that Iraq had in fact done so, nor any indication Hussein took advantage of the absence of UN inspectors between 1998 and 2002 to 'actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material.'

Sadly Newsday does not mention the massive terrorist facility, also known as the poison factory, that not only was not a massive terrorist facility but lay in Iraqi Kurdistan outside Saddam's control and was run by Ansar al-Islam who were violently opposed to Saddam.

This stuff needs to be hammered again and again until the lies are exposed to the conventional wisdom.