Did Saddam admit he had WMDs?

[Yurt]

I was having this discussion with someone about the wmds, or lack thereof, and I pointed out all the people besides bush who thought he had wmds and I pointed out that saddam said he had wmd shortly before the Iraq war.

Am I wrong? I could not find anything that said that he did, but I thought I remember reading stuff where even saddam believed he had wmds.

Any sources? Thanks.

 

[Annie]

I was having this discussion with someone about the wmds, or lack thereof, and I pointed out all the people besides bush who thought he had wmds and I pointed out that saddam said he had wmd shortly before the Iraq war.

Am I wrong? I could not find anything that said that he did, but I thought I remember reading stuff where even saddam believed he had wmds.

Any sources? Thanks.

Something like this?

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2003/10/11/145715.shtml

The elite media continue to insist that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction when the U.S. attacked in March, citing the scant evidence of any actual weapons finds by U.S. arms inspector David Kay.

But if it's true that Saddam Hussein was actually innocent on the WMD charge, then why did he confess in 1991 that his country had amassed huge stockpiles of highly toxic weaponized poisons - along with the delivery systems to take them beyond Iraq's borders?

That's right - lost in the debate over why U.S. weapons inspectors have yet to uncover the Iraqi version of the Manhattan Project is this salient fact: Not only did Saddam's regime admit to possessing thousands of tons of lethal chemical and biological agents - Baghdad also gave a detailed inventory of its WMD arsenal to the United Nations.

This week's Weekly Standard revisits Baghdad's 1991 WMD mea culpa - complete with a laundry list of the frightening weapons that the press continues to suggest were a figment of the Bush administration's imagination.

The magazine contended, "Here is what was known by 1998 based on Iraq's own admissions."

Baghdad had produced and failed to account for

• at least 3.9 tons of deadly VX nerve gas, along with 805 tons of precursor ingredients for the production of more VX.

• 4,000 tons of ingredients to produce other types of poison gas.

• 8,500 liters of anthrax.

• 500 bombs fitted with parachutes for the purpose of delivering poison gas or germ payloads.

• 550 artillery shells filled with mustard gas.

• 107,500 casings for chemical weapons.

• 157 aerial bombs filled with germ agents.

• 25 missile warheads containing germ agents, including anthrax, aflatoxin, and botulinum.

Again, the above arsenal is NOT what U.S. or European intelligence suspected Baghdad had. These are the WMDs that Saddam himself admitted he had - and failed to account for despite repeated demands from the U.N. that he do so.

It's also worth noting that the overwhelming majority of the WMDs Saddam confessed to went completely undetected by U.N. weapons inspectors who combed Iraq for 12 years.

Still, thanks to the media's five-month-long campaign to discredit the Iraq war - not to mention the horrible job done by the White House public relations team - most Americans have no idea that questions about whether Iraq had WMDs have already been answered - by no less an authority than Saddam Hussein himself.​

 

[Yurt]

Thanks, that did help.

I guess I remembered wrong or mislplace when he admitted to having them. I thought it was as close as 1999 or 2000. I remember there being something about that Saddam's people were lying to him and even he thought he had wmd's. Another theory altogether, but I just thought that he admitted later in time

Thanks again!

 

[oxbow3]

See my comments in the "lying idiots thread" pp 5-7. Bio weapons have a shelf life of only a few years, most chemical weapons a bit longer, so most of them would have been inactive by thye time we invaded. Also keep in mind that we and Germany gave him the WMD's ourselves in the early '80's to use against Iran. IIRC, we gave them to Germany first, too.

 

[Yurt]

:chillpill

No need to blatently changed the topic in this post.

Easy now...

 

[dilloduck]

See my comments in the "lying idiots thread" pp 5-7. Bio weapons have a shelf life of only a few years, most chemical weapons a bit longer, so most of them would have been inactive by thye time we invaded. Also keep in mind that we and Germany gave him the WMD's ourselves in the early '80's to use against Iran. IIRC, we gave them to Germany first, too.

With the free flow of contraband inspite of sanctions there was no telling WHAT was in Iraq. I'm aware that you are attempting to demonize Pres Bush
but must realize that 9/11 changed everything and I ask you to look at one particular item that seems to get overlooked. Saddam and his sons were given I believe 2 or 3 days to leave Iraqwith their families to avoid invasion. He could have easily left one of his cronies in charge and high-tailed it to countries offering him sanction. He was rich beyond his wildest dreams. Why didn't he go and spare his country ?

 

[dilloduck]

Excellent question!! Hmmm, both sons are dead and Saddam is imprisoned, I guess it was all a pride issue!

Some just don't get it!

I remember being shocked at the time of the offer. I was sure he would take the out he was offered thus putting the invasion strategy on hold for God knows how long. We were already having a hard time with the logistics regarding Turkey etc. I think he got some bad advice from the countries that told him the US was bluffing.