Pondering "hard ball" US/UK governments as Iraq whistleblowers are sent to jail and media ignores

[papau]

Two days ago the David Keogh & Leo O'Connor secret trial for leaking the memo proving George Bush had ordered the killing of the Al Jazeera Journalists in Doho, Qatar ended with their getting sent to prison for 3 and 6 months respectively (http://www.blairwatch.co.uk/node/1768 according to Tariq Ali and Davide Simonetti on Democracy Now). When Eric Alterman noted the trial http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/search/al+jazeera/SIG=12mqi8htt/*http%3A//www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-alterman/did-bush-try-to-order-the_b_48174.html I was amazed that truth tellers could be tried for a crime of telling the truth - now I am just feeling sad. The court tried to save the reputations of George Bush and Tony Blair via a gag order on not only the "secret in camera" parts of the trial, but also on what was said in open court.

Iraq whistle blowers have not fared well in the Bush/Blair era - with David Kelly's very public death that many think an assassination by the UK government, and now these folks going to jail, and with the US attempts by the GOP to weaken whistle blower protections in the US and to stop via court orders "lack of 911 preparedness stories" from reaching the media. All of this led me down memory lane to 2004 and the attempted planting of WMD that was reported by the Mehr news folks. with our governments as always playing hard ball in behalf of the rich and corporate that control them - masking it in patriotism so that otherwise good folks at the CIA will carry out the assigned task - and in this case telling everyone Mehr News was lying.

The attempted planting of WMD indeed never made it into US mainstream media, but was/is discussed on what remains uncensored on the internet (http://forums-new.deanforamerica.com/index.php?s=aa293b03a2672d31a4df8924029440cb&showtopic=14124&st=0&#entry114254) and
(http://www.afrikan.net/dread.times/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=896) and of course all over the EU and Mid-East. Here in the US, Mehr News was put down because they at the time were reporting US soldiers were abusing/raping prisoners - and that was obviously a lie. :-( But our ally Kuwait currently keeps the story in the Kuwait Times archive (go to the Sunday archives of http://www.kuwaittimes.net/ and DL Page-1) and it can be found at the UAE-based daily Al-Khaleej.

The contract truckers that were upset, and the Kuwait tariff officials that stopped the trucks kept their name out of the news (for protection from our CIA?). At the same point in time an Iraqi official was trying to plant a story that Saddam had had such material shipped to him in the 90's. So I sit here and wonder about the fate of the truckers that disclosed their real cargo - many truckers have been killed since 2004, and the whistle blowers deaths would not be noticed, if one was to think in such a conspiratorial manner. But leaving conspiracy theories aside, one wonders why US media never checked with the officials from the Kuwait Health Ministry who discovered that one of the trucks headed to Iraq belonging to the U.S.-led coalition forces was carrying heavy radioactive materials that were shielded to prevent harm to the truckers.

Stories like the attempted planting of WMD are not easily checked - the CIA only allowing reporters to find out the ships departure date and the unload date and nothing else - indeed it is the lack of information that identifies the shipping as being by the CIA. But it was curious that our friends at Halliburton had a new partner -Altanmia Marketing of Kuwait - representative agents for companies trading in military and nuclear, biological and chemical equipment - folks that traffic in the essential elements of WMD - the very stuff whose spread and sale the United States is ostensibly dedicated to stopping around the world, at the time. Very curious.

Indeed I sometimes wonder why does our media not check any of the Iraq whistle blowers' stories and report back to us, but then I remember that the video report from Baghdad of the actual horrible conditions that was not aired until much later when it was "safe" to air, and even my short term memory recalls that this week CBS fired General Batiste for the crime of not having a pro-Bush/pro-Iraq war continuing with surge point of view. And we know the media is going to trash Hillary and Obama and any other Dem still standing a year from now as they prepare us for the election.

Makes one wonder about laws to end media concentration and restore the FCC's old "fairness doctrine", doesn't it.

[Peace Patriot]

1. I remember the Tehran news story (I guess it was Mehr News) about WMDs

in boxes with false Red Cross markings, at the Basra port. Some local Iraqi Governing Council official reported it (God knows what's become of him). And there was another report of a Pentagon de-briefer who had heard tales of a botched WMD movement (location unspecified). I have little doubt that the Bush Junta was trying to plant the WMDs in Iraq. The wonder is, how were they foiled? And I tend to believe that that's what got David Kelly killed (he knew about it, and was already a whistleblower--and so was a threat; or he was a middle man on info to foil it; or an active participant). The coincidence of dates with Plamegate is very suspicious. July 7, 2003: Kelly interrogation report goes to Blair; July 14, 2003: Plame outed. July 18, 2003: Kelly found dead, under highly suspicious circumstances, his office and computers are searched; July 22, 2003: Brewster-Jennings (Plame's entire counterproliferation network) additionally outed. This could all just have been suppression of OPINION (Kelly to the BBC, Wilson's op-ed in the NYT), but I tend to think there is more to it. And Kelly's death adds to that suspicion. If he was killed (and I'm fairly certain that he was), then I doubt that such an action would have been ordered on the basis of what he had thus far revealed to the BBC--something just about everybody knew, that the prewar intel had been "sexed up." So, what ELSE could he have known? A scheme to PLANT the weapons fits the bill--both as to his professional/personal profile, his expertise, what he was involved in, who he might have had contacts with, and what he would object to, and as to the sort of thing that would need a coverup "with extreme prejudice," as the spymaster saying goes. It also fits with the Bushites' panicky behavior about Plame (there were many other ways they could have punished Wilson--including simply ignoring him--without putting so many top Bushites at risk of treason charges; their actions suggest that much more was at stake than mere opinion/dissent).

But all this doesn't make me wonder so much about "media concentration" and the "fairness doctrine," as it does about Diebold/ES&S and the electronic voting coup (2002-2004: rightwing Bushite corporations "counting" all our votes with voting machines and central tabulators run on "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code and virtually no audit/recount controls). Voting is virtually our only real power as citizens. We can yell and scream all we want, but the vote is what transfers power from one person or party to another. Actual power. Real power. If we want the "fairness doctrine" back--and a bustup of these war profiteering corporate news monopolies (something Howard Dean advocated a week before they did in his presidential campaign with the "scream" tape)--or any other reform, we MUST have transparent vote counting. All reform depends on it. It is the fundamental condition of democracy. We can outvote the machines, in some cases--as we did in '06--but, with a guestimated 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites, warmongers and corporatists--EASILY accomplishable with "trade secret" vote counting--all we can do is tread water. We can get a not-so-bad Congress, but not a truly representative one. And we CANNOT elect a reformist president. We cannot even get one nominated (since Diebold/ES&S control vote counting in the primaries as well as the general elections.**)

--------

**Hey, I just had a brilliant idea! What if we start a movement within the Democratic Party to have OUR primaries on real handcounted ballots? Let the Republican Party go down in fascist flames, if they want to continue letting their votes be counted invisibly. But why should we put up with that in OUR OWN primaries? The top party leaders want it, of course. They are as corrupt as Bushites on this matter. But the rest of us? We have more potential democracy in our party ranks than the Pukes do. What an interesting idea! Don't let Puke corporations count Democratic Party primary votes!)

[papau]

2. use of local voting equipement is indeed not required - paper primaries is an excellent option n/t

n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Have you a working link to the story?

The deanforamerica and afrikan links aren't working, and I don't understand the instruction "go to the Sunday Archives and DL page-1".

I remember this story: Kuwait refuses to let a radioactive truck go from Iraq to Kuwait, but that's going in the wrong direction.

[papau]

4. Interesting - this am they were working links -in any case a Red China source says were leaving Iraq

at http://news3.xinhuanet.com/english//13/content_.htm, while the Mehr source says they were entering Iraq, and of the 40 or so links on this story that I had - all based on the Mehr news story (Mehr News Agency is a news outlet based in Tehran, Iran) - only a few are still working. The UAE link is now not working, nor is the Tehran times one - at least not from the United States. I never did have an Al-Jazeera link and I do not know for certain that they ever reported it.

But the left side of the internet has many sources that all point to Mehr (the original link is now not working http://www.mehrnews.com/wfNewsDetails_en.aspx?NewsID=87006&t=Political), while the right wing side of the internet on occasion cites Red China's reporting (now that must hurt at least a little bit over at Free Republic).

The original Mehr story is below:

U.S. Trucks Carrying Radioactive Materials Intercepted In Iraq-Kuwait Border

TEHRAN (MNA) - The UAE-based daily Al-Khaleej reported on Monday that Kuwaiti tariff officials have intercepted a truck loaded with radioactive materials in the Iraq-Kuwait border.

The daily quoted informed sources as saying that the radioactive control team from Kuwait's Health Ministry discovered that one of the trucks belonging to the U.S. led coalition forces was carrying heavy radioactive materials trucks. The trucks were headed for Iraq.

The daily said that such materials could only enter a country when there is permission from related bodies while the materials were secretly being carried to Iraq.

Security forces stressed that no contamination had been caused by the material.

The MNA reported for the first time the coalition forces' suspicious transfer of WMD parts from Kuwait to Southern Iraq by trucks.

The possible presence of WMD in Iraq and its likely nuclear programs were the main U.S. pretext for attacking the country.

However, their failure to find weapons of mass destruction in the country and the continuing turmoil in Iraq questioned the legitimacy of the U.S. war against Iraq and their presence in the country.

American links to the above include http://marc.perkel.com/archives/.html
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Of interest also is another Mehr Report dated 13th March 2004:

http://www.tehrantimes.com/archives/Description.asp?Da=3/13/2004&Cat=4&Num=011 (a link that is also not working now)

But it is referenced in a spanish language article (who said the CIA could scrub the net completely?)- http://www.mundoarabe.org/iraq_y_usa.htm - please excuse the machine translation to English:

IRAQ AND THE UNITED STATES:
Of how the arms of massive destruction were seeded

Fernando Montiel

In March Tehran Times denounced that in agreement with information of a member of the Council of Iranian Government, in the last weeks of February and the first days of March the United States unloaded of regular ships parts of long-range missiles in the ports of the south of Iraq. In agreement with this source, the unloading was made at night with attendance of stationed British troops in the zone and while the attention was centered in the result of the bombings of Kerbala and the company/signature of the new Iranian “temporary” constitution. Some of these arms - produced between 1980 and 1990 and seemed to which it had the government of Saddam Hussein- they would have been acquired in countries of Eastern Europe and the Ex- Union Soviet and transported by sea in its last section to the Iranian coasts for, later, being placed by earth in secret leases near Basora.
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Interesting that a bit later those rotted out buried treasures from the 80's were discovered.

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The fact that China reported a similar June 14, 2004 Radioactive Materials Intercepted In Iraq-Kuwait Border event would imply that there was indeed an event - it was not made up. But is it an error as to the direction of the trucks or an on purpose dis-info planted by the CIA - or is it real solid reporting by China?

http://news3.xinhuanet.com/english//13/content_.htm

KUWAIT CITY, June 13 (Xinhuanet - RED CHINA) -- Kuwait refused to allow a radioactive material-bound truck to enter the country as demanded by the US army, Kuwait Times reported Sunday.

Kuwaiti customs department on Thursday impounded four trucks coming from Iraq for suspicion that they were loaded with radioactive material.

After checkup, three of them were found not containing any radioactive material, while the fourth was found to be carrying a container of highly radioactive substance.

Customs officials refused to open the truck, and insisted that it should not move before American military personnel and Kuwaiti security officers arrive at the scene.

The officials said the American army warned against opening the container and asked that it be allowed proceed, but they refused.

Three of the four trucks were then released and the fourth one was sent out of Kuwait to where it came despite the US army's objections.
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I do note that discussions on left wing sites of the Mehr article that had posts with additional links have also been scrubbed - but only the posted responses with links were scrubbed - perhaps by the owners of those left wing sites - and many of those sites on the left are still up with web pages simply citing the Mehr article.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. So if this is the same event, the Kuwait Times seems to be the original source

(which would make sense, being the newspaper in the country concerned). The DU coverage at the time pointed to the Kuwait Times story (luckily in English):

Truck carrying radioactive material sent back

KUWAIT: Informed sources said the customs department released three out of four trucks it had impounded since Thursday after suspicion they were carrying radioactive material from Iraq to Kuwait for the US Army. The trucks were driven by four Indians. Sources said it was found that three trucks did not contain any radioactive matter, while the fourth was found to be carrying a container of highly radioactive substance. Customs officials refused to open the truck, and insisted that it not move before American military personnel and Kuwaiti security officers arrive at the scene. Sources said the American Army warned against opening the container and asked that it be allowed proceed, but the officers refused. The sources said that is was then agreed to send the truck out of Kuwait to where it came from despite the US army's objections.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=1806574&mesg_id=1810885

(and my comment there also helps explain the instructions for getting the Kuwait Times archive - but it would only work for a week).

A blogger noticed the difference between the Chinese and aljazeera.com/Tehran Times versions at the time - and the saved the pdf of the Kuwait Times front page: http://www.mcmillan.cx/KT_radioactive_material.pdf

[papau]

6. As Peggy Noonan said "It is irresponsible not to speculate."-Kuwait Times quotes Mehr-story changed

Which may have something to do with our "close" relationship with Kuwait. There may be another reason, other than close US relationship, why Kuwait changed the Mehr report, or why China went with the changed story about presumed looted material being shipped into Kuwait - indeed it may be closer to the truth - but I doubt it.

As DU's Minstrel Boy noted on Jun-14-04, "The story was first reported by the UAE's Al-Khaleej", and as DU's MasonJar noted that same day "Several soldiers have written home that they have taken stuff off ships that is suspicious and carried it inland."

As Reported by the Guardian (note the only very limited use of Nelda Rogers who appears to exaggerate things a bit in her reports):
http://www.cpa.org.au/garchve04/1176wmd.html
The Guardian March 24, 2004

One year on, still no weapons of mass destruction
Is the US now shipping them in?

A year ago the US, Britain and Australia invaded Iraq. The
pretext for the illegal invasion was their insistence that Iraq
had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and was ready to use them
against the West.

Despite numerous and thorough weapons inspections both before and
after the war, nothing has been found.

Hans Blix, former chief UN weapons inspector has emphasized that
the US and British intelligence agencies issued false reports on
Iraq leading to the attack.

The Bush administration continues to defend its decision to go to
war against Iraq despite the demand from David Kay, the man who
led the CIA's effort to find WMD, that the Bush administration
should "come clean with the American people" and admit that it
was wrong about the existence of the WMD in Iraq

Now come reports that the US has shipped in weapons of mass
destruction, no doubt ready to be "found" by "inspectors".

The Tehran Times reported on March 13 that US forces had
unloaded a large cargo of parts for construction of long-range
missiles and weapons of mass destruction in the southern ports of
Iraq.

The information is said to come from a "reliable source" in the
Iraqi Governing Council who was speaking on condition of
anonymity. He said that US forces, with the help of British
forces stationed in southern Iraq, had made extensive efforts to
conceal their actions.

Unloaded at night

Cargo was unloaded during the night while the attention of the
media was concentrated on the signing of the Iraqi Provisional
Constitution.

The source said that in order to avoid suspicion, ordinary cargo
ships were used to transport the cargo which consisted of weapons
produced in the 1980s and 1990s.

He pointed out that the US facilitated Iraq's WMD program during
the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq conflict.

The source claimed that the weapons were "probably" transferred
to locations somewhere in the vicinity of Basra.

The Tehran Times reports the source as saying: "Most of
these weapons are reportedly of Eastern European origin and some
parts are from the former Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc. The
US obtained them through confiscations during sales of banned
arms over the past two decades".

An official of the US forces in Iraq said he had not received any
information about the unloading of weapons of mass destruction in
southern Iraqi ports.

Another article in the Daily Times Monitor published in
Pakistan reports retired US Navy Lt Commander Nelda Rogers, who
is a veteran of the defense Department, as saying that the CIA
planned to "plant" WMDs inside Iraq but that the plan was blown.

CIA bungle

Ms Rogers revealed that there was a covert military operation
that took place both preceding and during hostilities in Iraq.
She said that "it was really the CIA that bungled it".

What are the chances of these weapons being "found" just before
the US elections?
(NOTE - I changed spellings to "American" spellings in reproducing the above)
======================================

Now Nelda Rogers has been put down by many (she destroyed much of her credibility by being quoted on Al Martin Raw.com) but I have yet to see her info "totally" disproved, and as she wrote in the Pakistan Daily Times 12-8-2003, pg 1, "According to a stunning report posted by a retired Navy Lt Commander and 28-year veteran of the Defense Department (DoD), the Bush administration’s assurance about finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was based on a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) plan to “plant” WMDs inside the country. Nelda Rogers, the Pentagon whistleblower, claims the plan failed when the secret mission was mistakenly taken out by “friendly fire.”

The site http://www.propagandamatrix.com - again quoting Mehr - perhaps Iran makes them lie a lot - in April 2004 reported: Over the past few days, in the wake of the bombings in Karbala and the ideological disputes that delayed the signing of Iraq's interim constitution, there have been reports that U.S. forces have unloaded a large cargo of parts for constructing long-range missiles and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the southern ports of Iraq. A reliable source from the Iraqi Governing Council, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Mehr News Agency that U.S. forces, with the help of British forces stationed in southern Iraq, had made extensive efforts to conceal their actions. He added that the cargo was unloaded during the night as attention was still focused on the aftermath of the deadly bombings in Karbala and the signing of Iraq's interim constitution. This was also reported in Mehr at
http://www.mehrnews.com/wfNewsPrint_en.aspx?NewsID=70071

As you noted at the time, the unsecured nuke power/research sites and ammo sites resulted in 3 months of looting with the only stories reaching the US being the harm to villagers that tried to use drums that nuke waste as containers for food and water in their homes. Plus there was the story you posted of looters crossing the Jordan border as looted weapons were sent to "better locations" - as you reported on DU "Note that radioactive material is trying to cross the Iraq border into Jordan too - this report does not say who's transporting it.

Ban on scrap from Iraq recommended amid concern over radioactivity

"“About 10 to 15 trucks carrying scrap from Iraq enter Jordan daily and many others are turned back because the load they carry contains pieces of military equipment or traces of radioactivity,” the official said in a telephone interview.

Al Arab Al Yawm newspaper reported Sunday that border officials turned back 50 trucks carrying scrap from Iraq after military and other experts tested them for radioactivity.

The border official, who declined to be named, could not confirm that 50 trucks were turned back but told AFP “any truck that shows a security violation is sent back. Everyday many trucks go back.”

Al Rai daily reported on May 28 that customs officials stopped scrap trucks from Iraq after one of them was tested positive for “enriched uranium.”"

http://www.jordantimes.com/Mon/homenews/homenews7.htm

Last year, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair stated that weapons of mass destruction may never be found in Iraq, the first admission from the U.S. or UK governments of fallibility over the central justification they both gave for invading Iraq and toppling its leader, Saddam Hussein, according to The Guardian.

"I do not know is the answer," the British PM admitted. "I believe that we will but I agree there were many people who thought we were going to find this in the course of the actual operation ... We just have to wait and see".

Bush’s admin and the U.S. media harped on the likelihood that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and that he might use them against the United States.

But those weapons were never and probably will never be found.

In an attempt to hide its failure for not finding those weapons in Iraq, the U.S. government has resorted to planting these weapons.

Nelda Rogers, 28, a veteran de-briefer for the Department of defense (DOD), revealed on Al Martin Raw.com, an online subscriber-based news/analysis service which provides "Political, Economic and Financial Intelligence, that: “A U.S. covert operation team had attempted to plant weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”

The team was later lost as they were killed by friendly fire. The operation included 100 people and was “manned” by ex-military personnel.

"Ms.Rogers is number two in the chain of command within this DoD special intelligence office. This is a ten-person debriefing unit within the central debriefing office for the Department of Defense.

The information that is being leaked out is information "obtained while she was in Germany heading up the debriefing of returning service personnel, involved in intelligence work in Iraq for the Department of Defense and/or the Central Intelligence Agency.

"According to Ms. Rogers, there was a covert military operation that took place both preceding and during the hostilities in Iraq," reports Al Martin Raw.com."

According to portland.org, the operation aimed at breaking into “the Central Bank of Iraq, large commercial banks in Baghdad, the Iraqi National Museum and certain presidential palaces.”

This operation which happened to get uncovered was a joint task between the CIA and the DOD. The CIA was supposed to protect DOD team and to provide safety for them on the Iraqi land; however the whole team was shot dead by various ways.

Al Martin dubbed the operation "Operation Skim Iraq".

Ms Rogers, the Pentagon whistleblower, had also pointed out that other covert operations were assigned to put hands over Iraqi assets especially those which belonged to Saddam Hussein and his family.

"They identified about $2 billion of cash in US dollars, another $150 million in Euros, in physical banknotes, and about another $100 million in sundry foreign currencies ranging from Yen to British Pounds," reports Al Martin.

"These people died, mostly in the same place in Baghdad, supposedly from a stray cruise missile or a combination of missiles and bombs that went astray," Martin added. "There were supposedly 76 who died there and the other 24 died through a variety of 'friendly fire,' 'mistaken identity,' and some of them - their whereabouts are simply unknown."

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It is obvious the above Al Martin use of Ms. Rogers report is overstated and extended and exaggerated, as is the claim of 100 dead CIA/contractors dead, etc. - but it is interesting that points made such as the billion dollars and looting of the museum, etc., were taking place and in letters home by our GI's - and that the Jordan media also quoted her. It is hard to place her credibility level - but it is obviously not 100%.


Below are some of the assertions before the war was launched that Iraq had WMD and thus posed a true threat to the U.S. and the world:

“Every day Saddam remains in power with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the development of nuclear weapons is a day of danger for the United States.”
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-CT, September 4, 2002

“Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction.”
Dick Cheney August 26, 2002

“If we wait for the danger to become clear, it could be too late.”
Sen. Joseph Biden D-Del., September 4, 2002

“Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of biological weapons.”
George W. Bush September 12, 2002

“If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world.”
Ari Fleischer December 2, 2002

“We know for a fact that there are weapons there.”
Ari Fleischer January 9, 2003

“Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.”
George W. Bush January 28, 2003

“We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction, is determined to make more.”
Colin Powell February 5, 2003

“Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring ‘terrorist’ organizations.”
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, February 5, 2003

“We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have.”
George Bush February 8, 2003

“Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.”
George Bush March 18, 2003

“We are asked to accept Saddam decided to destroy those weapons. I say that such a claim is palpably absurd.”
Tony Blair, Prime Minister 18 March, 2003

“Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly . . . all this will be made clear in the course of the operation, for whatever duration it takes.”
Ari Fleisher March 21, 2003

“There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. As this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them.”
Gen. Tommy Franks March 22, 2003

“I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction.”
Kenneth Adelman, Defense Policy Board , March 23, 2003

“One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites.”
Pentagon Spokeswoman Victoria Clark March 22, 2003

“We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad.”
Donald Rumsfeld March 30, 2003

“Saddam's removal is necessary to eradicate the threat from his weapons of mass destruction”
Jack Straw,
Foreign Secretary 2 April, 2003

“Obviously the administration intends to publicize all the weapons of mass destruction U.S. forces find -- and there will be plenty.”
Neocon scholar Robert Kagan April 9, 2003

“I think you have always heard, and you continue to hear from officials, a measure of high confidence that, indeed, the weapons of mass destruction will be found.”
Ari Fleischer April 10, 2003

“We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them.”
George Bush April 24, 2003

“Before people crow about the absence of weapons of mass destruction, I suggest they wait a bit.”
Tony Blair 28 April, 2003

“There are people who in large measure have information that we need . . . so that we can track down the weapons of mass destruction in that country. Donald Rumsfeld April 25, 2003”

We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so.
George Bush May 3, 2003

I am confident that we will find evidence that makes it clear he had weapons of mass destruction.
Colin Powell May 4, 2003

“I never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country.”Donald Rumsfeld May 4, 2003

“I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program.”
George W. Bush May 6, 2003

“U.S. officials never expected that we were going to open garages and find weapons of mass destruction.”Condoleezza Rice May 12, 2003

“For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue, weapons of mass destruction (as justification for invading Iraq) because it was the one reason everyone could agree on.”
Paul Wolfowitz May 28, 2003

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Kuwait Times was the 1st report - Sunday, June 13th

(see the pdf posted earlier), and the Chinese article, also dated Sunday, referring to it. At the start of the 1st DU thread on it, we have:

U.S. Trucks Carrying Radioactive Materials Intercepted In Iraq-Kuwait Border
http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=6/15/2004...

TEHRAN (MNA) -– The UAE-based daily Al-Khaleej reported on Monday that Kuwaiti tariff officials have intercepted a truck loaded with radioactive materials in the Iraq-Kuwait border.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=622438&mesg_id=622438

ie Al-Khaleej reported it a day later, and MNA was quoting them. So it looks like either Al-Khaleej of MNA who changed the story.

For the earlier Tehran Times story - well, it's an anonymous source, and no-one ever did make a claim of finding WMD in Iraq. So it doesn't really tell us anything, does it?

[papau]

9. True - seems a good point to start for "investigative journalism" - if our media gave a

damn. As to Kuwait times being first - seems the Mehr version was accepted as true in the Islamic world - guess they don't trust Kuwait's ties to the US.

But as it stands now, you are correct - we really do not know anything until those letters home writers are contacted again and ships logs checked - and to what end - really - if nothing is found it is a story that is not worth publishing - and if something is found, well nothing ever got planted - so no harm, no foul.

Besides revealing CIA willingness to engage in such info wars with the American people might screw up next years CIA budget.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Thank you from one of the DU'ers who didn't get to this information when it was published,

and desperately wanted to learn more about it. Very, very helpful.
.

[papau]

10. glad to help :-)

:-)