Sunday, August 24, 2003
Powell's Audio Tapes: Unanswered questions
It is looking more and more likely that Iraq had no stock piles of chemical or biological weapons. That being the case why have journalists not taken another look at the most convincing evidence of their supposed existence, viz., the three audio tapes played by Colin Powell on February 5th.
Let us recall what was said in those tapes. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/05/iraq/main539459.shtml
1) A day before the weapons inspectors were set to reenter Iraq, what we are led to believe is an Iraqi colonel asks an Iraqi general the following question “We have this modified vehicle. What do we say if one of them sees it?" The general responds by saying “You didn't get a modified. You don't have one of those, do you?" Yes, “I have one of those.” “From where” asks the general. “From the workshop, from the al-Kindi company” responds the colonel. The general then decides that he will “come to see you in the morning. I'm worried. You all have something left." Seemingly protesting the generals decision the colonel proclaims that “We evacuated everything. We don't have anything left."
2) A supposed Iraqi confirms for another that there is no “forbidden ammo” at an ammo dump.
3) In by far the most intriguing of the three tapes, one supposed Republican Guard commander tells another sometime in mid January to “write this down … remove the expression ‘nerve agent’ wherever it comes up in the wireless instructions.”
If one is authentic, then it is telling. The problem is it does not tell us enough. We do not know just what is evacuated and we are not provided with enough background material about the suspected site to speculate as to what it might be. Once more, because the tape was made on November 26th, it does not necessarily call in question the Iraqi weapons declaration for the simple reason that it had not been released yet. What the message does tell us is that in addition to the evacuated material there is a modified vehicle and this modified vehicle from the Al-Kindi (a missile company) is problematic; it is for this reason that the colonel who knows, after all, what the modified vehicle is asks his superior for advice about how to lie to the inspectors if asked about the vehicle.
Two is a little less damming. As Powell said in introducing the tape, just days before the UN found 12 empty chemical war heads. The problem for Powell is that it is not clear is whether these warheads were remnants of past chemical weapons programs or whether they were a sign of an active chemical weapons program. Powell suggests that latter interpretation is correct and that the audio tape is further proof that what the UN found on the January 16th was just the tip of the ice berg. “Let me remind you that, of the 122 millimeter chemical warheads, that the U.N. inspectors found recently, this discovery could very well be, as has been noted, the tip of the submerged iceberg.”
That said, even if the former interpretation is correct the tape does prove something, viz., that the Iraqis’ weapons declaration could hardly be called a definite account of what weapons Iraq actually had and that far from being willing to admit that something was missing from the declaration, the Iraqis preferred to cover it up. “We sent you a message yesterday to clean out all of the areas, the scrap areas, the abandoned areas. Make sure there is nothing there. … After you have carried out what is contained in this message, destroy the message because I don't want anyone to see this message."
Three, it is first important to note that the Iraqis were not talking about nerve agents, but rather about the expression “nerve agents.” However as was pointed out by the UN and by various antiwar forces, what nerve agents the Iraqis had admitted to having back in 1991 would have long since degraded. That being the case, even if one is generous and conceives of them talking about past instructions and not of future ones, why was the expression “nerve agents” still appearing in any wireless instruction?
It is looking more and more likely that Iraq had no stock piles of chemical or biological weapons. That being the case why have journalists not taken another look at the most convincing evidence of their supposed existence, viz., the three audio tapes played by Colin Powell on February 5th.
Let us recall what was said in those tapes. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/05/iraq/main539459.shtml
1) A day before the weapons inspectors were set to reenter Iraq, what we are led to believe is an Iraqi colonel asks an Iraqi general the following question “We have this modified vehicle. What do we say if one of them sees it?" The general responds by saying “You didn't get a modified. You don't have one of those, do you?" Yes, “I have one of those.” “From where” asks the general. “From the workshop, from the al-Kindi company” responds the colonel. The general then decides that he will “come to see you in the morning. I'm worried. You all have something left." Seemingly protesting the generals decision the colonel proclaims that “We evacuated everything. We don't have anything left."
2) A supposed Iraqi confirms for another that there is no “forbidden ammo” at an ammo dump.
3) In by far the most intriguing of the three tapes, one supposed Republican Guard commander tells another sometime in mid January to “write this down … remove the expression ‘nerve agent’ wherever it comes up in the wireless instructions.”
If one is authentic, then it is telling. The problem is it does not tell us enough. We do not know just what is evacuated and we are not provided with enough background material about the suspected site to speculate as to what it might be. Once more, because the tape was made on November 26th, it does not necessarily call in question the Iraqi weapons declaration for the simple reason that it had not been released yet. What the message does tell us is that in addition to the evacuated material there is a modified vehicle and this modified vehicle from the Al-Kindi (a missile company) is problematic; it is for this reason that the colonel who knows, after all, what the modified vehicle is asks his superior for advice about how to lie to the inspectors if asked about the vehicle.
Two is a little less damming. As Powell said in introducing the tape, just days before the UN found 12 empty chemical war heads. The problem for Powell is that it is not clear is whether these warheads were remnants of past chemical weapons programs or whether they were a sign of an active chemical weapons program. Powell suggests that latter interpretation is correct and that the audio tape is further proof that what the UN found on the January 16th was just the tip of the ice berg. “Let me remind you that, of the 122 millimeter chemical warheads, that the U.N. inspectors found recently, this discovery could very well be, as has been noted, the tip of the submerged iceberg.”
That said, even if the former interpretation is correct the tape does prove something, viz., that the Iraqis’ weapons declaration could hardly be called a definite account of what weapons Iraq actually had and that far from being willing to admit that something was missing from the declaration, the Iraqis preferred to cover it up. “We sent you a message yesterday to clean out all of the areas, the scrap areas, the abandoned areas. Make sure there is nothing there. … After you have carried out what is contained in this message, destroy the message because I don't want anyone to see this message."
Three, it is first important to note that the Iraqis were not talking about nerve agents, but rather about the expression “nerve agents.” However as was pointed out by the UN and by various antiwar forces, what nerve agents the Iraqis had admitted to having back in 1991 would have long since degraded. That being the case, even if one is generous and conceives of them talking about past instructions and not of future ones, why was the expression “nerve agents” still appearing in any wireless instruction?
Comments:
Post a Comment
