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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Machaon who wrote (2072)	3/23/2003 9:43:41 PM
From: Just_Observing	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 21614

Chemical weapons find report 'premature': US The Pentagon says that reports of a "huge" cache of chemical weapons being found by allied troops south of Baghdad are ``premature'', although the US is "looking into sites of interest". An Iraqi general was being questioned about the apparent discovery of a large camouflaged chemical weapons plant covering 100 acres at An Najaf, south of Baghdad. Asked at a news conference in Qatar today about reports of the chemical plant, Lieutenant General John Abizaid of US Central Command declined comment, the Associated Press reported. He said top Iraqi officers had been questioned about chemical weapons. ``We have an Iraqi general officer, two Iraqi general officers that we have taken prisoner, and they are providing us with information,'' Abizaid said. The Pentagon later issued a brief statement saying the reports of a ``huge'' chemical weapons factory in central Iraq were ``premature''. smh.com.au

To: Machaon who wrote (2072)	3/23/2003 9:51:55 PM
From: Patricia Trinchero	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

We knew where it was: Dismay at chemical plant link to Britain David Leigh and Richard Norton-Taylor Friday March 7, 2003 The Guardian Politicians yesterday expressed dismay at the Guardian's disclosure that a key Iraqi chemical warfare plant was built by a British firm as more facts emerged about the UK's help in arming Saddam Hussein with nerve gas ingredients. Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrats' widely respected foreign affairs spokesman, said it made it harder for Britain to invoke the moral high ground in launching a war. "It is hardly surprising that the UK is regarded with cynicism in these matters," he said. One former senior Labour minister said: "It does undermine the case that has been made so stridently by Rumsfeld and the US administration about the nature of Saddam's regime. This disclosure is a very graphic demonstration of double standards." Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn said British government behaviour at the time had been outrageous: "It now appears the British public underwrote the initial cost of Saddam's chemical warfare programme." It emerged yesterday that in addition to secretly financially backing a British company's sale of the Falluja 2 chlorine plant to Iraq's chemical warfare organisation, Conservative trade ministers also insisted on selling a key precursor of the nerve gas sarin to Egypt, knowing it was likely to reach Iraq. High-level intelligence, believed to have emanated from Israel via MI6, was passed on to Alan Clark, then trade minister, by Mrs Thatcher's private secretary, Charles Powell, in January 1986. It said shipments of hydrogen fluoride had already gone from Britain the previous October and "had been immediately transported overland by truck from Egypt to Iraq". More sales were expected. Mr Powell wrote: "The information we have received is that the material is intended for the Sepp [State Enterprise for Pesticide Production] company in Iraq, and procurement through Egypt is intended is intended to bypass restrictions imposed on the export of hydrogen fluoride to Iraq." When the predicted further orders were submitted to the Department of Trade, Mr Clark allowed the sale to proceed. Ministers said an end-user certificate had been provided by the Egyptian military and they did not want to accuse them of being liars. The Guardian disclosed yesterday that shortly before this transaction, Mr Clark's predecessor as trade minister, Paul Channon, allowed a chlorine plant secretly to be sold to Iraq by the British company Uhde Ltd, in the knowledge that it was likely to be used to make mustard gas. The plant, called Falluja 2, was also purchased by Sepp in Iraq, and has been described this year by US and British political leaders as still a key component in Iraq's chemical warfare capability. Britain's role was concealed from the US. Last night, Downing Street made no attempt to deny the Guardian's allegations but said the chlorine plant sale was the work of the previous Conservative administration."It took place 18 years ago in different circumstances," a No 10 spokesman said. Asked whether Tony Blair had been aware of the true history of the Falluja plant when he had published a joint intelligence committee report last September pinpointing Falluja 2 as a casus belli, No 10 refused to answer. Mr Clark, later discredited for aiding firms to sell Iraq an ammunition factory, over-ruled Foreign Office and intelligence objections to authorise the shipment of hydrogen fluoride to the Egyptian military.

To: Machaon who wrote (2072)	3/23/2003 10:16:49 PM
From: UnBelievable	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

At This Point It Does Not Appear We Know What Type Of Plant It Is. "U.S. Central Command, which oversees the war in Iraq, said in a statement that troops were examining several "sites of interest," but said it was premature to call the Najaf site a chemical weapons factory." "U.S. forces are checking other sites based on leads from captured Iraqis and documents -- but officials cautioned it was premature to conclude any forbidden weapons had been located."