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Saddam’s Black Death Site at Salman Pak
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news report
Monday April 07, 2003 23:59 by Avi H.
Iraq never wanted to harm nobody... While the world’s gaze is fixed on the sensational developments in Baghdad and Basra, US weapons of mass destruction specialists are using a toothcomb to go through one of the grimmest sites of the Saddam era: Salman Pak, center of biological weapons development and training ground for foreign Islamic terrorists. The site, 25 km southeast of Baghdad, was captured by the American 1st Marine Expeditionary Force last Friday, April 4. Its situation on a 20 sq.km area inside a curve formed by the Tigris River made it easier for Saddam’s Directorate of General Intelligence to isolate the site, which was fenced off and patrolled by a large guard force. The American soldiers found the buildings of this dreaded place intact, like so many other locations in this war, as though its owners thought they were coming back soon. Two of those buildings are luxury private villas owned by Saddam and his half-brother Barazan al-Tikriti. Salman Pak is where, up to 1991 at least, the Iraqis developed their biological weapons. Dr. Rihab Taha, known to US intelligence as “Dr. Germ”, engaged in research on a massive scale on anthrax, botulinum toxin, ricin and other poisons to man. Its facilities are expected to yield promising leads to hidden WMD locations around the country. |
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Why do you persist in denying the truth that Iraq has been liberated from the tyranny of a bunch of evil, murdering, torturing, pilfering thugs who would think nothing of gassing you or your family if you got in their way?
Iraqis Looting Basra as British Take Control of City
BASRA, Iraq — British forces took control of the heart of Basra on Monday, met by few pockets of resistance and greeted by hundreds of people who shook their hands and welcomed them to Iraq's second-largest city.
Royal Marine commandos seized a vacant, pink-hued marble palace belonging to President Saddam Hussein. Elsewhere in the impoverished city, there was widespread looting in the city's narrowing streets, and even reports of some retaliatory attacks by Iraqis against militiamen still loyal to Saddam.
For two weeks, the British had held off from storming the city of 1.3 million people to avoid civilian casualties in what they feared would become bloody urban fighting against Saddam's Fedayeen fighters and other loyalists.
"We know local militia have been ordered not to wear their uniforms. There are arms caches everywhere. They fire at us, lay down their arms, wave a white flag, and move on," said Capt. Niall Brennan of the Irish Guards.
The success of the troops saw a brutal response from some civilians. Several militiamen were seen being killed by throngs of civilians, Press Association said. A British soldier was also told that civilians had killed a policeman, according to British press pool reports.
Saddam destroyed everything. He destroyed the water, he destroyed the people. The people of Basra are very happy today," said one man, who refused to give his name, giving a thumbs up to a passing soldier.
Hundreds of people poured out to welcome and shake hands with the soldiers. Women in chadors hovered in the background, and soldiers talked and joked with civilians and let some boys look through their gunsights.
The record of British imperialism is not exactly exemplary, to put it mildly, when it comes to using posion gas. I suggest you have a look at this page before you get to high and mighty about the (real) crimes of Saddam:
http://www.iraqwar.org/chemical.htm
You're going to use dresden as an example of Chem attack?? Here's a bit of info...if the city is a 1200 degree inferno, you're probably not going to worry about the chemicals.
The above site lists the US weapons AND what they are doing in the chemical warfare field. New and improved so not under sanctions. Clusterbombs--new and improved. Propagana. THEIR authorized use of degradation and what they do to POWS. They also send out prisoners to other countries who DO use torture. Guatamala prime example. So far they have found NO weapons of mass destruction. Big Headlines stating we have found chemical wmd------fertalizer. 300 torture victims and coffins!!---they bodies are from 91. Believe it or not they DO train their men on video games and some reality games--could be why they shoot first?? ask questions later.
A knowledge of the English language helps. All their statements have qualifiers in them ie. could be, may have, might be.
Also the cities they say they have "captured" are in fact just "contained" BIG Difference.
But now a question? Who the H#ll let Bush into Ireland???????? Also see http://bushbodycount
This mess is going to go on for YEARS. The ira has nothing on the Islamic fundamentalists...Many home bombings coming (my prediction) Good luck.
You must have bee watching RTE.
The stories of poinon gas and chemicals are as usual US lies .
Also the warehouse full of bodies in coffins that were feted as the pruduct of Saddams terror were in fact Iraqi soldiers murdered by illegal murdering invaders. They had been labelled and boxed under muslim law for burial when the war would allow.
This didn't deter RTE from portraying this as and incident of Saddams torture
Perhaps you'd like to comment on Israels WMD programmes Avi?
On 3 October 1957, France and Israel signed a revised agreement calling for France to build a 24 MWt reactor which was constructed in secret.
United States inspectors visited Dimona seven times during the 1960s, but they were unable to obtain an accurate picture of the activities carried out there, largely due to tight Israeli control over the timing and agenda of the visits.
The Israelis went so far as to install false control room panels and to brick over elevators and hallways that accessed certain areas of the facility.
The inspectors were able to report that there was no clear scientific research or civilian nuclear power program justifying such a large reactor - circumstantial evidence of the Israeli bomb program - but found no evidence of "weapons related activities" such as the existence of a plutonium reprocessing plant.
Although the United States government did not encourage or approve of the Israeli nuclear program, it also did nothing to stop it.
In 1966 when embassy staff learned that Israel was beginning to put nuclear warheads in missiles, the message seemed to disappear into the bureaucracy and was never acted upon.
By the late 1990s the U.S. Intelligence Community estimated that Israel possessed between 75-130 weapons, based on production estimates. The stockpile would certainly include warheads for mobile Jericho-1 and Jericho-2 missiles, as well as bombs for Israeli aircraft, and may include other tactical nuclear weapons of various types. Some published estimates even claimed that Israel might have as many as 400 nuclear weapons by the late 1990s.
Your comment is true but irrelevant.