Ritter: Weapons of Mass Destruction in Our Midst

[Q]

Published on Monday, September 8, 2003 by the San Francisco Chronicle

Weapons of Mass Destruction in Our Midst
America Can Be Its Own Worst Enemy

by Scott Ritter

In February, Secretary of State Colin Powell displayed for the U.N. Security Council detailed drawings of truck- and train-mounted mobile biological weapons laboratories alleged to be in the possession of Iraq. The basis for this analysis was an Iraqi defector whose credibility was certified not by the quality or accuracy of the provided data, but rather the political environment of post-Sept. 11, which automatically upgraded the status of any intelligence information, no matter how sketchy, that sustained the charges that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

The discovery by U.S. forces in Iraq of two mobile "biological weapons laboratories" was touted by President Bush as clear evidence that Iraq possessed illegal weapons capabilities. However, it now is clear that these so- called labs were nothing more than hydrogen generation units based upon British technology acquired by Iraq in the 1980s, used to fill weather balloons in support of conventional artillery operations, and have absolutely no application for the production of biological agents.

While Iraq has not been shown to possess the alleged mobile biological labs (or any other weapon of mass destruction, for that matter), fear within the U. S. national security community over the potential existence of such labs in Iraq led the United States to order mobile biological laboratories to be constructed in America, ostensibly for training elite U.S. special operations forces on how to disable the Iraqi labs once discovered.

It now appears that the only place in the world where labs similar to those described by Powell actually exist is here, in the United States. Worse, according to the New York Times, the scientist responsible for the design and construction of the U.S. mobile biological lab is under suspicion by the FBI of using this technology to produce the dry powder anthrax used in the October 2001 letter attack that killed seven Americans. This same scientist was allegedly behind similar "defensive" research that identified anthrax- impregnated letters as an ideal platform for delivering the deadly biological agent.

So, when it comes to the only major biological attack conducted against the United States, the available information points to the likelihood that the attack originated in the United States, using technology and techniques developed as part of a defensive biological weapons program that was a product of bad intelligence about Iraq's biological weapons program. - http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0908-05.htm

[Brucey]

1. True, and

the US used biological and chemical weapons in the invasion of Iraq. Saddam did not. Who's more moral - Saddam or Stump?