Ohoh. Could this new story be the planted WMD??

[grasswire]

Breaking ten minutes ago in the Washington Times. (leaked to them)

The U.S. military tomorrow will begin a major excavation in search of banned weapons components an Iraqi informant said were buried by Saddam Hussein's regime at a Muslim clerics's house in Najaf in December, three months before the war began.
Pentagon officials told The Washington Times that David Kay, who is leading the CIA's search for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, briefed officials on the classified intelligence in Washington this week.
The Iraqi informant told Mr. Kay's team that the weapons components were moved to the cleric's house in Najaf, south of Baghdad, and buried at the base of a wall. Since the Iraqi came forward, the U.S. military has been monitoring the site and is scheduled to begin digging tomorrow.
If the informant's information proves true, it means Saddam was actively hiding weapons components at the very time U.N. inspectors had re-entered Iraq and were conducting searches. That team left Iraq shortly before President Bush ordered the March 20 invasion.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030801-114820-5109r.htm

[grasswire]

1. the fact that....

....the Wash Times is breaking this makes me very suspicious. Why would they broadcast this in advance unless they already know what will be found there?

[CarlBallard]

11. The republican media

announce that we're about to find something every day. That helps plant the impression in their reader's minds that we've found something.

[MoonGod]

2. So, how long have they been "monitoring the site" for?

And has anybody else been allowed access during that time?

[WilliamPitt]

3. Probably worth waiting a day or so

I've heard this song several times already.

[tkmorris]

12. Yeah but.....

like any good pop song it really doesn't get ya until you've heard it a few times, get the ole hook down right? C'mon folks, tap that foot, sing along, you know the words.....

[Elidor]

4. "If the informant's information proves true..."

Too bad the pentagon won't be taking bets on this! I'd make a killing!

[Maple]

5. Buried

weapon 'components' are not an imminent threat.

[DagmarK]

6. Yeah, Saddam just LOVED muslim clerics.....

that's why he made sure that his regime was secular. He *really* trusted those clerics. YEP.

[Cush]

7. components at a house?

what, like those parts from the nuke plant that a person could hold in the palms of their hands?

[madfloridian]

8. Unconfuse me.

I thought these were imminently dangerous weapons ready to be used at a moment's notice, not buried, not hidden, not rusty like the planes.

[Arbustosux]

9. The informant is probably laughing his ass off

knowing the US army is about the dig up and destroy the house of a Muslim cleric, no less.

Way to win the hearts and minds....

[punpirate]

10. Interesting....

Buried "weapons components." Not weapons. Components.

And, note the language. "Major excavation" in close juxtaposition to "weapons components," which is meant to suggest that it is a major find. Strictly speaking, a "major excavation" is a very big hole....

Also, who is this cleric, and why is this buried in Najaf, a holy city? What Muslim cleric would permit that, even on demand of Saddam Hussein? His people would kill him. (Najaf was also the scene of some Shi'ite internecine warfare in April, so they aren't afraid of killing other Shi'ites.)

Curiouser and curiouser.

On edit, this story quotes Kay as saying that many Iraqi scientists are coming forward voluntarily to tell their stories about weapons. And yet, I found two stories, one in a British paper ten days ago, and one in yesterday's Washington Post essentially saying the same thing--that scientists' houses were being broken into by troops late at night, the houses searched, the scientists arrested without charges and taken away, presumably to the detention camp at the Baghdad airport, and held virtually incommunicado. I suppose both cases could be true, but they still seem more than a bit contradictory.

Cheers.

[Philosophy]

13. Will the excavation be a live prime time special hosted by Geraldo?

:evilgrin:

[punpirate]

14. Yup...

... drawing in the sand the instructions for digging the hole.

Cheers.

[sandnsea]

15. Banned weapons

They usually meant rockets and stuff like that when they talked about banned weapons, not WMD. Maybe it's more balsa for the drones that were going to attack.