Gullibility Alert : Freepers claiming Iraq WMD's in Kuwait - no sources

[Jinx]

Supposedly Kuwait has captured Iraqi arms being smuggled out of country. No reliable sources.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/993175/posts?q=1&&page=1

[displacedtexan]

1. that's interesting...only because we've had soldiers in kuwait for years!

freepers. go figure.

[Jinx]

2. hrm

Hmm... How is Kuwait claiming they just comandeered Iraqi biological warheads not breaking news? Maybe I was overzealous in mocking the story in my title.

[Brian Sweat]

5. I cannot find this story on the AP wire. It is probably BS.

This would not be the first time I have seen fake AP wire stories from Freeperland.

The funny thing is that they freepers cannot understand why the media isn't making a big deal of it.

[Brian Sweat]

3. Well ,maybe we should invade Kuwait.

Oh wait, never mind.

[Zuni]

4. Read the article

Kuwait says they captured Chemical weapons being shipped out of Iraq.

This is a very big story.

[Zirconia]

6. Kuwaiti Capture of Chemical Weapons

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_399454,00050004.htm

It's also been picked up by Dow Jones, AP and Wall Street Journal Onlone

[Brian Sweat]

13. It hasn't been picked up by the AP

It looks like the Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and the Hindustantimes have been duped.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[RobertSeattle]

27. Goodbye "Name Removed"

From,

"Not Deleted Message"

[donotpassgo]

32. Was that MY post that was deleted????

The one that said (or tried to say) that all the the 'sources' are quoting the same story.

[ZenLefty]

33. No, your post is over in LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=142798#142815

(The thread got locked, though, because the author posted without a link. Those LBN mods sure are strict!)

[donotpassgo]

35. oh...I so silly.

Good thing they locked it. I was about to engage in some counterespionage with the Poster of that thread.

[boneygrey]

41. To answer your question

I like DU so far. My topic got locked. I'm still learning the rules.

[Brian Sweat]

11. If it were real, it might be big.

They posted an AP wire story that is not on the wire. It smells like BS to me.

[HFishbine]

12. Umm, No.

That's not what is being reported. The story says:

"Kuwaiti security authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle $60 million worth of chemical weapons and biological warheads from Iraq to an unnamed European country."

This give no indication that any weapons were "captured."

Smugglers have been captured. Also pay close attention to what they say the smugglers were attempting to smuggle: "warheads."

We've already seen numerous reports of empty chemical warheads being found. My bet is that what these are -- again: warheads capable of holding chemical or biological agents.

http://framehosting.dowjonesnews.com/Story/Index.asp?Printer=YES&StoryID=2003100119220013&UID={60A00CBD-5A13-40B0-9013-44151326F3C6}&CLS=1945577966

on edit: Another story (below) says that the warheads are in custody. But I still suspect they are not armed with chemical or biological munitions as the Kuwatiis plan on handing them over to the FBI at a press conference -- not exactly a prudent exchange for an actual bilogical weapon. They are warheads, if anything.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_399454,00050004.htm

[Brian Sweat]

19. Good job

Even if the story is real, which I doubt, you have given us ammo to fight it.

[qanda]

21. Also of note, is saying that they came from Iraq.

How could anyone smuggle anything from Iraq when the US controls the entire country. And if the quantity is as large as they say it is, I would assume that it could not be smuggled in a suitcase. This story does not add up at all!

[BuckeFushe]

42. Do not doubt for one sec this is the Shrubbies way of "finding" WMD

and are engineering this story to distract from Wilsongate (IMHO).

[Howardx]

7. the timing is a bit suspicious

not to mention im not seeing it anywhere else but FR.

edit
whoops! spoke too soon but i still say the timing is suspicious

[Walt Starr]

8. Very suspicious

and no way to confirm the story, either.

[Brian Sweat]

16. It is bogus.

If it were real, it would be on the AP wire. It should be almost two hours old by the dateline, but it is not out there.

[RobertSeattle]

9. Where did the come up with the $60 Mill figure?

These things come with price tags?

[LittleApple81]

17. Who is going to believe the US? I for one don't believe it! n/t

[Zuni]

26. You buy them

with payment plans. Put 10 million dollars down and you can carry them home. Free home delivery.

[tinnypriv]

10. Bullshit

AP doesn't have this story.

[Champion Jack]

15. What did you expect?

They HAVE to try and divert attention from Traitorgate.

[qanda]

18. $60 million worth?

What in the world? How did they put a dollar figure on the chemical and biological warheads? This story sounds like complete crap!

[karlschneider]

20. It's kinda like when they find 5 marijuana plants in someone's back yard

it has a "street value" of 2 million dollars...or whatever...

:grr:

[qanda]

22. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

:shrug:

[LittleApple81]

23. The problem as I see it is that nobody in the entire world will

believe the US. If they had taken people from the UN in their search for weapons they would have some credibility.

On edit: so the Kuwaities probably don't want to contribute troops or forgive the Iraqi debt. This is in the way of a payoff, I bet.

[UpInArms]

29. no troops from Kuwait, but maybe a good lie or two

see:

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/Nayira-Witness-Incubator-Kuwait6jan92.htm

excerpt:

A little reportorial investigation would have done a great service to the democratic process. Americans would have been interested to know the identity of "Nayirah," the 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl who shocked the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 19, 1990, when she carefully asserted that she had watched 15 infants ain't taken from incubators in al-Adan Hospital in Kuwait City by Iraqi soldiers who "left the babies on the coal floor to die." The chairmen of the Congressional group, Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, and John Edward Porter, an Illinois Republican, explained that Nayirah's identity would be kept secret to protect her family from reprisals in occupied Kuwait.

There was a better reason to protect her from exposure: Nayirah, for real name, is the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S., Saud Nasir al-Sabah. Such a pertinent facts might have led to pertinent demands for proof of Nayirah's whereabouts in August and September of 1990, when she said she witnessed the atrocities, as well as corroboration of her charges. The Kuwaiti Embassy was rebuffed by my efforts to interview Nayirah.

Today, were left to ask why Mr. Lantos and Mr. Porter allowed such glaring omissions. What made Nayirah so believable that no one on the Caucus staff bothered to check out for story?

One explanation might lie in how Nayirah came to the Congressman's attention. Both Congressman have a close relationship with Hill and Knowlton, the public relations firm hired by Citizens for a Free Kuwait, the Kuwaiti- financed group that lobbied Congress for military intervention. A Hill and Knowlton Vice President, Gary Hymel, helped organize the Congressional Human Rights Caucus hearing in meetings with Mr. Lantos and Mr. Porter, and the chairmen of Citizens for a Free Kuwait, Hassan al-Ebraheem. Mr. Hymel presented the witnesses, including Nyirah. (The later told me he knew who she was at the time.)

...more...

[kaitykaity]

24. Hannity read this over the air about a half-hour ago

but of course he was scheduled to talk to Cruella
Harris for the bottom of the hour, so he couldn't
blare it out some more.

:grr:

[Brian Sweat]

30. The Freepers emailed the story to Faux.

Hannity is not confirmation. Until it shows up on the AP wire, it never happened.

[denverbill]

25. Well, we've found WMD for the what 100th time so far?

I'm with the earlier poster who thinks at most they caught a smuggler with empty warheads, or even more likely, someone who CLAIMED he could supply WMD for $60 million.

[LanternWaste]

28. If it were true, McClellen would be in fron of WH Press Corp faster than.

If this were true and verified, the WH and Scott McClellan would be over this faster than...(insert overused cliche here). * would be calling a press conference and Fox would drap half the screen in the American Flag.

[phillybri]

31. My freeper co-worker said they were being smuggled to FRANCE!!!

Even after this is totally debunked, they'll cite it as truth....

[boneygrey]

34. France

That's good. I've only heard reports from AP and Dow Jones. This is probably BS.

[Brian Sweat]

38. You've actually seen it on the AP

or have you seen sources quoting the AP?

I cannot find the story on the wire.

[boneygrey]

39. AP is mentioned here

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_399454,00050004.htm

[Brian Sweat]

40. That is not the AP wire

That is just some Indian paper quoting a supposed AP story that cannot be found on the wire.

[salin]

43. funny thing, though

I searched a major news link service for stories on Iraq from the past 6 hours. Big stories carried by a newswire service (such as AP) will pop up with different titles for hours - as different news sources repackage it (different title, sometimes add some info, etc.) This source covers things like cnn, msnbc, the networks, bbc, christian science monitor.

Not a single item.

Then I trucked on over to google news - and typed in Kuwait. The story on AP - should register a bunch of hits (for those that picked the story up). Only this single, one news story (the one you link).

Makes me think that the story was discredited (it happens) so others dropped it instead of running with it.

I will wait til I see the story from another source - something this big - and this advantageous to the admin (given their current credibility problems) would be PUSHED big. But no mention. The silence again suggests to me that it was not a real story.

But it could be. And if it is - it will show up with more information and from a different source - elsewhere.

[salin]

44. I couldn't find it from either nor from bloomberg

if it was AP - i think it got dropped. Otherwise it is sent out and multiple news services pick the story up. Here - nada. That in and of itself makes the story very dubious.

[Brian Sweat]

36. You obviously haven't smacked them down with the truth often enough.

No freeper in my office would dare come at me with that kind of bullshit. They know they would get a face full of facts.

Of course it may just be that I am really obnoxious.

[BonjourUSA]

45. Yes, that' true !!

Even AP said I have hidden them under my bed !! :crazy:


Grostesque !

[qanda]

37. Interesting piece I found from Google

UN 'cover' closer ... troops under attack


KUWAIT (Agencies): Iraqi Interior Minister Nouri Badran stressed
From the Arab Times http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/kuwait/Viewdet.asp?ID=1026&cat=a

UN 'cover' closer ... troops under attack

Tuesday the importance to establish new Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations based on solid grounds. In a statement to journalists upon arrival in Kuwait on a two-day official visit, Badran said that the time has come to exchange ideas "with our Kuwaiti brothers to build strong relations between the two countries." The Iraqi Minister was received by the Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and the Undersecretary of the Interior Ministry, Lieutenant General Naser Al-Othman, as well as a number of leaders in the Interior Ministry.

Concerning the purpose behind his visit to Kuwait, Badran said that several developments have taken place in Iraq, requiring discussion with the Kuwaiti officials, including some security issues of mutual interest. Badran praised Kuwait's stands and support for the Iraqi people during the rule of the former Iraqi regime, explaining that the Kuwaiti government did not abandon the Iraqi people and that it has supported and still supports Iraq's security and stability.

(more)

I'm beginning to think that this is the plant that they've been planning. This Interior Minister makes this visit and now all of a sudden there are now weapons of mass destruction found. Something stinks about this.