What Exactly Are The Best Weapons Hidden In Iraq Before The Invasion

Before Saddam went into hiding he gave four instructions to his generals.

1. Split into groups of three.

2. No electronic communications.

3. No engagement to last longer than twenty minutes.

4. Hide all the 'best' weaponry and don't dig it up till victory is certain.

We can only speculate as to when or if the Iraqi's will consider victory certain. That would be for a different forum.

In the interests of minimising casualties it would be advantageous to know exactly what these 'best' weapons are.

Can any of the weapons specialists identify these weapons? In my ignorance I can only think of 50 caliber sniper rifles. I would imagine there's a lot more than that. Someone must have an idea of what the Iraqi's bought and what has been recovered.

a reply to: Kester

did he want to loose the campaign? - cos thats how you loose campaigns

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Time will tell.

a reply to: Kester

Iraq's weapons capability can be summed up in two words...

Baghdad Bob.

Iraq never had any magical weapons capability, though they did have significant chemical weapons capability.

Wait...WHAT??? Say it isn't so, right? And they were WMD's too! And, believe me, they were found! Not only were they found, but they were heavily guarded by US troops AFTER they were found, and they continue to be guarded by US troops (in complete secrecy of course). This, all contrary to the MSM's constant yammering and noize.

So why hasn't anyone heard about these WMD's???

Because of an inconvenient little problem; they were supplied to Iraq by none other than the US military industrial complex via the infamous 3 letter agencies. People forget that before the US was at war with Iraq, Iraq was at war with Iran. And, even though publicly it looked like both Iran and Iraq were the enemy, behind the scenes in secret the US was aiding Iraq in the acquisition of WMD's in the form of chemical weapons.

So, it would have been pretty embarrassing to have a major WMD discovery in Iraq, only to find that the weapons themselves were actually directly attributable to the same invasion force who used them as a justification to invade in the first place. The newly "embedded" MSM would have had a veritable 'field day' with that one...as they should have. So this could never be allowed to happen, hence the discovery, and immediate top secret classification, of any WMD discoveries.

a reply to: Kester

Have I ever used the term "Islamofascism"? Yes, I am aware of the British screwing, but apparently you only want to discuss an 800 pound gorilla, as opposed to some other substantia Great Apes. If the gorilla throws less bananas than a very active orangutan, I see no reason not to discuss all of them. You speak of British screwing, which is appropriate. The bulk of WMD precursors and equipment going to Iraq (the one with the Q) came from France and Russia. Cultures are far easier to get than industrial-grade fermenters, refrigerated centrifuges, lyophilizers, etc.

They moved them [BOLD] over the border into Syria before the invasion.

a reply to: Kester

They had specialized sling-shots that flung sand. Very powerful!

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: Kester

They had specialized sling-shots that flung sand. Very powerful!

Did you form this opinion from going there? I tend to remember them being more well armed than that.

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: Kester

They had specialized sling-shots that flung sand. Very powerful!

Ummm...sand in your hair...sand in your eye...sand in your shorts...

Just like a day at the beach...

They even call them...wait for it...wait for it...

Sand Blasters...



YouSir

a reply to: Kocag

The purpose of this thread is to forewarn those about to go there.

Shame on the jokers.

a reply to: Kester

A fair amount of fighter jets got buried, SU-25’s and Mig-25’s were uncovered by US forces in 2003.

Is anything else buried? Possibly. Would it be a threat? Doubtful.

The real threat is what’s being brought in from Syria and Iran by these insurgents.

Probably still some forgotten SCUDs and other military vehicles out there under the sand. They were burying everything from coalition air strikes back then.

a reply to: Kester

A war crime by Junior Bush and Tony Blair, we should be big enough to firmly put the blame on them.

It’s a disgrace that Blair still has a platform to make judgments on politics and foreign affairs, he should be in jail.

a reply to: Forensick
His wife was blethering on radio 4 the other day.

Cherie Blair . . . is a leading international human rights lawyer

www.cherieblair.org...
I'm lost for words, at least words that I can use on ATS.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Was hardly a secret. It was widely reported by the MSM that the US, namely Rumsfeld and two CIA front companies supplied the only WMD and illegal weapons Iraq had. The US and Iraq even held an international press conference when the deal went down on Dec 20th 1983 and was widely reported by the MSM in the runup to the illegal Iraq Invasion (outside US news, which rarely if ever covers foreign affairs).

Whoever was doing the burying didn't bury many AKs, RPKs, RPGs, mortars or artillery munitions, because there were plenty coming my way during the invasion in 2003, and they still hadn't slowed when I went back in 2005/06.

Once the Iraqi military collapsed the locals went through the bases like a plague, and many thousands of weapons and munitions were put on the streets. This was completely the coalition's fault for deposing a military dictatorship and stripping away the police, military and government functions without having a functional replacement ready, but that's a different conversation.

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: Kester

Iraq's weapons capability can be summed up in two words...

Baghdad Bob.

Iraq never had any magical weapons capability, though they did have significant chemical weapons capability.

Wait...WHAT??? Say it isn't so, right? And they were WMD's too! And, believe me, they were found! Not only were they found, but they were heavily guarded by US troops AFTER they were found, and they continue to be guarded by US troops (in complete secrecy of course). This, all contrary to the MSM's constant yammering and noize.

So why hasn't anyone heard about these WMD's???

You mean the facilities and legacy chemical weapons caches that had already been accounted for by UN inspection teams? No these facilities are not still guarded by US Troops and up until early 2018 they contained legacy munitions in bunkers that were sealed in the mid-1990s.

It is a complete and utter fantasy to claim that US troops are still guarding chemical stockpiles and facilities in Iraq. Such a secret wouldn't last since 2003 till the present under the various US administrations.

The largest site containing chemical weapons was Al Muthana. The UN teams had sealed some of the bunkers in the 1990s that contained old legacy chemical weapons. This was due to the damage caused to them during the 1991 Gulf war bombing strikes.

The UN inspection teams were still destroying chemical munitions at Al Muthana up until the month before the invasion during 2003.

February 2003

The destruction of mustard and 155mm artillery shells used for mustard gas at the Al Muthana site will resume tomorrow. The destruction process was temporarily halted due to technical problems. When the work was halted, about one-third of 50 liters of mustard had been destroyed. If everything goes well, the destruction work will be completed in four to five days.

From

Link 1

During 2014 ISIS over ran the area and took the Al Muthana complex. It wasn't US forces that were guarding it but Iraqi.

Brutal groups are sweeping through Iraq . . . Sadly the Al-Muthana project facility
shared the same fate. On Wednesday night [on] 11th of June 2014, armed terrorist
groups entered the aforementioned project site. The project management spotted at
dawn on Thursday 12th of June 2014, through the camera surveillance system, the
looting of some of the project equipment and applications, before the terrorists
disabled the surveillance system . . . We hope to resume the destruction operations
as soon as the territory of the facility is back under control and secured by the
armed forces . . . I hope that the member states will understand the inability of Iraq
to fulfil its obligations at [the] present time, which does not originate from a lack of
willingness, in the destruction of its chemical program remnants

Link 2

The assessment was that those old legacy chemical weapons in their bombed and concrete sealed bunkers was that due to their de-graded and unstable state that even the likes of ISIS would not attempt to retrieve them.

After ISIS was pushed out the facility was guarded by Iraqi forces and during 2017 the destruction of the chemical weapons in the sealed bunkers commenced.

After the re-capture the bunkers were found not to have been breached. Looks like even ISIS recognised how dangerous it would have been to breach the bunkers.

During the last weeks, the Iraqi Army has achieved great progress in recovering and clearing
many regions in Iraq, including retaking full control of the Al-Muthanna site and the roads
leading to it. Immediately after it was retaken, engineers started to clear hundreds of
explosive devices planted at the site and its surrounding areas. The mine and explosives
clearance operation is still ongoing. A specialised technical team is currently conducting a
field visit to assess damages at the site and the destruction facilities. My delegation will
submit a detailed report on the assessment once it is completed. I have to reaffirm that only
the destruction facilities were looted and damaged and that terrorists were not able to
penetrate storage bunkers 13 and 41.
In this respect, my delegation confirms that the relevant technical Iraqi teams will resume
their work once the site has been secured, the infrastructure rebuilt and supplies needed for
the destruction facility and its personnel provided, in implementation of Iraq’s obligations
under Article I, paragraph 2, of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Link OPCW

During 2018 Iraq completed the chemical weapons destruction at Al Muthana

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — 13 March 2018 — The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, congratulated the Government of Iraq on the completion of the destruction of the country’s chemical weapons remnants, during today’s visit of the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Iraq, H.E. Dr Abdulrazzaq Al Jaleel Essa.

“I welcome this notable achievement and congratulate the Iraqi Government for their efforts in ensuring the proper destruction of these dangerous chemicals and for fulfilling its obligations deriving from the Chemical Weapons Convention,” stated the Director-General.

Ambassador Üzümcü presented to the Minister a certificate recognising the Iraqi Government’s complete destruction of its chemical weapons remnants.

The Director-General further briefed Minister Al Jaleel Essa on the OPCW’s latest activities, including progress in the destruction of the declared former chemical weapons production facilities, the threat posed by non-State actors’ access to chemical weapons, and peaceful uses of chemistry.

Link 3

Your claims of chemical stockpiles in Iraq still guarded by US forces is just complete fantasy.

Iraq got most of their weapons from the U.S via a third party due to sanctions.