Rumsfeld: Bioweapons May Be Hard to Find
Associated Press
April 17, 2003
WASHINGTON - The U.S. military's search for chemical and biological weapons is unlikely to succeed until Iraqis lead American forces to them, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Thursday.
"I don't think we'll discover anything, myself," Rumsfeld said at a town hall-style meeting with Pentagon employees.
"I think what will happen is we'll discover people who will tell us where to go find it. It is not like a treasure hunt where you just run around looking everywhere, hoping you find something."
U.S. troops have found suspicious chemicals and facilities at a number of sites but tests on the materials have proved negative or inconclusive. Eliminating such weapons was a chief reason President Bush gave for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq that began March 20.
A Defense Department employee asked Rumsfeld what could be done so the United States would not be accused of planting any chemical or biological weapons that might be discovered. Rumsfeld said he believed such charges are likely and there is little the United States can do to avoid it.
Only in the past few days, Rumsfeld said, have enough weapons searchers arrived in parts of Iraq where U.S. intelligence indicates chemical or biological weapons could be found.
"The teams have been trained in chain of control, really like a crime scene," he said. "That will not stop certain countries and certain types of people from claiming, inaccurately, that it was planted."
Appearing with Rumsfeld was Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, who cautioned against thinking that the fall from power of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party rule means the war is over.
"I wish I could say that we're winding all this down, but I can't," Myers said.
In other words, you've checked all the sites that you forced Colin Powell to present as evidence, and you've come up with d1ck.
"A Defense Department employee asked Rumsfeld what could be done so the United States would not be accused of planting any chemical or biological weapons that might be discovered. Rumsfeld said he believed such charges are likely and there is little the United States can do to avoid it."
I like that - Spot the politician covering his ass with both hands, and getting his denial ducks in a row. What will happen, if they don't discover any weapons? Now it's going to be hard to plant them in the quantities needed to make a conclusive arguement.
Meanwhile Hans Blix is spitting blood, and his top inspectors, have rejected an approach from USMIL, stating they'll go as UNMOVIC or not at all....