Voices of Carolina: Evidence shows Saddam had WMD
Critics are already trying to rewrite the history of Saddam Hussein's illegal weapons of mass destruction program and stockpiles. Though clearly motivated by politics, these attacks have circulated enough to warrant a serious review of the main facts surrounding the former dictator's deadly arsenal and U.S. efforts to eradicate it since the Baathist regime was removed from power.
There is no question that Saddam Hussein's government harbored and used weapons of mass destruction prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to documents he handed over to the United Nations, Iraq produced:
8,500 liters of weapons-grade anthrax, enough to kill millions by simply spraying the biological agent over population centers.
More than 3,000 tons of chemical warfare agents similar to the kind Saddam Hussein used in 1988 to kill thousands of Iraqi Kurds, mostly women and children.
6,500 bombs filled with about 1,000 tons of chemical agent, the same type used against Iran in the 1980s.
Various materials and equipment for making nuclear weapons that Iraqi documents prove were used by their scientists.
Since the international community knows for certain Iraq did possess these weapons, the only question that remains is, "What did Saddam do with his weapons of mass destruction?"
In each case, Iraq claimed to have destroyed the weapons and materials of mass destruction in accordance with U.N. resolutions. But the regime, which kept tens of thousands of pages of detailed information about its illegal weapons of mass destruction programs, offered no proof of their destruction - not a piece of paper convincingly documenting the alleged destruction, not a dismantlement site, not a single smashed chemical warfare bomb.
In fact, in the case of the 6,500 chemical bombs, the U.N. found documents proving their existence after Iraq reported them to have been dismantled.
The president's impatient critics want even more evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction immediately. Their demand is unreasonable and unwarranted.
First of all, the obvious possibility and fear is that the weapons have been sold to terrorist organizations at the highest bid.
Or fearing an imminent invasion by U.S. forces, Iraq may have very well destroyed the biological and chemical weapons.
Finally, if the weapons are still intact and within Iraq, we must remember that major hostilities ended only weeks ago, and coalition forces are still fighting small groups of Baathist die-hards. Some of Iraq's roads are still mined and prone to ambush, limiting the number of searches U.S. weapons inspectors can safely make.
Finding Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction will take time - more than just a few weeks. The Pentagon has so far examined only about 200 of 1,000 or so potential weapons of mass destruction sites, yet is already beginning to confirm Secretary of State Colin Powell's case before the U.N.
<font size=5>American troops, in fact, recently took possession of two mobile biological labs, one of which was freshly painted in a military camouflage pattern and thoroughly sanitized, presumably to hide work performed inside.
The U.S. agrees with coalition experts "that biological warfare agent production is the only consistent, logical purpose for these vehicles."
Saddam Hussein's mobile lab cover-up attempt and similar shams dating back to the days of official U.N. inspections demonstrate the difficulty of ferreting out the tyrant's arsenal. At nearly 10,000 square miles larger than California, Iraq's vast countryside and sprawling cities provide countless hiding places for weapons and materials of mass destruction that can in many cases fit in the smallest of rooms.
In fact, all of Iraq's known 8,500-liter anthrax stockpile could travel in a 12-foot by 6-foot U-Haul trailer.<font size=3>
And this is exactly what Saddam's henchmen may have done. A top-level scientist from Iraq's weapons program recently told U.S. officials that Saddam Hussein destroyed much of his lethal stockpile to avoid detection and sent other pieces of it abroad.
Iraq shares a 900-mile border with Iran and a 375-mile border with Syria - both of which are actively seeking more weapons of mass destruction. The Department of Defense tells us Syria has performed a series of chemical weapons tests over the past year and a half.
The United States has already found evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and will likely find more as our military focuses more of its attention on the hunt. In the meantime, critics of the president's policies might stop and reflect on the criminal evidence Saddam Hussein was unable to conceal: the torture, rape and murder of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens.
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