[Peace-discuss] Glen Rangwala and Alan Simpson MP on "The Absence of Truth - Government Propaganda and the War on Iraq"

[Charles Jenks]

Dr. Glen Rangwala and Alan Simpson, MP have published a new paper for Labour
Against the War (UK) - "The Absence of Truth - Government Propaganda and the
War on Iraq" http://traprockpeace.org/latw030703.html

This brings together in a concise format the revelations of lies that Iraq
had weapons of mass destruction and was such a treat as to justify war.  It
provides a detailed analysis presented in a convenient claim/fact analysis.
It shows that the case for war as presented by Tony Blair (and as cited
repeatedly by the Bush Administration) was based on deceit.

For example, in reference to a claim in the Blair dossier:

****

CLAIM: "Iraq has chemical and biological agents and weapons available [..]
from pre-Gulf War stocks". p.23 In other words, Iraq has managed to retain
stockpiles of these weapons for 12 years.

FACT: According to the weapons inspectors. Iraq produced 4 sets of chemical
agents (1. VX, 2. sarin, 3. tabun, 4. mustard) and 3 sets of biological
agents (5. anthrax, 6. botulinum toxin, 7. aflatoxin) in bulk that it
weaponised before 1991. All of these, except mustard, would have degenerated
within 5 to 10 years. These are the relevant quotes from the 173-page report
of the weapons inspectors, entitled "Unresolved disarmament issues" (6 March
2003), which is at http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/documents/6mar.pdf:
1. "VX produced through route B must be used relatively quickly after
production (about 1 to 8 weeks), which would probably be satisfactory for
wartime requirements." (p.82)

[NB: Iraq produced the 1.5 tonnes of VX referred to on p.16 of the dossier
using the method the inspectors called "route B". There are other ways to
produce VX, but the quantity of VX that the government is referring to was
produced in this unstable form]

2. "According to documents discovered by UNSCOM in Iraq, the purity of
Sarin-type agents produced by Iraq were on average below 60%, and dropped
below Iraq¹s established quality control acceptance level of 40% by purity
some 3 to 12 months after production." (p.72)

3. "documentary evidence suggests that Tabun was produced using process
technology and quality control methodologies that would result in the agent
being degraded to a very low quality through the action of a resulting
by-product." (p.68)

4. mustard produced before 1991 would still be viable today.

5. anthrax can only be stored for ten years or more if it is dried. But the
weapons inspectors recorded: "UNMOVIC has no evidence that drying of anthrax
or any other agent in bulk was conducted." (p.120)

6. "any such stockpiles of botulinum toxin, whether in bulk storage or in
weapons that remained in 1991, would not be active today." (p.101)

7. on aflatoxin: "Such stocks would have degraded and would contain little
if any viable agent in 2003" (p.105).

In summary, all chemical and biological agents that Iraq produced before
1991 - with the one exception of the chemical agent of mustard gas - would
have degenerated by now. In particular, the claim that Iraq could still have
biological agents left over from 1991 -- a claim that the document does make
-- is contradicted by the findings of the weapons inspectors.

****

Glen Rangwala <gr10009 at cam.ac.uk> has been a prime debunker of lies
concerning Iraq and its alleged weapons of mass destruction. He broke the
story about Blair's plagiarized dossier and published the Hussein Kamel
interview that UNSCOM had kept secret. For an annotated index of Dr.
Rangwala's work published on the Traprock site - see
http://traprockpeace.org/glenrangwalaindex.html

Also new on the WMD issue:

Four major unresolved questions (with analyses) by Glen Rangwala -
http://traprockpeace.org/ios030628.html

The questions put to the Blair government:

1. What is the origin of the claim, made four times in the Prime Minister's
September dossier, that Iraq could use chemical and biological weapons
within 45 minutes?

2. Did intelligence assessments before the invasion portray Iraq as a
serious threat?

3. Did intelligence agencies really believe that Iraq could have preserved
chemical and biological weapons that it produced before 1991

4. Did MI6 believe that Iraq was unlikely to use chemical and biological
weapons in the event of an invasion?




Charles Jenks, attorney at law
President of the Core Group
Traprock Peace Center
103A Keets Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
413-773-1633
http://traprockpeace.org