MetaFilter posts tagged with wmd

Nuclear Urbanism

homunculus — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:06:33 -0800

Ground Zero. This Google Maps mashup shows the thermal damage caused by various nuclear weapons or an asteroid on the city of your choice.

Dissent: Voices of Conscience

nooneyouknow — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:17:19 -0800

"You can not come back to Canada until you have been criminally rehabilitated." Ann Wright, who had 29 years of military and govt service, resigned in protest on the eve of the Iraq War from her position as deputy ambassador to Mongolia. In this hour long talk, she discusses her story and the story of several others from various countries who resigned in protest. Her new book, Dissent: Voices of Conscience, details the story of 24 people who resigned in protest. The quote is from the chapter '16 - Q2: Consequences of Being Arrested', where she talks about how she found out the hard way that misdemnors get you into the NCIC (National Crime Information Center Database) and that Canadian Immigration is using it.

Senate Intelligence Committee Phase II Reports

kirkaracha — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:15:51 -0800

Senate Intelligence Committee Unveils Final Phase II Reports on Prewar Iraq Intelligence. Phase II Report on Public Statements [PDF] and Phase II Report on DoD Policy Office [PDF]. This may come as a shock, but most of what the Bush Administration said about Iraq wasn't true. Republican co-chair Bond, Kit Bond, says the reports are "political theatre."

Statements and implications by the President and Secretary of State suggesting that Iraq and al-Qa'ida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al-Qa'ida with weapons training, were not substantiated by the intelligence.
Statements by the President and the Vice President indicating that Saddam Hussein was prepared to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups for attacks against the United States were contradicted by available intelligence information.
Statements by President Bush and Vice President Cheney regarding the postwar situation in Iraq, in terms of the political, security, and economic, did not reflect the concerns and uncertainties expressed in the intelligence products.
Statements by the President and Vice President prior to the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate regarding Iraq's chemical weapons production capability and activities did not reflect the intelligence community's uncertainties as to whether such production was ongoing.
The Secretary of Defense's statement that the Iraqi government operated underground WMD facilities that were not vulnerable to conventional airstrikes because they were underground and deeply buried was not substantiated by available intelligence information.
The Intelligence Community did not confirm that Muhammad Atta met an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague in 2001 as the Vice President repeatedly claimed.

Valerie Plame v. The CIA

homunculus — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:35:23 -0800

Wilson et al v. McConnell et al. This site has all the legal documents surrounding Valerie Plame's legal case against the CIA over her new book. CIA censors blacked out 10 percent of the copy, as can seen in this excerpt from the book, and Plame is not allowed to speak freely in her interviews. [Via No Quarter.] In other news, Plame think it's entirely possible that the Bush administration could start a war with Iran based on twisted intelligence.

The man who knew too much

homunculus — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 15:00:09 -0800

The man who knew too much. "He was the CIA's expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, but Rich Barlow was thrown out and disgraced when he blew the whistle on a US cover-up. Now he's to have his day in court."

Backpedal fast, Johnny!

andihazelwood — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:04:43 -0800

PM John Howard denies Iraq-oil link

Air Force drops gay bomb

madamjujujive — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 21:01:25 -0800

Make love not war? The Pentagon confirms that it was researching the possibility of a "gay bomb" that could "turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals and make them more interested in sex than fighting." BBC discusses this and other unorthodox U.S. weapons proposals.

Blaming Bush

digaman — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:27:31 -0800

Now they tell us. Neocon hindsight is 20/20. War architect Richard Perle on invading Iraq, 2002: "We have no time to lose, and I think the president understands that and it's probably taken too long already, but I don't think it'll be much longer... Support for Saddam, including within his military organization, will collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder.... Now, it isn't going to be over in 24 hours, but it isn't going to be months either." Four years later: "If I had been delphic, and had seen where we are today, and people had said, 'Should we go into Iraq?,' I think now I probably would have said, 'No, let's consider other strategies'... Could we have managed that threat by means other than a direct military intervention? Well, maybe we could have."

White House may have published how-to nuke guide

XQUZYPHYR — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:47:30 -0800

Last March, the White House put numerous Iraqi government documents online, hoping to "leverage the internet" to find evidence of Saddam's nuclear potential. After questioning from the New York Times this week, the site has now been shut down, as it has been revealed that the Bush administration, by publishing the information, may have publicly published detailed information on how to build atomic weapons. Right-wing bloggers, many of whom have been discussing the documents all year, have seen the sunny side of the news, claiming the real issue of the potential distribution of nuclear plans (which were dated pre-1991) is the "proof Saddam had a nuclear program."

Return of the Killer A's

kirkaracha — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 16:18:28 -0800

FBI is Casting a Wider Net in Anthrax Attacks "The strain of anthrax used in the attacks has turned out to be more common than was initially believed" and wasn't weaponized, and there's now "an almost endless list of possible suspects in scores of countries around the globe." FBI microbiologist Douglas Beecher wrote an analysis [PDF] that says, "A widely circulated misconception is that the spores were produced using additives and sophisticated engineering supposedly akin to military weapon production." More comments on Beecher's findings from other biologists. [more inside]

What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA

kirkaracha — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:17:05 -0800

What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA: She was the chief of operations of the CIA's Joint Task Force on Iraq, in charge of gathering information on Iraq's supposed WMD programs, according to a new article in The Nation based on David Corn and Michael Isikoff's new book, Hubris. On his weblog, David Corn says, "She was an undercover officer in charge of running critical covert operations." Also, in the summer of 2001, "word came down from the brass: We're ramping up on Iraq."

Got WMDs?

owhydididoit — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 15:50:10 -0800

The Deadly Deseret Chemical Depot is one of the scariest places on Earth, if you believe Alien Dave, which most people probably don't. Seen anomalous wildlife in Utah? Alien Dave wants to know about it. Need deprogramming? Dave's got you covered. But as for the chemical depot, its days as one of the biggest concentrations of chemical WMDs on the planet are numbered.

Half of U.S. still believes Iraq had WMD.

ArunK — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 14:23:23 -0800

Half of America apparently still thinks so, a new poll finds, and experts see a raft of reasons why: a drumbeat of voices from talk radio to die-hard bloggers to the Oval Office, a surprise headline here or there, a rallying around a partisan flag, and a growing need for people, in their own minds, to justify the war in Iraq.

So much for Karl Rove's claim that it's wrong to think of U.S. voters as [uninformed and gullible.] Or "There are practitioners of politics who hold that voters are dumb, ill-informed and easily misled, that voters can be manipulated by a clever ad or smart line," Rove said. Previously discussed here. Thank you Fox News.

Remember the 2003 study (PDF) by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy (PIPA)? It found that "Fox News viewers were "significantly more likely to have misperceptions" about the Iraq war than all other media consumers." Also the study found that "[t]hose who receive most of their news from Fox News are more likely than average to have misperceptions." For instance, of the "three key misperceptions" -- which the study listed as "the beliefs that ... links between Iraq and al-Qaeda have been found, that WMD have been found in Iraq and that world public opinion approved of the US going to war with Iraq."

The David Kelly Conspiracy

gsb — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 15:51:28 -0800

New questions over the death of David Kelly. Previously, on MeFi...[1][2][3][4]. It's a theory, that wants to explain the death of a Weapons Inspector who was involved in little problem concerning Weapons of Mass Destruction. And of course, one cannot link to the Daily Mail without a fondness for the daily-mail-o-matic.

Fox news knows the truth before anyone else . . .

klik99 — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 17:25:15 -0800

WMDs? Sorry if this is double post or newsfilter, but fox news is claiming that WMDs were found in Iraq. Is it ethical to state as truth that which was been unconfirmed by anyone but one person? Depending on how this pans out, this could continue the shift of approval that started last week.

"Let him stay one second."

bardic — Thu, 04 May 2006 13:50:32 -0800

Newsfilter: Rumsfeld squirms (via).

WMD smackdown on MSNBC?

darkstar — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 20:22:40 -0800

Hardball's Chris Matthews beats the crap out of former Pentagon spokesperson Torie Clark on the WMD issue. I've never heard a member of the mainstream media so outspoken and heated in slamming the Admin's position on this before. Is the tide turning? (Video-WMP; Video-QT)

wmd intelligence

threehundredandsixty — Sun, 20 Nov 2005 15:47:00 -0800

Curveball's motive, CIA officials said, was not to start a war. He simply was seeking a German visa.
You would think that there would be some serious repercussions for "mishandling" intelligence used to start a war.
Then again it's not like this is really news (dated 4/2004)
A different angle previously discussed here on Metafilter

Only you can prevent a giant nuclear explosion.

clgregor — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 11:55:40 -0800

Last Best Chance is a docudrama that shows the threat posed by vulnerable nuclear weapons and materials around the world and underscores what the stakes are. The plot: al Qaeda terrorists steal nuclear material to make bombs, and then sneak them into the US. The 47 minute film airs tonight on HBO, and is also available as a free DVD. More interesting are the powerful figures behind the film. It was produced by The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to reduce the global threats from WMDs. NTI's board is co-chaired by Ted Turner and Sam Nunn (D-GA). The hope is that appealing directly to the public will force politicians to act. The film and its creators were profiled yesterday on CBS News Sunday Morning.

(And to help our discussion here, they've even provided a discussion guide.)

Cultivating the Source

digaman — Fri, 07 Oct 2005 02:33:15 -0800

With admiration, Scooter Libby.

You Can't Get Fooled Again

kirkaracha — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 13:12:31 -0800

A History of Concealment and Deception

With an hour-long slide show [PDF, 2.4MB] that blends satellite imagery with disquieting assumptions about Iran's nuclear energy program, Bush administration officials have been trying to convince allies that Tehran is on a fast track toward nuclear weapons.

[more inside]

Nuke first, ask questions later

beth — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 11:18:10 -0800

Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan - The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons. [...] The first example for potential nuclear weapon use listed in the draft is against an enemy that is using "or intending to use WMD" against U.S. or allied, multinational military forces or civilian populations. Hmm, if we nuke them, then I guess we destroy the evidence that they were planning to use WMD against us....

A Blot??

Effigy2000 — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 18:43:04 -0800

In an interview with American ABC TV news to be broadcast on Friday (US time), Colin Powell , former Secretary of State, describes his speech to the UN Security Council on Iraq's WMD capabilities as "a blot" on his record. "I'm the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It's painful now," [Powell] said. Finally, some recognition of this fact, albeit two years too late.

Bah! It's probably nothing.

Balisong — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 00:21:43 -0800

W. M. D.'s? There's been a lot of talk going on about bacteria infections in Iraq. Is it just common bacteria, or is the ground spoiled?

We Have Explosive?

PROD_TPSL — Fri, 20 May 2005 19:15:41 -0800

Just another broken treaty? Rumors persist that the W-76 and W-88 warheads may have been designed with “limited” usability guidelines, and short life spans. Replacement of warheads designed for a first strike with more reliable and long life deterrents seems like a good idea. However, the Bush administration has a love affair with a controversial program, and there could be immense new pressure to “drive before we buy”.