WWIII Prediction

[jimnyc]

I had read somewhere that the chemicals found were out of shelf life. Those chemical agents found, last anywhere between 2 to 3 years.

Not always true. It degrades once weaponized. If stored properly, and not weaponized yet, it can last a few decades.

[Drummond]

Sadly, I believe blogs and opinions are not evidence.

The Chilcot report will put to rest the propaganda from both sides of the table.

Nonnie, the Chilcot Inquiry first came into being because Gordon Brown ordered it. Its supposedly 'fair' remit is to work from the assumption that there was something seriously wrong with the British Government's decision to join America's efforts in Iraq ... and its direction throughout is taken in order to satisfy opinion in the UK which insists this is so.

Putting it very bluntly .. it's an officially-sanctioned witch-hunt, its purpose to dissuade future Governments against taking the same line that Blair's one did. Any and all evidence they try to collect will be collected to - it is hoped - prove the proposition of fundamental error of ever going into Iraq.

Our Left hated what Blair did, you see. He even suffered two Cabinet Ministerial walkouts in protest .. from Robin Cook and Clare Short. The harder-line Left have been gunning for Blair ever since, and Gordon Brown - himself no fan of Blair - wants things settled so that Labour never support you with such enthusiasm ever again.

Perhaps Chilcot has taken so very long to publish his Report .. and we STILL haven't had a date for it, have we, Nonnie ? .. because Chilcot underestimated the difficulty of the job he'd been handed ?

[Drummond]

Pressure cooker bombs are classed as WMD !!

Are you telling me that if, say, two of these WMD's were captured by terrorists, then deployed in the London Underground, or Newcastle's Metro, that their use wouldn't prove devastating, with much loss of life ?

By the way, find me the section of UN Resolution 1441 which demanded that only WMD's in a pristine condition qualified as WMD's. Fact is that even degraded ones are still WMD's.

[Nonnie]

Nonnie, the Chilcot Inquiry first came into being because Gordon Brown ordered it. Its supposedly 'fair' remit is to work from the assumption that there was something seriously wrong with the British Government's decision to join America's efforts in Iraq ... and its direction throughout is taken in order to satisfy opinion in the UK which insists this is so.

Putting it very bluntly .. it's an officially-sanctioned witch-hunt, its purpose to dissuade future Governments against taking the same line that Blair's one did. Any and all evidence they try to collect will be collected to - it is hoped - prove the proposition of fundamental error of ever going into Iraq.

Our Left hated what Blair did, you see. He even suffered two Cabinet Ministerial walkouts in protest .. from Robin Cook and Clare Short. The harder-line Left have been gunning for Blair ever since, and Gordon Brown - himself no fan of Blair - wants things settled so that Labour never support you with such enthusiasm ever again.

Perhaps Chilcot has taken so very long to publish his Report .. and we STILL haven't had a date for it, have we, Nonnie ? .. because Chilcot underestimated the difficulty of the job he'd been handed ?

The WORST political years in UK's ENTIRE HISTORY was Blair and Brown.

I have my fingers crossed Blair gets his just desserts.

His resistance to Chilcot's questions is evident of his lies.

[Drummond]

The WORST political years in UK's ENTIRE HISTORY was Blair and Brown.

I have my fingers crossed Blair gets his just desserts.

Granted, they were no picnic. But an officially-sanctioned Inquiry designed to do the job of a witch-hunt isn't the way to go.

Besides ... how about the days when Labour first introduced our NHS ? Costs even THEN were astronomical, and we came close to bankrupting the UK because of it.

Fact ... the British Labour Party did more to extend State rationing, than even Adolf Hitler did !! The last vestiges of it finally disappeared, not in 1945, but in 1955 !

Oh, and I see you added to your post. Fact is, Nonnie, that Blair did appear before the Inquiry, and answered questions put to it. See this ...

http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/media/...0121-Blair.pdf

Chilocot's opening remarks on the day Blair was called before him to testify. An excerpt ...

As I made clear in launching this round of hearings, there are a number of areas where we need to clarify what happened. We need to find the lessons to be learned and to do that we need to construct as reliable and accurate account as possible and reach our own conclusions.

Nothing quite like dressing up bias as 'fairness', eh ? Chilcot proceeded from the presumption that lessons HAD to be 'learned' ...

[NightTrain]

Pressure cooker bombs are classed as WMD !!

No, that would be an IED.

WMDs are a bit more complicated than a pressure cooker bomb. Incidentally, when I was growing up as a kid, my Mom's pressure cooker blew up while we were all standing right there. The lid embedded itself in the ceiling and stuck there, and there were beans everywhere... and we all got scalded a bit, but not badly. Turns out a navy bean had plugged the safety vent from the inside. Sounded like a 12 gauge shotgun going off!

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Was the Boston bomber charged with using WMD?

I think not. Then again I suspect many charges were ignored and not charged against him.
That has nothing to do with my comment that -"in some sense " they are .

Mass-being defined as -------------

mass
mas/
noun
1.
a coherent, typically large body of matter with no definite shape.
"a mass of curly hair"
synonyms: pile, heap; More
2.
the majority of.
"the great mass of the population had little interest in the project"
synonyms: majority, greater part/number, best/better part, major part, bulk, main body, lion's share; most
"the mass of our students are licensed drivers"
adjective
1.
relating to, done by, or affecting large numbers of people or things.
"the movie has mass appeal"
synonyms: widespread, general, wholesale, universal, large-scale, extensive, pandemic
"mass hysteria"
verb
1.
assemble or cause to assemble into a mass or as one body.
"both countries began massing troops in the region"
synonyms: assemble, marshal, gather together, muster, round up, mobilize, rally
"they began massing troops in the region"

Now are we going to debate the definition of both Weapon and Destruction ?
Or will my saying---" in some sense"as a clarifier be properly understood?

And yes, I fully understand the general thoughts when the term ,WMD is used...

However, had you been in that crowd of innocent people they bombed, I bet you'd think it was a WMD
and not quibble about it so ... - ---Tyr

[jimnyc]

The Feds did charge him with WMD's (Boston).

Still doesn't change anything about Iraq and WMD's though. The missing chemical weapons alone, it's indisputable that they would be recognized as such, as they were beyond lethal, and it's only intent is to be used for weaponry. Same as large missiles and such. We're not talking about Iraq missing a few IED's, but massive amounts of chemicals. When someone says "2,000 tonnes", do that math, that's a LOT.

[jimnyc]

Incidentally, when I was growing up as a kid, my Mom's pressure cooker blew up while we were all standing right there. The lid embedded itself in the ceiling and stuck there, and there were beans everywhere... and we all got scalded a bit, but not badly. Turns out a navy bean had plugged the safety vent from the inside. Sounded like a 12 gauge shotgun going off!

I believe someone in your family took a picture of the event!

[NightTrain]

I believe someone in your family took a picture of the event!

Close! It was on a woodstove, so there wasn't any damage to it... but that just made the lid go that much faster!

[Nonnie]

I think not. Then again I suspect many charges were ignored and not charged against him.
That has nothing to do with my comment that -"in some sense " they are .

Mass-being defined as -------------



Now are we going to debate the definition of both Weapon and Destruction ?
Or will my saying---" in some sense"as a clarifier be properly understood?

And yes, I fully understand the general thoughts when the term ,WMD is used...

However, had you been in that crowd of innocent people they bombed, I bet you'd think it was a WMD
and not quibble about it so ... - ---Tyr

Are pesticides WMD?

[Drummond]

Are pesticides WMD?

I don't think that what was found and captured in Iraq were cans of pesticide.

[Nonnie]

I don't think that what was found and captured in Iraq were cans of pesticide.

Did you know that pesticides are not WMD but if you have sufficient pesticides and use them in a manner towards citizens to be deemed as WMD, then they are deemed WMD.

Basically, it's probably easier to work out what items aren't WMD.

It's probably one of those where certain governments move the goal posts on word meanings to encompass more and more to suite their means.

[Nonnie]

Evolution of its use

During the Cold War, the term "weapons of mass destruction" was primarily a reference to nuclear weapons. At the time, in the West the euphemism "strategic weapons" was used to refer to the American nuclear arsenal, which was presented as a necessary deterrent against nuclear or conventional attack from the Soviet Union (see Mutual Assured Destruction).

Subsequent to Operation Opera, the destruction of a pre-operational nuclear reactor inside Iraq by the Israeli Air Force, Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin countered criticism by saying that "on no account shall we permit an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against the people of Israel." This policy of pre-emptive action against real or perceived WMD became known as the Begin Doctrine.

The term "weapons of mass destruction" continued to see periodic use throughout this time, usually in the context of nuclear arms control; Ronald Reagan used it during the 1986 Reykjavík Summit, when referring to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.[10] Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, used the term in an 1989 speech to the United Nations, using it primarily in reference to chemical arms.[11]

The end of the Cold War reduced U.S. reliance on nuclear weapons as a deterrent, causing it to shift its focus to disarmament. With the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and 1991 Gulf War, Iraq's nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs became a particular concern of the first Bush Administration.[12] Following the war, Bill Clinton and other western politicians and media continued to use the term, usually in reference to ongoing attempts to dismantle Iraq's weapons programs.[citation needed]

After the 11 September 2001 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, an increased fear of non-conventional weapons and asymmetrical warfare took hold in many countries. This fear reached a crescendo with the 2002 Iraq disarmament crisis and the alleged existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq that became the primary justification for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. However, no WMD were found in Iraq. (Old stockpiles of chemical munitions including sarin and mustard agents were found, but none were considered to be in a usable condition due to corrosion.)[13]

Because of its prolific use and (worldwide) public profile during this period, the American Dialect Society voted "weapons of mass destruction" (and its abbreviation, "WMD") the word of the year in 2002,[14] and in 2003 Lake Superior State University added WMD to its list of terms banished for "Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness".[15]

In its criminal complaint against the main suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing of 15 April 2013, the FBI refers to a pressure-cooker improvised bomb as a "weapon of mass destruction".[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon...ss_destruction

[sundaydriver]

Are pesticides WMD?

I think over a half million people in Bophol India would say yes. Of course Union Carbide said; no.