No Evidence of Smallpox Found in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=6&u=/ap/20030918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_smallpox_1

Top American scientists assigned to the weapons hunt in Iraq found no evidence Saddam Hussein's regime was making or stockpiling smallpox, The Associated Press has learned from senior military officers involved in the search.

Smallpox fears were part of the case the Bush administration used to build support for invading Iraq — and they were raised again as recently as last weekend by Vice President Dick Cheney.

But a three-month search by "Team Pox" turned up only signs to the contrary: disabled equipment that had been rendered harmless by U.N. inspectors, Iraqi scientists deemed credible who gave no indication they had worked with smallpox and a laboratory thought to be back in use that was covered in cobwebs.

Fears that smallpox could be used as a weapon led the Bush administration to launch a vaccination campaign for some 500,000 U.S. military personnel after the Sept. 11 attacks, and to order enough vaccine to inoculate the entire U.S. population if necessary. President Bush also was vaccinated against the disease, which kills about a third of its victims.

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[ewagner]

1. Lemme guess...

more "credible information from the INC....Chalabi should be in jail!

[Newsjock]

2. Vaccinations killed how many Americans?

Accessory to murder, I say.

[damnraddem]

5. But we do know that Russia had many tons of smallpox weapons; ...

and they're not accounted for. I wouldn't destroy the stocks of vaccine just yet.

[damnraddem]

3. What a surprise!

Why, it almost seems like Saddam didn't have any WMDs, doesn't it? LOL!

[Bunny]

4. And Cheney raised the accusations again,

as recently as last weekend? See Dick? See Dick Get Flushed?

[Beetwasher]

6. When it Rains it Pours

Lies and incompetence; the gift that keeps on giving...

[havocmom]

7. So, the immenient threat they posed, and the reason we had to invade

was that they might throw sand at us?

OK, memo to the shrubster: We want you before Congress. You have some 'splainin to do!

edit: typo

[jamesinca]

8. A light just went on in my head

<SNIP>

Smallpox fears were part of the case the Bush administration used to build support for invading Iraq — and they were raised again as recently as last weekend by Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites).

<SNIP>

"From the onset the evidence was strictly circumstantial," said Jonathan Tucker, a former U.N. inspector and the author of a recent book on smallpox. "There was a lot of smoke but not much fire there."


<SNIP>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is my lightbulb of the day: "From the onset the evidence was strictly circumstancial"

But that was reason enough to go to war, circumstancial evidence. It was enough to scare the populace of the U.S. into believing that war was needed. It was reason enough to start a vaccination program of the military and first responders. It was a good enough reason to "believe" it was true. Lately there has been a lot of discussion about this administration claiming Iraq was involved in 9/11, and links to al-Queda. The WH has been saying that they never said 9/11 and Hussein. I think it is owed to the people entombed in the WTC and those whose blood has been spilled in Iraq to say that they mislead America on purpose with circumstantial evidence. Even if they never directly said it, they let us "believe". After all it was a good enough reason to go to war.

[feminazi]

9. Team Pox sounds like a good name for this

entire administration.

[are_we_united_yet]

10. So it leaves one to ask

What intelligence was right/not spun?