This discovery seems to be going off the media radar screen without any backtrapping. No doubt 80 per cent of the US people will think that chemical weapons have now been found in great quantities.
Is "premature" bushspeak for " false"? or the euphemistic "inoperative"? Cheers, Ken Hanly Reports of Iraq chemical cache 'premature': Pentagon Last Updated Mon, 24 Mar 2003 2:39:46 WASHINGTON - Stories by some media outlets that U.S. forces have uncovered a suspected chemical weapons factory in Iraq may be wrong, the Pentagon cautioned late Sunday. Various news agencies carried reports that a factory had been found near the city of Najaf, about 160 kilometres from Baghdad. Troops are examining "sites of interests," U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement. But it offered no details, and warned that claims the factory produced chemical weapons are "premature." Officials did say that troops are checking documents found in western Iraq that might lead to stockpiles of chemical or biological arms. The information was discovered along with a cache of about a million rounds of ammunition Saturday, according to Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. The discovery "might save thousands of lives if we can find out exactly where and what they have," Myers said Sunday. "I just know that they have some papers that they want to exploit as quickly as possible, and we're going to do that, of course." U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the attack against Iraq because he said Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction - including chemical and biological arms - that could be used against the United States. Baghdad denies the allegation. Written by CBC News Online staff
