One of the most worrisome things that emerges from the thick intelligence file
\nwe have on Iraq’s biological weapons is the existence of mobile production facilities used to make
\nbiological agents.
\nLet me take you inside that intelligence file and share with you what we know from
\neyewitness accounts. We have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels
\nand on rails.<\/P>
\n
The trucks and train cars are easily moved and are designed to evade detection by inspectors.
\nIn a matter of months, they can produce a quantity of biological poison equal to the entire amount
\nthat Iraq claimed to have produced in the years prior to the Gulf War. …<\/P>
\n
The source was an eyewitness, an Iraqi chemical engineer who supervised one of these
\nfacilities. He actually was present during biological agent production runs. …<\/P>
\n
This defector is currently hiding in another country with the certain knowledge that Saddam
\nHussein will kill him if he finds him. His eyewitness account of these mobile production facilities
\nhas been corroborated by other sources. <\/P>
\n
A second source. An Iraqi civil engineer in a position to know the details of the program
\nconfirmed the existence of transportable facilities moving on trailers.<\/P>
\n
A third source, also in a position to know, reported in summer, 2002, that Iraq had
\nmanufactured mobile production systems mounted on road-trailer units and on rail cars.<\/P>
\n
Finally, a fourth source. An Iraqi major who defected confirmed that Iraq has mobile
\nbiological research laboratories in addition to the production facilities I mentioned
\nearlier.<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
\n
<\/P>
\n
“Yet now,” Johnston writes, “all four of the sources on whom Mr. Powell relied
\nconcerning the supposed mobile biolabs seem at best unreliable, and at worst fictional. Curveball
\nhas been discredited. Another source was deemed a ‘fabricator’ which in intelligence circles is
\ntantamount to a designation as untrustworthy. The third source said the information needed
\nfurther checking. The fourth source could not corroborate Curveball’s claims.”<\/P>
\n
Although we’ll have to wait until after the November election for the Senate to
\nofficially<\/I> identify the “Powers That Be” who misled us into the war in Iraq, can there be
\nany question about who arrogantly made the case for the invasion? Can there be any question
\nabout who has mismanaged the aftermath of the so-called military victory at the human cost of a
\nthousand American soldiers’ lives so far and thousands more wounded? <\/P>
\n
Can there be any question about who caused the death of thousands of Iraqi civilians and tens
\nof thousands of civilian casualties? Or who has emptied the pockets of U.S. taxpayers of $122
\nbillion<\/FONT><\/EM><\/B><\/A> to pay for the war so far, with no end in sight?<\/P>
\nWe don’t really need to wait for the Senate to tell us. We already know who the Powers That
\nBe are. We know their names. We know their style. We know their miscalculations. We know
\ntheir arrogance. And we know we need a change.<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
David Johnston’s report on how the “Powers That Be” conned Americans into believing Iraq had weapons of mass destruction is buried so deep within the The New York Times Website today that it’s virtually invisible. You can always second-guess the way an article is played, of course, and the Times editors decided Johnston’s rated only page […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-751","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-c7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}