The Central Intelligence Agency, working with American troops during the occupation of Iraq, repeatedly purchased nerve-agent rockets from a secretive Iraqi seller, part of a previously undisclosed effort to ensure that old chemical weapons remaining in Iraq did not fall into the hands of terrorists or militant groups, according to current and former American officials.
The extraordinary arms purchase plan, known as Operation Avarice, began in 2005 and continued into 2006, and the American military deemed it a nonproliferation success. It led to the United States’ acquiring and destroying at least 400 Borak rockets, one of the internationally condemned chemical weapons that Saddam Hussein’s Baathist government manufactured in the 1980s but that were not accounted for by United Nations inspections mandated after the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
The effort was run out of the C.I.A. station in Baghdad in collaboration with the Army’s 203rd Military Intelligence Battalion and teams of chemical-defense and explosive ordnance disposal troops, officials and veterans of the units said. Many rockets were in poor condition and some were empty or held a nonlethal liquid, the officials said. But others contained the nerve agent sarin, which analysis showed to be purer than the intelligence community had expected given the age of the stock.
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3 comments:
I've been reading about this for some time now. The NY Times had another story on chemical weapons being found in Iraq awhile ago.
What they are saying are yes, indeed chemical weapons were found contrary to what the public was told. President Bush wanted it kept secret to protect the troops and because he didn't want the insurgents/terrorists going in search of the hidden weapons even though the military had destroyed them. Those involved in the secret mission signed confidentiality agreements. When asked why they were told that President Bush didn't care about his legacy as much as he did about the troops and others, and if it meant he'd take heat in saying no chemical weapons were found then so be it.
They also knew if they admitted to weapons being found the terrorist would descend on Iraq in search of them destroyed or not until they found them.
Manufactured after the fact evidence.Why can't the Bush Administration admit making a HUGE mistake that cost thousands of lives and left thousands disabled? I expect a major announcement to hit the networks very soon backing this claim.Millions of mouth breathers will sit there and believe every word of it because Jeb is running.Could it be more obvious?
Bought them? I guess Sadam didn't keep the receipt, otherwise it would have just been a return. That's because we sold him those weapons to fight Iran.
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