Trailers NOT WMD factories

It's official. The two trailers alleged to be mobile germ warfare labs are, as claimed by the Iraqis, nothing more than hydrogen production facilities.

n official British investigation into two trailers found in northern Iraq has concluded they are not mobile germ warfare labs, as was claimed by Tony Blair and President George Bush, but were for the production of hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, as the Iraqis have continued to insist.

The conclusion by biological weapons experts working for the British Government is an embarrassment for the Prime Minister, who has claimed that the discovery of the labs proved that Iraq retained weapons of mass destruction and justified the case for going to war against Saddam Hussein.

Instead, a British scientist and biological weapons expert, who has examined the trailers in Iraq, told The Observer last week: 'They are not mobile germ warfare laboratories. You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were - facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons.'

So our Great Leaders continue to lie, lie, lie about WMDs. Both the US and UK desperately needed to find banned substances on those trailers, the lack thereof is a blow -- especially to Tony Blair who faces an aggressive investigation in the House of Commons.

Still, it is telling that Bush hasn't repeated his assertion that "We've found the weapons of mass destruction. You know, we found biological laboratories . . . . And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong. We found them." Instead, he's been reduced to claiming he has evidence of an Iraqi weapons program.

Weak.

The battle now shifts to Congressional backrooms, where Republicans desperately try to keep WMD hearings away from the public eye, hiding behind a cloak of secrecy. Democrats, rightly are pushing for open hearings.

Posted June 15, 2003 04:54 PM | Comments (48)