June 23, 2005
Move on, nothing to see here folks....
Remember that 20 tons of chemical weapons that were trucked to Jordan, from Syria? The trial is happening now. Don't expect headlines.
...Col. Najeh al-Azam was giving evidence in the trial of 13 men who are alleged to have planned what would have been the world's first chemical attack by the al-Qaida terror group. The accused include al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu-Musab Al-Zarqawi, and three other fugitives who are being tried in absentia.
Jordanian security services foiled the plot in April last year. Jordanian officials say that had it been carried out, thousands of people would have died... (thanks to Pamela, at Jackson's Junction. Via Glenn).
'course there's no danger, you understand. No no no. It's well established that Bush lied, and the notion that terrorists might get their hands on chemical weapons was just a neocon fantasy, designed to help the Jews manipulate our foreign policy.
Posted by John Weidner at June 23, 2005 08:47 AM | TrackBackJohn, I've been interested in this story all along, but I had never seen particulars about the chemicals until I read the quotes in that WaPo story you linked. These thugs only had common industrial chemicals or immediate derivatives from same (the nitroglycerin). They did not have chemical warfare munitions, not even primitive ones like mustard gas. They could have done a lot of damage, but there's no WMD story here, unless something worse is being concealed by the Jordanian government. I think that's improbable.
Posted by: Alan Sullivan at June 24, 2005 08:14 AMHere's a link. And another. The poison gas was definitely in the original stories, though, re-reading, it may be 20 ton of gas and explosives. I remeber VX being mentioned back then, which is apparently not home-brew stuff.
One would love to know more. Too bad we don't have a press that wants to ferret out the details.
Posted by: John Weidner at June 24, 2005 09:22 AM
