Saddam's WMD - Too Old?

Now that elements of WMD – and quite a few of them – have been found in Iraq, the democrats and others are providing the stock boilerplate answer, namely, that the weapons have degenerated to the point that they could no longer pose a threat even if used. According to the reports, the weapons were found in various places. Inspector Kay spent some time there but couldn’t find them, so the next best thing is to simply say they’re outdated, etc. The best way to approach the subject is simply to take a look at the Bluegrass Army Depot, just five miles from Richmond and only 30 miles from the highly populated area of Lexington, Ky.

The installation encompasses approximately 14,600 acres, composed mainly of open fields and wooded areas. The installation is used for the storage of conventional explosive munitions as well as assembled chemical weapons. The depot primarily is involved in industrial and related activities associated with the storage and maintenance of conventional and chemical munitions. The conventional ammunition area consists of 852 igloos filled with ammunition with several tons additionally stored outside. The Depot's mission of conventional munitions has remained very active since World War II. Located within the heart of this highly secure area is the chemical limited area (CLA), with even more security. The three types of chemical agents at Blue Grass Chemical Activity include a blister agent, known as “mustard,” which began arriving in the 1940’s and two nerve agents, GB and VX, which began arriving in the 1960’s. The “mustard” blister agent is designed to incapacitate, while the GB and VX nerve agents are deadly.

These WMD vehicles are up to 65 years old and are yet so dangerous that the Army and Senator McConnell and others have been arguing for years about some way to neutralize them. So…the crap about the rusted WMD in Iraq is just that…CRAP!!! The weapons were there in 2003 and they’re there now, besides which, it seems fairly consensual among those who know that the rest of Saddam’s cache was transported away before the war, probably to Syria, so the stuff is still around the Middle East, and no telling how much is still in Iraq. There was no LIE in 2003 by Bush, Powell, or anybody else.

Plans for destruction of the weapons at Bluegrass have been made and discarded for years. A new system was just recently put on hold. The stuff can’t be transported on either highways or railroads for very obvious reasons, and so it has to be destroyed on-site, and folks in central Kentucky don’t enjoy the prospects. The installation is one of four such facilities in the nation, and people who live near them are not amused. It’s doubtful that Inspector Kay would put one in the trunk of his car and take it home. The WMD were not all in one place in Iraq, and they could still be scattered everywhere, and even Kay said Saddam was ready to start production again. Saddam’s WMD couldn’t be or have been anywhere near as old as that stored at the Bluegrass Army Depot, so anyone swallowing that stuff about the WMD in Iraq not being dangerous probably is too dumb to come in out of the rain and lacks the skill to open an umbrella, as well.

And so it goes.

Jim Clark.