I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Yeah, uh when will they admit the finding of the 'Paid for by the USA' tags on the rounds?
I swear I thought that was "The Doomsday Machine" from the original "Star Trek" the first time I saw it
But . . . this is _almost_ as bad as the cache they found outside Dallas, containing all that cyanide. I mean, give them some credit.
YES!
I swear I thought that was "The Doomsday Machine" from the original "Star Trek" the first time I saw it.
Real chemical weapons and real terrorists in Texas?
Decayed useless chemical weapons in Iraq?
Good show, Atrios! We need to spread these pictures all over the internet so that everyone will see the WMD stockpile the Prez is going to say they've found.
Aren't you going to give us a link to the story? These things look almost as frightening as those child-like drawings by the Iraqi scientist.
BREAKING NEWS!
Spoiled potato salad and rotten bologna found in Iraq!
Well, Saddam was a bad guy, so it's still just peachy-keen super that we took him out.
If I did the math correctly (I'm not up on the latest death counts of our boys in Iraq, so I just assumed 500 dead for the purposes of this little exercise), each one of those 36 tubes cost a shade under 14 American lives. Find a family member of one of those boys/girls killed, and see if THEY think it's worth it...
Too angry to figure out how much each cost in terms of financial expenditure, and too sad to figure out how many double and triple amputees make up one of those stupid things.
Here's a question: who sold those weapons to Iraq? Wouldn't have been the US, would it?
Here's to regime change in 2004!
BUT, BUT, BUT...
Those mortar shells could have been mounted to Remote-Controlled model airplanes and dropped on Murika within 45 minutes. They could have crashed through a rooftop, and hit dozens. OK, well, they could've given someone a big bump on the head. OK, they might have leaked on the hands of the EYE-Raqis that tried to mount then. OK-- they could have fallen to rusty bits in their hands and given a couple of guys bad cuts-- maybe even Tetanus... OK, the sand fleas could've been carrying Lyme Disease, and the guys who dug them up could've gotten bitten-- they might even be sick now... Oh, the HELL with it-- they were old and totally forgotten, and completely unusable. But Cheney and Wolfowitz will STILL crow like hell about it Sunday morning.
WMD-- Weapons of Metallic Dustcollection...
Humph.
GWPDA: Here's a comparison picture.
"Where's the rest of the U.N. inspection team, Hans?"
"On the fourth planet...they begged me for help..."
"Hans. There -- is -- no -- fourth planet..."
(tortured sob) "DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?"
Link for source of pics please!
Well, $200 billion and so far we've got some sketches on the back of envelopes, a model airplane and some corroded worm-infested tubes. Is the world safe again Mr. Prezident?
You just wait.
There'll be more.
Thousands and thousands.
And nukes too!
You have to believe!
what was interesting to me was how this was downplayed, at least initially...
US officials played down the find, saying the shells were probably left over from Saddam Hussein's 1980-88 war with Iran.
Hmmm... you'd think they'd jump all over this! Maybe as sumwon mentioned, they've got Made In The USA tags...
Weren't those shells found with a cache of love letters from Rumsfeld to Saddy Boy?
It's a good thing we stopped him. If those were dumped it my yard it would take all afternoon to clean up.
Tetanus? Lyme Disease? Sound like biological warfare agents to me!
Hey this weapons search might prove useful afterall. They could uncover the lost tomb of Nebuchadnezzar. Mummies of Mass Destruction!
for the millionaires-well, the millionaires never cared.
for the fundies-well, they'd wet their overalls for a rusted-together asterisk of ancient Kalashnikovs.
as for the rest-Rove is hoping that, like he said in his memo, "as soon as you're explaining, you're losing." Or, Americans are stupid.
But it doesn't take much explanation to deflate those visuals.
Thing is, we're still waiting for the most dishonest criminal to ever occupy the white house to just plant some "real" stuff. And for the wrong hands to grab it...
I swear I thought that was "The Doomsday Machine" from the original "Star Trek" the first time I saw it...
We're all under the command of President Decker...
HA!
Even Matt Fudge is too embarassed to keep the BBC link about this 'find' up on his site!
I know they're supposed to be mortars, but maybe they could drop these on us from those sand filled planes they dug out of the desert months ago. Scary stuff.
And 'blehhh', try clicking on the "source" link that Atrios provided.
John G -
Oh, I BELIEVE!
I like to clean out the middle and fill them with cream cheese then serve with strawberries and a sprig of mint.
mmmmmm magnifique!
Zip ...bullseye ...like that Ruse Bush centrifuge
Hm, so the programs once existed to create these weapons...
but yes, the whole 'WMD' thing is increasingly visible as a red herring, the so-called links to AQ likewise. Not to say that it's not a good thing that Hussein isn't now a PoW, but...
Sort of on T, the BBC mentioned a demonstration in southern Iraq which ended violently, largely because the Iraqi police panicked. Sad really.
i think the white house is skeptical about this because, from the bottom of my cold, black heart, i still think they've got some dirty tricks up their sleeves, and they're gonna put them on the table right before the election, when everybody's in a frenzy.
behind door two, we have three nuclear warheads, recovered in a closet in a ramshackle house on the outskirts of baghdad, along with gay pornographic magazines with saddam's head pasted on the heads of the models.
and behind door three we have Osama Bin Laden!
why the fuck haven't you re-elected us yet?
But, they are WMD...
Weapons of Major Decomposition.
They look more like cannolis of mass destruction.
The people at the BBC are too bright not to know how ridiculous this looks. They know that it suffices to report what's out there in order to show the search for WMD for what it has become over the last 6 months.
Did anybody see Nicholas Kristoff's column today?
Bush is going to go down as the president who failed to deal with a real psychotic dictator with weapons of mass destruction because he was too busy trying to sell us all on fake ones.
Cannolli, biscotti, cannelloni and manacottis of mass destruction.
I hate that guy. Not in a cheerful Chait way. In a I'm-so-fucking-sick-of -being-frightened way.
What a pathetic find. And the Danes found them after our Sherlocks left the country.
Why did the BBC even treat this as news?
Fair and balanced? Oh, brother.
More chemical weapons discovered!
If Bush Sr. was president Decker, then Bush Jr. is his whiny son from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture."
Anyone else find it coincidental that this "find" comes within 2 days of the reporting of O'Neil saying the plans to invade Iraq went all the way back to January 2001?
Whatever. It won't help cover the fact that they planned from day one to have a war. Powell and others have more or less admitted that they just pulled shit out of their ass to justify an invasion. What I'm waiting for is the proof that they ordered our fighter jets to "stand down" on 9/11 so they'd get their justification.
The only real psychotic dictator with WMD's we have to worry about is George W. Bush.
I'm just curious why no one else has yet referred to them as WMS (Weapons of Mustard 'Struction)?
alkali: BWAH!
You could also get some nasty cuts from that metal, so be careful picking it up.
A.
Remember all the trolls who used to come around and tell us how wrong we were?
Where the fuck are they now?
Rice: No evidence Iraqi WMD moved to Syria
Anyone else watch ABC News World News Saturday this eve and see Blogs across the screen?
I recall Kos and Atrios and others,,,
The whole broadcast was right out of a progie-lib fantasy, led with O'Neill and finished with O'Neill and Whistle Ass's plan for Irak in early 2001...
A LABOR UNION story aired, a Corp Cronyism story aired... I almost choked on my taco till I realized what I had switched from to watch the broadcast:
NFL NFC Playoff on Fox-
No wonder "the filter" was "off"
Anyway.
If someone else saw the broadcast, could you please stoke my memory regarding what segment and story involved our fair blog(s)?
Seems to me it was a Dean story, possibly involving Harkin endorsement...
Looks like the hunt for WMD's moved to the salvage yards. I'm not impressed. My Marine went to Iraq for that crap so I'm just mad. He's due to go back wither this month or in March. He's not happy either as he's stop-lossed for what looks like forever.
Sadly, we could show a million of these pictures, but it won't matter to those who have hated Bush since the beginning.
To them, even proven facts mean nothing.
Slightly OT, but from the Yahoo! AP story about O'Neill's interview. This is the last paragraph, after about seventeen graphs of canting from the "administration officials" and a note high up that Clinton thought Saddam was a bad, bad man too:
According to the book by former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind, the Bush administration began examining options for an invasion in the first months after Bush was inaugurated.
Repeat: THAT'S THE LAST GRAPH. I'm that guy's editor, I'm yelling, "There's your lead, bitch!" Scott Lindlaw, ladies and gentlemen, the newest inductee into the Nedra Pickler hall of fame ...
A.
didn't you get the memo? it doesn't matter - saddam hate rape rooms!
rape rooms!
ON THE BRITE SIDE= SADDAMN IS A POW- PRISONER OF DUBYA.
To them, even proven facts mean nothing.
Which *facts* are you talking about, Ryan?
Next: An entire dumpster of grenade pins!
Jennifer writes:
Anyone else find it coincidental that this "find" comes within 2 days of the reporting of O'Neil saying the plans to invade Iraq went all the way back to January 2001?
Yeah, but I find it even more interesting that this "find" is made one day after this report is released:
Carnegie study calls arms threat overstated
http://www.boston.com/news/natio...eat_overstated/
Just a coincidence, no doubt...
MC
Ryan,
You got any idea what the range of a mortar is?
Athenae, the spin won't save the Bushies from tomorrow's show.
Lots of people watch 60 Minutes. And they will tell others what they saw.
The Bush unraveling is alive and well.
Ryan the Brownshirt sez:
To them, even proven facts mean nothing.
Like the proven fact that Bush I and Reagan sold them this shit?
Idiot.
Cutting edge technology in 1915. Could be dangerous if you're a French soldier at the Marne.
But what would you do with mustard gas anyway (even if that was anything more than a picture of spent shells from the late 80s).
Mount a 155mm howitzer in the middle of Times Square?
"You got any idea what the range of a mortar is?"
ryan's a moonie
http://tinyurl.com/yu2w7
Coalition experts are examining dozens of mortar shells found in southern Iraq which could contain chemical weapons.
Danish troops who found them said they showed traces of blister gases - compounds which include mustard gas.
However, US officials played down the find, saying the shells were probably left over from Saddam Hussein's 1980-88 war with Iran.
The coalition has yet to uncover proof that Iraq was still developing weapons at the time of the war last spring.
The 36 120mm shells appear to have been buried for at least 10 years, the Danes said.
[According to some research I did, Blister/Mustard Gas crystalizes as it decomposes. I think the Danes are looking at the crystalization and guessing it's Blister/Mustard Gas and they know it's rather old. They've probably seen it before. There was plenty found laying around in Germany decades after WWII.]
moonie moonie moonie
While decrying this finding as unimportant, Atrios' readers neglect to mention that Al Gore invented the Internet.
it won't matter to those who have hated Bush since --
ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
To them, even proven facts mean nothing.
zzzz-SNORK! Wait, I think you mean "proven lies."
As in "no fucking WMDs anywhere, anyhow - aside from the disintegrating ones the US sold Iran during Drooling Uncle Ronnie's regime."
Correct? Correct???
Fucking brownshirts...
I guess we should have just sent the Danes in the first place.
Have y'all seen the banner at Ryan's site?
Ryan's Head
What goes in must come out; in one messy way or another.
LOL! Need I say more?
I caught an eel off the coast of RI in 1990... it looked like that WMD on the right.
Sorry, I-rock, I-ran... I'm very, very fluent in...
Gosh, these things never would have been found if we had allowed those UN weapons inspectors to do their job.
Ummm. Mustard.
Got my The Atlantic today. Don't miss the Kenneth Pollack mea culpa backing up the James Fallows sequel to his summer 2002 article on the American consequences of an occupation of Iraq, "The Fifty-First State." The new article is titled, "How Fucking Incompetent Can These Neocons Be, Anyway? They Ignored Months of Research and Planning for the Occupation Because They Didn't Want to Squelch the Drive for War by Bringing Up Practicalities!" I'm not sure about that title, but I think it reflects the article's well-researched conclusion.
Snork. I love snork. Great word.
There are hundreds of thousands of such shells buried in the soil of France and Belgium - IIRC about a dozen French farmers and hikers are killed by them every year, and it is only pure luck that a gas shell has not wiped out a town or a school. Does this information give George Bushcroft the excuse he needs to go to war with France? Or perhaps we could occupy Belgium, end the ethnic dispute there, and carry off all their chocolate to Texax?
Cranky
Sadly, we could show a million of these pictures, but it won't matter to those who have hated Bush since the beginning.
To them, even proven facts mean nothing.
But you don't have a million pictures. You have two. Of rusty decomposing shells that likely contained mustard gas. Shells that were intended to be used by Iraq back when Saddam was our buddy and it was perfectly OK with Repukes like you to use them on Iranians.
You got nothin'.
But, how do we know they didn't store some of these tubes in the rape rooms before they were buried?
Can someone point me to a source on the Rape Room thing?
I hear frat houses have rape rooms too.
Hell, Islam Karimov has Boiling Rooms, where he boils his opponents alive -- and he's one of Bush's allies!
john g,
i could, but ryan has to pull his head out of it first. [*moist, cork-like sound*]
The picture on the left looks like a row of petrified herrings. The picture on the right looks like a 10 year old snausage.
I'm so frightened.
I wondered where the trolls had been the last few days. Is there a troll convention somewhere?
Been a while since I fired a morter, seems the range for a shell in good condition could be as much a five, maybe more, miles.
From the condition of those shells, I would say the payload would deploy on exiting the morter itself, likely posing more of a hazard to the morter crew than anyone more than a hundred yards away, assuming the charge even lit off.
BTW, (donning my tin-foil hat) more than a few of us crew members noted the slackening of airport security (details on request) the three weeks just prior to 11 Sep, 2001. Two of us, that I know of, had noted same in diaries, just recently comparing notes. I wonder.......
and whatever happened to the five Isreali dudes partying across the Hudson as the towers fell? Any followup anywhere?
I think I like snork too.
the five Isreali dudes partying across the Hudson as the towers fell?
I'm sorry, what's up with this?
mmm...snausages...
... SNAUSAGES!? (/MST3K)
Those tubes look pretty harmful...just make sure you don't step on it barefooted or you might get lockjaw!
LOCKJAW, PEOPLE!
Preznit giv mee rustee pipes!
re: the five Isreali dudes partying across the Hudson as the towers fell?
See WhatReallyHappened.com
But wear your tin-foil hat.
First those doodles of weapons. Now these old rusty pipe thingies. God, what a terrifying week!
from the bottom of my cold, black heart, i still think they've got some dirty tricks up their sleeves
the trial of saddam will be behind door no.4. bush will make sure this lasts all spring and summer. we'll get the ultimate justice show with a carefully scripted media circus, followed by execution to take place during the convention in september.
Kirk:
Decker!
We're stronger with you than without you!
Spock: He's gone.
Jennifer wrote "What I'm waiting for is the proof that they ordered our fighter jets to "stand down" on 9/11 so they'd get their justification." The proof is in the fact that they just sat there and did nothing in contradistinction of Payne Stewart's off-course plane.
>Let's not be so moronic as to define WMD as "some unusable leaky metal tubes that have been buried underground for 15 years."
But you do realize the right wingers are going to use this, don't you? They will claim that this is absolute proof that Saddam had WMDs and that the liberal voices in their head were completely wrong to say that Saddam never ever had WMDs at any time in history.
>Remember all the trolls who used to come around and tell us how wrong we were?
Where the fuck are they now?
They're probably the ones that are now hanging out at the pro-war Iraqi bloggers sites filling their heads with their hatemongering nonsense against France and the UN.
I dunno, Atrios... someone might have accidentally dug up one of those old missiles and cut their finger, putting them at risk for tetanus.... that's justification for a war, don't you think?
preznit stil not giv me wepins.
That looks like a cheeseburger on the right photo.
Omigod, the Cheeseburger of Mass Destruction!
"followed by execution to take place during the convention in september."
uggh...I can just see them pushing Saddam off the plank of that gayass RNC Love Boat that they'll have cruising Manhattan Harbor.
Tom DeLay cruising Manhattan Harbor. Yeah, that sounds about right.
Hey, isn't that Rick Santorum's dog?
Did anyone but me see that crazy headline on, hmm, I think it was the Weekly World Star or some other goofy tabloid next to the register at the grocery store that announced:
NOAH'S ARK FOUND IN IRAQ IN SADDAM'S PALACE
??? apparently Saddam was hiding it. Il'm thinking that if we can find that it'll probably have the WMDs in it's hold.
Just a thought. Okay, I'll go away now.
... SNAUSAGES!?
Yes, delicious, nutrious and apparently quite deadly as well.
maybe like batteries, sadaam should have kept them in a freezer.
preznit giv me ekskusiz tu be skired
Woo-hoo, we found the Weapons of Metallic Deterioration!
And on my birthday!
USA! USA!
preznit play funny trik
preznit no get spankin
"Sorry, I-rock, I-ran... I'm very, very fluent in...
dave "
Wait a minit! Root Boy? The Shah Is Gone? Or am I hearing things....
the trial of saddam will be behind door no.4. bush will make sure this lasts all spring and summer. we'll get the ultimate justice show with a carefully scripted media circus, followed by execution to take place during the convention in september.
agent 1040: death and taxes
Do you really think SH will get to trial? With their reports of cancer, he will be undergoing chemo and operations. I predict he will not come out alive to stand trial.
More chemical weapons discovered!
Anonymous | Email | Homepage | 01.10.04 - 8:08 pm | #
I live in Pasco, 35 miles north of the Umatilla Army Depot. The weapons are stored in hundreds of bunkers, the tops of which can be seen from the freeway as you pass by. The Army has built an incinerator, and is trying to proceed with destroying them, but environmental groups and panicky residents from nearby towns are holding it up. The likelihood of an accident occurring during incineration is pretty low. I wish they'd get on with it already.
been buried for at least ten maybe twenty. We just started looking a year ago. Who was hiding these things back then and why? It had nothing to do with the current mess nor were these things WMD , geez these assholes are stretching for legitimacy.
Ksec - Who was hiding these things back then and why?
What a GOOD question! Inquiring minds want to know. How do we go about finding out??
Ahhhh - Here it is.............
"Blister gas, an illegal weapon which ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) said he had destroyed, was extensively used against the Iranians during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war."
I think the real question is: Why didn't our WMD patrols find them? How much time and money did we spend those many months they were hot on the WMD trails?
Fine, ridicule this important WMD find all you want, but etched on one of the pipes is, "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" That's plenty enough proof for me.
If only Decker had heard Kirk's last entreaty...
What I find interesting is the "unearthed ", "lined up on a road near Basra" and "have asked British specialists to test the shells to see if they could be chemical weapons".
I think it's safe to say that no matter what they may have once been, the Danes couldn't have been too concerned if they dug them up, moved them and put them on, or next to, a road. Anyone want to bet that the Danes were wearing chemical suits when they did this?
It has to be true! The Danes wouldn't lie! Oh, wait a minute - this is OPD (Orchestrated Plausible Deniability). Think - Niger yellowcake/British intelligence.
Next up -
"Security guard from Bermuda finds plans for Giant Laser in dumpster behind Tikrit Quickie Mart."
White House energy task force papers reveal Iraqi oil maps
Judicial Watch lawsuit also uncovers list of 'foreign suitors' for contracts
Last American veteran wounded in World War I dies at 108.
"Alfred Pugh, the last known combat-wounded U.S. veteran of World War I, has died. He was 108, just 10 days short of his 109th birthday, when he died Wednesday.
He spoke French and was used overseas as an interpreter until the battle in the Argonne forest, when he inhaled mustard gas that left him unconscious and with chronic laryngitis."
The WMD finally did him in.
longest range for a 120mm mortar, from a breach loaded version of the weapon, is 15km. for speciality loads look at a max distance of 5km.
J.T.
Shai-hulud! Shai-hulud!
If you look real close, you can see a label: "Product of Halliburton Corp., Houston, Texas, USA."
"the five Isreali dudes partying across the Hudson as the towers fell"
well, there exists motive for right-wingers and Likudniks to celebrate what they'd see as a reason for unrestrained "open season" so to speak, but why would they allow themselves to be observed? And everyone knows that by his own admission it was Christopher Hitchens who partied. And not just because when you're the Snitch, every day is a party...
Bill O'Reilly must be one relieved motherfucker right now.
Fox News: "Not a Weapon of Mass Destruction".
Back to the drawing board.
Or is that the 'rape-of-truth room'?
What you think the danger was them personally lobbing it at us? No. The fear is they would have given it to al Qaeda you dunce.
But its nice to see the dem apologists now moving back the goalposts. Oh wait you found the WMDs? Mustard gas. Could kill thousands? Um, yeah but... um... they are oooooold. What has Saddam done for us lately, yeah...
Give me a break, Atrios, you are so full of shit. The reality is that you could have dug the stuff up, drained the mustard gas, and given it to al qaeda. And there is percisely the danger that Bush cited.
The reality is that you could have dug the stuff up, drained the mustard gas, and given it to al qaeda. And there is percisely the danger that Bush cited.
Yes, just as Saddam could have dug his old coffee grounds out of the trash, dried them out, and given them to al qaeda to make coffee. Or not.
Or he could have kept his used toilet paper, wiped the shit off it, and given it to al qaeda to write on.
Do you have any appreciation of how quickly chemical agents degrade? The damn things have to be volatile in order to inflict harm.
A.W.-the creamy Root Beer O' Fear!
Oh wait you found the WMDs?
Nope.
Mustard gas. Could kill thousands?
Even if it were fresh, probably not. Mustard gas is a blister agent. It can kill if inhaled, or if someone in already poor health is exposed to it, but it's not capable of mass killing.
Um, yeah but... um... they are oooooold
And, thus, probably not even useable anymore. Chemical and biological weapons have a fairly short shelf life even if they're properly stored. These were... not.
Education is a good thing. Go get some, then come back and comment.
The reality is that you could have dug the stuff up, drained the mustard gas, and given it to al qaeda.
A. W.
Spoken like someone who hasn't a fucking clue of what they're talking about. Here's a hint, how fucking easy is it to focus a camera while wearing a full N.B.C. suit, including gas mask?
That last was me. Here's a second hint, when finding suspected chemical or biological weapons, is digging them up, exposing them to the atmosphere and then calling for a N.B.C. eval. team the regulation way of handling it?
Damn. One of those would cause serious injury if it was dropped on your head. But that's about the only risk. Even then, you'd have to take them up and dropt hem out the door or as said up above the things would probably blo up whatever launched them.
Pathetic.
The reality is that you could have dug the stuff up, drained the mustard gas, and given it to al qaeda.
Whatever is left inside those things is only about as dangerous as French's mustard by now.
Mustard?
Horne Engineering has been partnered with Bechtel National since 1998 under a U.S. Army contract to design, construct and operate the Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, which is presently destroying the World War II stockpile of mustard agent at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
Horne Engineering on Winning Bechtel Team for Iraq Infrastructure II Contract
"Saddam Hussein has accumulated weapons of mass destruction, including nearly 30 rusty, calcified metal tubes. Such tubes are commonly used as delivery vehicles for the tetanus virus, a virus which spells certain doom for American children playing barefoot outside."
-- POTUS, SOTU address
Atrios, are you jewish? The G-d is a dead giveaway
What is "G-d"? "God"??? Phhhhhtt.. there is no god.
a box cutter can be a weapon of mass destruction
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