http://www.expatica.com/index.asp?pad=2,18,&item_id=35519 'No WMD in Iraqi artillery shells' 5 November 2003 AMSTERDAM — The secret cache of artillery shells that Dutch peacekeeping troops discovered in the Iraqi desert last month were not biological or chemical weapons, Defence Ministry sources have claimed. The ministry sources said inspections by British and US military personnel — members of the Iraqi Survey Team — indicated that the shells were conventional weapons and not weapons of mass destruction (WMD), newspaper De Volkskrant reported on Wednesday. Print this article Email this article Write to the editor Start or join a discussion Dutch soldiers on patrol discovered the 10 artillery shells on 8 October and the Defence Ministry initially held the possibility open that the explosives might have contained biological or chemical devices. Final results of the inspections will be published in the near future. One of the main reasons the US and Britain used earlier this year as a basis for war with Iraq was the Islamic nation's alleged WMD capacities. Despite extensive searches, no such weapons have been found. After the fall of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, the Netherlands dispatched 1,100 marines to the southern Iraqi province of Al Muthanna in the summer to assist in peacekeeping operations and the government is considering extending the mission by a further six months. [Copyright Expatica News 2003] Subject: Dutch news
Woofer - you seem to be reaching a bit here. I am not even sure why you find this news worthy. Any shells that are found will be checked for Bio-Chem, where is the big story here? They were found, they were checked and found not to contain anything.
I'm making a bit of fun of the guys who posted a thread every time there was a WMD *find*. This find was noted in folks threads as support of the argument that WMD are being. This one took a long time for them to figure out, hey, we aint got WMD again.
Instead of looking for non-existent weapons in a desert to save face, why aren't we focusing our resources on finding those who would *use* them? I know it's not November 2004 yet, but capturing Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden may be prudent. Shouldn't be hard to find bin Laden -- just check the dialysis centers in the Afghan caves. Can't be that many.
So in you opinion we should just stop looking? I cannot say for sure if there are any WMD`s but while were there I sure hope we continue look to ensure there are not any. Since I wasnt there before the war I cannot tell if in fact there are any, but being the fanatic that Sadam was I wouldnt doubt that "if" he did have anything it would be buried in the desert. I do agree that capturing Hussein and bin laden are VIP but I also believe that just because we havent found anything yet doesnt mean we shouldnt keep looking.
I totally understand what you're saying, but it's not an either-or situation. I just don't get why bin Laden and Saddam are no longer priorities. I know having the boogeymen on the loose is important to keeping Americans fearful and under Bush's thumb, but c'mon -- these guys are serious threats. Bush bagged hundreds of billions of dollars for this invasion and subsequent occupation. I'd rather see the money spent on capturing the two people who brought us over there in the first place.
