[jonnyp]

Originally Posted by Buskerdoo

It's really sad that jonnyp here and probably several others don't realize that several bombs full of sarin and mustard gas HAVE been found. One of these, correctly detonated, has the possibilty to kill 60,000 people. And don't give the line they were around from before the first war. That's like something a little kid would say to protect his rear. "oh my, I forgot I left that weapon laying around that will kill a LOT of people." side note: I'm pretty sure that most assertions that the chemicals came from the US or UK are referring to private companies, not the governments.

The depleted uranium story killing 500 thousand kids is unproven fiction.

Ok, so old cartridges HAVE been found. Not sure about the mustard gas, I've heard no such thing. But yes, there was a story yesterday about finding Cyclosarin - more deadly than sarin : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/3861197.stm
However, and I quote:

But the US military said that while two of the rockets tested positive for sarin, traces of the agent were so small and deteriorated as to be virtually harmless.

"These rounds were determined to have limited to no impact if used by insurgents against coalition forces," a statement by the military said.

Another 16 rockets found by the Polish troops were all empty and tested negative for any type of chemicals, it added, without explaining the discrepancy in numbers with the Polish version.

'without explaining the discrepancy in numbers'
Poland has a population that's pretty anti their troops being deployed in Iraq. There have been many kidnappings and deaths on their side, so it would not be surprising if this is being played up to win support at home - 'look, we are doing something useful!'
After all, the US needs to repair its credibility since it is becoming clear that (even if there was a very small amount of chemical weapons found) there were either gross exaggerations or pure fabrications (depending on the claim) of the quantity and of the threat.

Found something on the mustard gas (this time from the guardian, january 2004)

However, the find of a small amount of mortar shells is unlikely to satisfy a growing chorus of criticism that the much-touted weapons of mass destruction either never existed or were destroyed years ago. The Danish team has found only 36 mortar rounds buried in desert about 45 miles from Al Amarah, a southern town. But it added that up to a 100 more could still be hidden at the location. The rounds were in plastic bags and some were leaking. It seems they had been buried for at least 10 years.

If they'd been around ten years that seems to suggest they had been 'disposed of' or even forgotten about. While I realise that's conjecture on my part, I still don't feel that 36 mortar rounds justifies a war that killed 12,000+ iraqis and around a thousand coalition troops. Maybe you don't agree - perhaps despite him not being a threat to us it's justified to break all international laws and protocols to remove him, perhaps to protect the kurds?
You still haven't offered a good reason for the US continuing to fund Saddam after, and in full knowlege of the gassing of the Kurds in 1988 .

On Depleted Uranium: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/1118306.stm

Dr Jawad, who works at the Cancer Hospital in Basra, says the rate of cancer has increased nine-fold since the Gulf War.

The bbc have a very interesting section on the whole issue (that this article was linked from) here : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/...um/default.stm

So I beg to differ. I have done my own research. Satisfaite?