Rusted Sky

... that during the initial run into Iraq there were a number of reports of many drums of 'insecticide' in various ammo dumps, and then the topic just kind of disappeared.

And then, 'no WMDs were found'.

Well, here's an odd idea to toss out for discussion - what if the military DID find WMD stockpiles - yet kept it as tight a secret as the Manhattan project, despite the criticism and shit-storming and posturing of politicians who used the supposed absence of WMDs to trash Bush?

DefenseLINK News: Munitions Found in Iraq Meet WMD Criteria, Official Says

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2006 – The 500 munitions discovered throughout Iraq since 2003 and discussed in a National Ground Intelligence Center report meet the criteria of weapons of mass destruction, the center's commander said here today.

"These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes ... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction," Army Col. John Chu told the House Armed Services Committee.

Let's look at possible reasons why they'd keep such a thing a tight secret.

First and foremost, it's been established that Saddam had numerous weapons caches hidden around the country for use by 'freedom fighters' to resist the 'infidel occupier'. I'm going to make a wild-assed assumption here, but would the common knowledge that there were stockpiles of sarin and mustard shells (or drums of the stuff) have helped or hindered the operations in Iraq? Figure that anything put in the news is going to get back to the folks we DON'T want to see get their hands on this stuff. Can you imagine a car bomb attack on a mosque, but instead of explosives they used mustard gas? THAT would have been a terror weapon indeed.

Top News Article | Reuters.com | US forces have found some old Iraqi WMD, says general

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has found more Iraqi weapons in recent months, in addition to the 500 chemical munitions recently reported by the Pentagon, a top defense intelligence official said on Thursday.

Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, did not specify if the newly found weapons were also chemical munitions. But he said he expected more.

Second - let's look at things from a political standpoint. MUCH political hay has been made about NOT finding WMDs in Iraq. (Never mind that was only one item on a rather long laundry list.) You might ask why this wasn't brought out for the 2004 election - but consider what was still going on in Iraq at the time. Tell the insurgents that somewhere there were chemical shells hidden, and they'd be scrambling all over the place trying to come up with something more deadly - and it would have been Bush's fault for NOT keeping this a secret.

Document Details WMD Recovered In Iraq, Santorum Says -- 06/21/2006

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Mich.) announced Wednesday the discovery of more than 500 munitions or weapons of mass destruction, specifically "sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles," in Iraq.

Reading from unclassified portions of a document developed by the U.S. intelligence community, Santorum said, "Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist."

Third - even though the stuff's old, it's still deadly. it takes time to locate and dispose of that sort of stuff. Rocky Mountain Arsenal took almost ten years (if not more) to destroy stocks left over from WW2 and afterwards. And they had the added advantage of knowing where everything was, more or less.

A ten year old 155mm shell containing Sarin may not be 'safe' to fire out of a cannon, but it'd be useful in an urban IED situation.

BREITBART.COM - Hundreds of chemical weapons found in Iraq: US intelligence

US-led coalition forces in Iraq have found some 500 chemical weapons since the March 2003 invasion, Republican lawmakers said, citing an intelligence report.

"Since 2003, Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent," said an overview of the report unveiled by Senator Rick Santorum and Peter Hoekstra, head of the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives.

"Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf war chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf war chemical munitions are assessed to still exist," it says.

The lawmakers cited the report as validation of the US rationale for the war, and stressed the ongoing danger they pose.

"This is an incredibly -- in my mind -- significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false," Santorum said.

Finally - much has been made about the mention of WMDs as a rationale for the war. Despite the fact it was a side issue, a lot of folks have siezed on it as THE reason we went into Iraq. Not finding the WMDs (supposedly) has been used to de-legitimize the whole war effort by some. I think it wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that there's likely some potential Presidential candidates who would really like the "No WMD" arguement unchanged to bolster their efforts, and who would find the appearance of such things to be quite inconvenient. (And who will try to explain their existance away as being planted by that Master of Evil Rove.)

Or, they'll just ignore them completely, or find experts who say these aren't the WMDs we were looking for. Apparently they're too old to count. (Never mind that Saddam didn't disclose them, in violation of numerous requirements.) That seems to be the MSM way any more. A lot of folks have a lot invested in not finding them. And 10-20 year old sarin is still deadly.

J.