Iraq IS NOT a WMD-Free Zone!

by Mike DiBartolo

In a briefing held on June 29th to the House Armed Services Committee, Army Col. John Chu of the National Ground Intelligence Center and Army Lt. General Michael D. Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave a frank assessment of the WMD program in Iraq and the potential hazard these weapons could cause if in the wrong hands.

According to Col. John Chu, there have been more than 500 weapons found in Iraq since 2003 that constitute Weapons of Mass Destruction(WMD) and though these munitions have degraded, the weapons are still very toxic and potentially lethal.

"These are chemical weapons as defined under the Chemical Weapons Convention, and yes ... they do constitute weapons of mass destruction," Army Col. John Chu told the House Armed Services Committee.

According to Samantha L. Quigley with the American Forces Press Service,

"the Chemical Weapons Convention is an arms control agreement which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons. It was signed in 1993 and entered into force in 1997."

The likelihood of more weapons being found is high. Saddam Hussein's regime carried out an elaborate hide, evade, and dissuade policy that left a great deal of the WMDs within that country unaccounted for.

"I do believe the former regime did a very poor job of accountability of munitions, and certainly did not document the destruction of munitions,"

says Lt. Gen. Michael D. Maples.

"The recovery program goes on, and I do not believe we have found all the weapons."

Maples says that Iraq is not a "WMD-free zone" and that the search for WMDs is ongoing.

The main stream press has once again neglected to report on this briefing leaving the American People under the impression that WMDs were never present in Iraq following the first Gulf War. This view has been repudiated with physical WMD evidence and confirmed during this briefing with the House Armed Services Committee.