The Nigh Seen Creeder

Dave Gaubatz, who served for 12 years as an agent in the U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations, knows for a fact that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The Spectator (UK) says this:
 
"Saddam’s WMD did exist. [Gaubatz] should know, because he found the sites where he is certain they were stored. And the reason you don’t know about this is that the American administration failed to act on his information, ‘lost’ his classified reports and is now doing everything it can to prevent disclosure of the terrible fact that, through its own incompetence, it allowed Saddam’s WMD to end up in the hands of the very terrorist states against whom it is so controversially at war."
 
I don't need Dave Gaubatz to tell me that WMD were present in Iraq prior to the U.S.-British invasion.  Indeed, I did a pretty good job of putting the Saddam-had-no-WMD puppy to sleep in October 2003. Here's what I said then (on a Web site that's no longer in business): 
 
Where are the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? This is the question being asked by a slew of liberal pundits, politicians, and laypeople. According to the New York Times editorial board and every Democrat running for president, Iraq was not a threat to the United States; and we were all misled and deceived by the Bush Administration during the lead-up to the Iraq war.

However, when one digs for information beyond what's been offered by the mainstream media - most of which presents a skewed Upper West Side view of the world anyway - it is apparent that Iraq not only had WMD, but these weapons were dispatched in a most disturbing fashion.

We know that Saddam Hussein's regime possessed large quantities of chemical and biological weapons when U.N. inspectors were kicked out in 1998. According to a report released by the CIA, Iraq possessed 3.9 tons of VX nerve gas, 812 tons of sarin nerve agent, 3,080 tons of mustard gas, and 2,200 gallons of anthrax.

In a 1998 New Republic article, turncoat weapons inspector Scott Ritter confirmed Iraq's ongoing weapons program: "Iraq is not … disarmed. Based on highly credible intelligence, [U.N. weapons inspectors] suspect that Iraq still has biological agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, and clostridium perfringens in sufficient quantity to fill several dozen bombs and ballistic missile warheads. Iraq probably retains several tons of the highly toxic VX substance, as well as sarin nerve gas and mustard gas. And Iraq has significant dual-use industrial infrastructure that can be used to rapidly reconstitute large-scale chemical weapons production."

So, where are Iraq's WMD? Captured Iraqi officials have indicated that all of Iraq's WMD were destroyed in the weeks prior to the U.S.-British invasion. This theory simply begs another question: Why would Saddam Hussein secretly destroy his deadliest weapons knowing that a massive force was ready to overthrow him if he didn't show evidence that he had completely disarmed? To learn what happened to Iraq's WMD, one must search beyond the conventional headlines.

In March 2003, National Review reported, "General Yossi Kuperwasser, head of research at Israeli intelligence, told the Knesset as early as last October [2002] that Iraq was moving WMDs into and building facilities in Syria."

In April 2003, former United Nations chief weapons inspector Richard Butler told the Sunday Times (London), "There is evidence Syria helped hide Iraqi chemical weapons." The Times added, "Mr. Butler said he had seen intelligence during his time as chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq from 1997 until 1999 which seemed to indicate Syria had helped keep Iraq's weapons of mass destruction hidden."

On August 25, 2003, a headline in the International Herald Tribune announced, "U.S. suspects Iraqi WMD in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley." Apparently, the CIA had evidence of large numbers of tractor-trailer trucks moving from Iraq to Syria to Lebanon in January, but "the significance of this sighting did not register at the time."

And finally, as reported in the Washington Times on September 17, John Bolton, the undersecretary of state for arms control, told a House International Relations subcommittee that U.S. intelligence services are examining "reports that Iraq sent weapons to Syria to hide them from U.N. inspectors and coalition troops."

We're now learning that streams of foreign fighters are entering Iraq from Iran and Syria. Earlier this year, the Bush Administration was criticized when it issued stern warnings against Syrian interference in Iraq. President Bush was on to something though. Syria may play nice when the international press comes calling, but there is every indication to suggest that Syria is actively aiding subversive elements in Iraq. It is highly possible that Iraqi chemical and biological weapons will remain hidden in Syria and Lebanon until Hussein - or his sympathizers - decides to unleash a deadly attack against U.S., British, or U.N. officials in a final display of force.

The daily attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq should convince us all that the war on global terrorism shows no sign of abating. As it becomes clear that other nations are subverting American efforts to rebuild Iraq, we should make it known that we have the resolve to do what's necessary to protect our soldiers - even if that means combat operations beyond Iraq's borders.

Finally, we must ignore the bluster of the leftist naysayers who are convinced that there were no WMD in Iraq. Ample evidence exists to suggest that Iraq had active weapons programs prior to the U.S.-British invasion. Coalition forces should use all means necessary to discover what actually happened to Hussein's weapons of terror. Failure to do so will indeed have deadly consequences.