January 27, 2004
A mystery solved...perhaps
Yesterday I blogged about the James Risen article on the disarray in the Iraqi WMD programs.
...After the onset of this "dark ages," Dr. Kay said, Iraqi scientists realized they could go directly to Mr. Hussein and present fanciful plans for weapons programs, and receive approval and large amounts of money. Whatever was left of an effective weapons capability, he said, was largely subsumed into corrupt money-raising schemes by scientists skilled in the arts of lying and surviving in a fevered police state....That may explain something that was mysterious.
In September 2002 there was a scare because of evidence the Iraqis were developing Aflatoxin as a weapon. It's carcinogenic, and the thought of a cancer-causing terror weapon was especially creepy. But then it turned out that it's extemely carcinogenic in mice, but only mildly so to humans. It's useless as a weapon. (I blogged about it here.)
Well, if you want to sell a terror weapon to Saddam, Aflatoxin is a good bet. Sounds frightful, it's easy to make, and if you spill it it's not going to kill you. And since the results are not expected to happen immediately, it's hard to prove that it's ineffective...
Posted by John Weidner at January 27, 2004 07:21 PM | TrackBackDoes this mean that the Iraqi scientists were brave people valiantly thwarting the Iraqi dictator's policies?
Also the UN weapons inspections process must have been a nightmare for them - trying to prove to the UN that they weren't creating weapons and to prove to Saddam that they were.
Posted by: A at January 30, 2004 01:45 PMI'd guess the inspections were a godsend. All the hide-and-go-seek would help obscure the question.
"Where are those weapons of mass terror you promised me?"
"Never fear, Oh Mighty One, they exist and we've buried them far off in the desert."
Posted by: John Weidner at January 30, 2004 01:57 PM
