And the House knows about it. From a released document (image at Insstapundit), it appears that Coalition forces have been finding mustard and sarin gas deposits in munitions. Senator Santorum on the release and the document:The information released today proves that weapons of mass destruction are, in fact, in Iraq[.] It is essential for the American people to understand that these weapons are in Iraq. I will continue to advocate for the complete declassification of this report so we can more fully understand the complete WMD picture inside Iraq. Congressman Hoekstra and I are here today to say that we have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons. It's a document that was developed by our intelligence community which for the last two and a half months I have been pursuing.
And thanks to the help of the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, ultimately he was able to get it in his hands and I was able to look for and look at.
And I think both of us feel very strongly that this is vitally important information that the American public needs to know. And so I will read the portions of the unclassified version and then I'll turn it over to Peter to make his comments about the significance of that, and then we'll be happy to answer questions.
The unclassified version of this report states as follows. Quote: Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq's pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.
Now, let me go off the quote. That means that in addition to the 500 there are filled and unfilled munitions still believed to exist within the country.
Back on statement.
Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside of Iraq cannot be ruled out. The most likely munitions remaining are sarin- and mustard-filled projectiles.
And I underscored filled. The purity of the agents inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal.
It has been reported in the open press that insurgents and Iraqi groups desire to acquire and use chemical weapons.
This is an incredibly -- in my mind -- significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false.
We have found over 500 weapons of mass destruction. And in fact have found that there are additional weapons of mass -- chemical weapons, still in the country, that need to be recovered.
And so, I would suggest that this is a very important look-back. We've been focused and continue to focus on what we need to do moving forward, but it is important for the American public to understand that these weapons did in fact exist, were present in the country, and were in fact and continue to be a threat to us.
So, libs, what say you now? Wait, I know, it must just be for politics. That must be it. Well, wouldn't Bush have used this back in 2004 instead of now? Ed Morrisey notes:
So why keep this quiet? Perhaps CENTCOM did not want to tip the AQ-I forces to their continued existence. Another explanation may have been that some of this got captured through active intel sources that would have blown continuing operations. Obviously the Intelligence Committee felt that the need for secrecy had passed.
Of course, the reporters then proceeded to try to tear this apart. Santorum and Hoekstra attempted to connect the dots for them:
HOEKSTRA: Or that what they found was in contained dumps and these types of things.
I think what the news here is is a couple of things. Number one, the quantity that actually is publicly being reported -- hundreds of warheads filled with -- perhaps in some cases degraded -- but still very, very lethal material.
And you know, when you say 500, you know, big deal -- 500. I think in some of the attacks that have been identified with Saddam, 15 or 20 of these shells strategically placed in a city can have a very, very deadly impact, impacting, you know, killing hundreds, if not thousands of people.
This is not, you know, 500 artillery shells of the standard type that are going off on a regular basis. This is chemical weapons. And if they're in the stockpile -- you're not talking about transferring hundreds to make an impact in New York, in a subway or anything like that. One or two of these shells, the materials inside of these, transferred outside of the country can be very, very deadly.
SANTORUM: Just recall -- the Duelfer report said there were no stockpiles. And I remember when the report came out. The whole mood was: There was no WMD at the time we went into Iraq.
And you hear three United States senators today saying there was no WMD. So I don't know -- maybe it's not news to you, but I think it's news to at least those three senators and a lot more and I think to most of the American public who believed that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq at the time we went into Iraq.
QUESTION: Then why isn't it a smoking gun...
HOEKSTRA: Because I don't think that -- I think the overall picture on Saddam's intent and capabilities on WMD and how those of us in the House and the Senate reached a conclusion was, number one, this guy had them and he used them. All right? That's a piece of the puzzle.
The second piece of the puzzle was the Duelfer report saying there was ongoing research in the ability to turn some of the manufacturing capabilities from conventional sources to WMD, and also the statement saying that he would be willing or had the capability to start producing anthrax within four weeks of lifting of sanctions.
And now, actually finding some stockpiles of WMD, when you put all of that together, you get an overwhelming case -- any one of those pieces in and of themselves is not the silver bullet. They all help put a complete.
SANTORUM: This is a missing piece -- a very important missing piece of the puzzle.
HOEKSTRA: And there are still other additional pieces that from my perspective need to be filled in and other questions.
So that's why I'm up here, saying there's not a single stockpile in Iraq that says: Whew, now we've answered that objection. You put the whole thing in context and the overwhelming weight of the evidence says that the conclusions that many of these senators reached three years ago, where they said he is a threat, was the right one. And now, all of a sudden, when they said he wasn't a threat, that's the wrong one.
They were right before they were wrong.
So friends, when put together, we get a picture of a dictator with weapons capability, with some still available, and with the desire and intent to resume producing them when the sanctions were lifted. And, pre-9/11, there were rumblings of removing the sanctions by France and Russia, if you recall. Once that would have been done, it would have taken a few weeks to a few months to get things reconstituted, and we know Saddam met with terrorists, harbored and paid for them. Do we want this guy making weapons and such? I think not. Therefore, we were right and they were wrong...as usual.
