Re: What has America lost?

Jeffraham Prestonian wrote:
> "Don Swayser" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>
>
> > > Btw, what did Saddam use to blackmail Mssrs.
> > > Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in order
> > > to obtain his chem & bio weapons components in
> > > the 1980s?
> >
> > Let me give you a little lesson on nerve agent weapons. They are made
> > from a combination of chemicals known in the business as precursors.
> > These are relatively easy to obtain since they also have other uses. The
> > real secret is the "recipe". It is quite obvious to any knowledgable
> > observer that Hussein had both the chemicals (all required components
> > were found) and the knowledge to make these agents. Chemical agents
> > deteriorate over time. Nerve agents become unstable and loose some of
> > their effectiveness. In WW I both sides mixed their chemical weapons
> > shortly before their use. Hussein was developing MRBM's and IRBM's but
> > didn't yet have them in production. Why mix the chemicals 2-3 years
> > before the delivery system was built?
> >
> > There was no chemical or biological weapons supplied by any member of
> > any administration at any time.
>
>
> Thanks for the link, btw. Notice the word
> "components" in my original quote.
>
> Did those items become banned for export to Iraq
> after our government became aware of Iraq's use
> of chem weapons on Iran and the Kurds?
Yes they did. It was sloppy work of the Department of Commerce but it 
was a straight beaurocratic foul up. No one of high rank in the 
administration approved it. The companies also share the blame, but it 
was a routine request and was handled in a routine manner. It is also to 
be noted that if they had been disapproved they could have either gotten 
those materials from their main weapons supplier, Russia, from whom they 
probably obtained both their original stocks of chemical weapons and 
formulas or through a third party dummy organization in another country.
There was nothing nefarious going on in the administration itself.

--
If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an 
equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.
Carl Schurz (1829-1906)