Here are some estimates from Blix report of Jam 27, 2003, and someone elses comment upon who is lying
<<< Go back and take a look at the report Hans Blix delivered to the U.N. Security Council on
Jan. 27. On the question of Iraq's stocks of anthrax, Blix reported "no convincing
evidence" that they were ever destroyed. But there was "strong evidence" that Iraq
produced more anthrax than it had admitted "and that at least some of this was
retained." Blix also reported that Iraq possessed 650 kilograms of "bacterial growth
media," enough "to produce . . . 5,000 litres of concentrated anthrax." Cirincione
concluded that "it is likely that Iraq retains stockpiles of anthrax, botulinum toxin and
aflatoxin."
On the question of VX, Blix reported that his inspections team had information that
conflicted with Iraqi accounts. The Iraqis claimed that they had produced VX only as
part of a pilot program but that the quality was poor and the agent was never
"weaponized." But according to Blix, the inspections team discovered Iraqi documents
that showed the quality of the VX to be better than declared. The team also uncovered
"indications that the agent" had been "weaponized." According to Cirincione's August
2002 report, "it is widely believed that significant quantities of chemical agents and
precursors remain stored in secret depots" and that there were also "thousands of
possible chemical munitions still unaccounted for." Blix reported there were 6,500
"chemical bombs" that Iraq admitted producing but whose whereabouts were unknown.
Blix's team calculated the amount of chemical agent in those bombs at 1,000 tons. As
Blix reported to the Security Council, "in the absence of evidence to the contrary, we
must assume that these quantities are now unaccounted for."
Today, of course, they and many other known weapons are still unaccounted for. Does it
follow, therefore, that they never existed? Or does it make more sense to conclude that
the weapons were there and that either we'll find them or we'll find out what happened
to them?
The answer depends on how broad and pervasive you like your conspiracies to be.
Because if Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are lying, they're not alone. They're
part of a vast conspiratorial network of liars that includes U.N. weapons inspectors and
reputable arms control experts both inside and outside government, both Republicans and
Democrats. |
