At the Time of the 2003 Invasion, Iraq Had Weapons of Mass Destruction

Responses: >> "It is invalid to debate whether or not "Iraq was known to have (or have had previously) possession of weapons of mass destruction."" Writ large, agreed - however, I mean this in the context of that the invasion was not a surprise to Iraq, and they could have had weapons at the time of the decision to invade that were destroyed before the actual invasion began. Also, there was a round of inspection between 1998 and 2002, the results of which provide basis for invasion, that would have caused the government to hide any material at that time. >> "During the military operation, the U.S. had used depleted uranium shells (munitions which could arguably be considered WMDs)" Depleted Uranium has not been shown to count as even a radiological weapon (http://fhp.osd.mil...). Furthermore, if you concede that DU is a WMD, then Iraq certainly had/used WMD's... >> "This begs the question, if Iraq had WMDs, why were they not used during the ground invasion of Iraq?" Because the US would have retaliated in kind by turning Baghdad, Al Basrah, Khorramshahr, Abadan, Kirkuk, and Mosul into smoking craters. *************************** My opponent references the ISG several times - here's what the ISG has to say about WMD in Iraq: ""The ISG has not found evidence that Saddam possessed WMD stocks in 2003, but [there is] the possibility that some weapons existed in Iraq, although not of a militarily significant capability... There is an extensive, yet fragmentary and circumstantial, body of evidence suggesting that Saddam pursued a strategy to maintain a capability to return to WMD after sanctions were lifted..." "We have discovered dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002." *************************** >> "Moreover, your claim that Iraq had the "technology at the time to produce a nuclear weapon" because of the removal of two tons of low-enriched uranium is false." Iraq had a nuclear program underway, as well as pieces of technology and the required plans to produce a weapon buried under Mahdi Obeidi's rose garden (http://www.cnn.com...). >> "First of all the majority of the uranium removed from Iraq was unprocessed ore, radioactive yea, but completely benign with regard to weaponization. Equally, even if the desire existed to convert the raw material into a dirty bomb, it would have been ineffective. In order for the uranium to be dangerous, it would need to be processed to isotope U235, then burnt using something like magnesium to create an inhalable powder." Incorrect - unenriched uranium is perfectly applicable to radiological weapon building. Even naturally ocurring U-238 is radioactive, and a simple explosive could be enough to particalize it for inhalation or skin contact. Embedded U-238 particles in one's liver would be bad news. >> "Mustard gas and sarin gas have short shelf lives, like other forms of chemical weapons, of about 5 years." Which suggests that any mustard gas or sarin found was manufactured recently... In fact, right about the same time that inspection teams began showing up - the same inspection teams who were not allowed access to many areas of factories and laboratories and were ejected from the country by Hussein's regime... Doesn't that beg the question - Why were inspectors not allowed unilateral access if Iraq had no WMDs to hide? >> "And lastly, after almost 6 full years of occupying Iraq, why were no WMDs found? Because Iraq didn't have any." A declassified letter from the Director of National Intelligence states otherwise, noting among other things that coalition forces have removed 500 weapons containing degraded mustard or sarin, and that even degraded chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal (http://intelligence.house.gov...). ******************* Furthermore, the proposition can be fulfilled if one considers that Saddam may have moved stockpiles out of Iraq, most notably to Syria, before the actual invasion began - http://en.wikipedia.org... - has more information on that specific theory. Degraded weapons are still WMD.