k> "Come out, come out wherever you are!"
Frustrated, U.S. Arms Team to Leave Iraq
Task Force Unable To Find Any Weapons
BAGHDAD -- The group directing all known U.S. search efforts for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is winding down operations without finding proof that President Saddam Hussein kept clandestine stocks of outlawed arms, according to participants.
The 75th Exploitation Task Force, as the group is formally known, has been described from the start as the principal component of the U.S. plan to discover and display forbidden Iraqi weapons. The group's departure, expected next month, marks a milestone in frustration for a major declared objective of the war.
Leaders of Task Force 75's diverse staff . . . said they expected to find what Secretary of State Colin L. Powell described at the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 5 -- hundreds of tons of biological and chemical agents, missiles and rockets to deliver the agents, and evidence of an ongoing program to build a nuclear bomb.
Scores of fruitless missions broke that confidence, many task force members said in interviews . . . They consistently found targets identified by Washington to be inaccurate, looted and burned, or both. Leaders and members of five of the task force's eight teams, and some senior officers guiding them, said the weapons hunters were going through the motions now to "check the blocks" on a prewar list.
A long story, but worth the read. My absolute favorite quote:
"We stopped Saddam Hussein in his WMD programs. Do I know where they are? I wish I did . . . but we will find them. Or not. I don't know. I'm being honest here."
Army Col. Richard McPhee
Which puts Col. McPhee several light years ahead of the Bush White House, ethically speaking.
And now a word from Dr. Hans Blix:
Neener, neener, neener.
I'd bet Scott Ritter is also laughing his butt off. He can ram neocon pr crud down Gaffney's (of AEI fame) throat after the task force pulls out.
President Tom Cruise made it sound like WMD were strewn about Iraq like dandelions, but the UN weapons inspectors were too dumb to see them. Now the "pros" go out there with all that secret intel the Bushies & the SCLM claim exists & nada. Hmmmm......