Where have all the WMDs gone?

[InfiniteNature]

Gee I wonder where all the chemical weapons went that were supposed to be encountered, lots of biological weapons they said, Saddam will use weapons of mass destruction on his enemies, hmmmm gee I wonder where they are? Oh right the war wasn't really about weapons of mass destruction it was about regime change, errr world peace, errr saving lives, errr, what was the war about anyway?

http://www.msnbc.com/news/898229.asp?cp1=1

"Where have all the weapons gone, where have they gone. Many weapons they said they had, yes they did."

Sung to the tune of where have all the people gone, that tune just seemed to pop into my head when reading this article.

[Gruntboy]

I'll quote you when they find them.

[Nippy]

Or the simple fact that they have found chemicals that when combined produce those weapons, and are tracing the sources now.

[Aegis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Nippy Or the simple fact that they have found chemicals that when combined produce those weapons, and are tracing the sources now.

By that logic, every country has WMD's. Basic household products can be turned into something deadly.

On a similar note, where has the majority of Iraq's army gone to? Baghdad was reletivly quiet, compared to predictions.

[Nippy]

@ Aegis, yes, but not on a scale of city destruction.

As regards to the armed forces, resistance was quiet. I am unsettled by this...

[Aegis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Nippy @ Aegis, yes, but not on a scale of city destruction. As regards to the armed forces, resistance was quiet. I am unsettled by this...

Well, with the proper deployment tool

Well, I figure there are two possiblities. The remaining miltary (loyal to Saddam) are dressed as civilians. The other, is that they have occupied one of the northern cities.

[Chanak]

Quote:

Originally posted by Aegis Well, I figure there are two possiblities. The remaining miltary (loyal to Saddam) are dressed as civilians. The other, is that they have occupied one of the northern cities.

Very likely. Perhaps it is a combo of these two possibilities, with the addition of a third: perhaps some are hiding in subterranean facilites. The intense bombing sorties of the Persian Gulf War would logically have resulted in the construction of such hardened facilities in Baghdad following the war, in the anticipation of such a thing happeneing again.

[James Mason]

The question isn't if they will find weapons of mass destruction (which they undoubtably will), it's a question of when we find out that they were planted by the CIA.

[Nightmare]

Quote:

Originally posted by James Mason The question isn't if they will find weapons of mass destruction (which they undoubtably will), it's a question of when we find out that they were planted by the CIA.

Not necessarily. I think they will find some, simply for the fact that Saddam would've been stupid to get rid of all of them (since Bush was going to war, no matter what Saddam said).

[fable]

Quote:

Originally posted by Nightmare Not necessarily. I think they will find some, simply for the fact that Saddam would've been stupid to get rid of all of them (since Bush was going to war, no matter what Saddam said).

Even without the threat of Bush, there were plenty of regional problems that would have made any effort to divest Iraq completely of WMDs suicidal. There was Iran, Iraq's enemy in a brutal, devastating war which Hussein fought as America's proxy. The Kurds, in the northern third of Iraq, have been in armed semi-revolution for years (long before Hussein) against both Baghdad and Ankara, with several political parties representing everything from democracy to communism. Turkey, to the northwest, has repeatedly crossed the Turkish-Iraqi border in pursuit of members of the terrorist PKK Kurdish Liberation Front. Then, there's Israel, which destroyed an Iraqi nuclear installation it claimed was developing weapons-grade material, several years before Iraq ever invaded Kuwait and launched weapons at Israel.

With neighbors like these, Hussein needed weapons just to stay at par. It will be interesting to see how the Kurd, Shi'a, Turkish and Iranian wildcards play out, how that the US has started things moving.

[Mr Sleep]

Quote:

Originally posted by James Mason The question isn't if they will find weapons of mass destruction (which they undoubtably will), it's a question of when we find out that they were planted by the CIA.

Heh, what a cynical point of view. I like it!

Apparently they have found a mobile Chemical Weapons factory and some random troops apparently maybe found possibly some weapons of could be destruction, maybe.

[Mister Popo]

I believe they found troops moving to the birthplace of Sadam.
There's a huge palace there in a kind of Adlers-nest flashback where members of the Ba'at party would stay and have vacations and parties.

It's believed that there will be a last stand battle there as the Northern cities have fallen to the Kurds and Americans.
So there maybe a lot of weapons found there.
As to where why they haven't found any yet, well, a good defencive statement would be: "We bombed them in initial attacks." So let's wait till the UN has probed the atmosfere.

Also, I'm wondering what America will do with Ankara demands concerning the Kurds in Mosul and such northern oil cities.

In a way, didn't the Kurds help the Americans a lot more then the Turks did?
And why shouldn't they get those cities, they've lived there their whole lives, you can't ban an ethnic group from a city, or can you?

[Gruntboy]

Quote:

Originally posted by James Mason The question isn't if they will find weapons of mass destruction (which they undoubtably will), it's a question of when we find out that they were planted by the CIA.

*Sigh*.

I bet you thought you were really clever bringing that up? Expecting a gasp! shock! Horror! reaction?

[C Elegans]

@Grunt: No need to be sarcastic even if you don't agree with James Mason's view.

So far, no WMD:s have been found. Inital reports of findings have turned out to be insect repellants and other stuff. We will have to wait and see if any confirmed findings show up later.

Regarding what happened to Saddam and the Republican Guard, there are already speculations around. The American analysis service company Stratfor claim that many sources of information converge at the hypothesis that Saddam fled to Russia. The CIA, Russia and Saddam is supposed to have made a deal with the content that Saddam fled to Russia and withdraw the military resistance. Sources in Jordan's goverment support this claim. Washinton post's presented CIA analysists claims that the order to cease all resistance in Bagdad came from Saddam himself.

Personally, I have no opionion at all regarding these speculations, since I cannot assess the validity of the sources and the claims.

However, what is more important now is the rebuildning of Iraq and the urgent matter of stopping the violence, plundering and chaos going on right now in Iraqi cities, and to ensure that the population has access to health care and clean water, which is the most urgent problem currently according to the aid organisations Red Cross and Doctor's without borders.

[fable]

@Grunt, your last comment was way out of line. There are many ways to make your point well. That wasn't one of 'em.