MORE THAN 500 WMD FOUND IN IRAQ SINCE 2003

Alexandria, VASince the fall of Baghdad in April 2003 there have been thousands of news stories declaring as fact that there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. A typical media example comes from CBSs Ed Bradley, who said on 60 Minutes April 26, no weapons of mass destruction surfaced in Iraq.

However, a partially declassified Army National Ground Intelligence Center report confirms that since 2003 U.S. forces have discovered more than 500 shells of ordinance containing sarin or mustard gas, i.e., WMD. It is now a definitive fact that there were WMDs in Iraq, and that Saddam Hussein lied to the world when he said Iraq had no WMD.

This information was disclosed at a Wednesday, June 21, press conference held by Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-PA), chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

To date, some of the top media have refused to report this story. They include:

CBS Evening News
CBS The Early Show
ABC World News Tonight
ABC Good Morning America
ABC Nightline
NBC Today
Los Angeles Times
USA Today

To date, some of the top media that have downplayed or dismissed the findings include:

CNN: Quoted Democrat Jane Harman, nothing new here, and weapons inspector Charles Duelfer that the ordinance did not constitute an ongoing WMD program.
NBC Nightly News: One senators new claim that weapons of mass destruction have been found.
MSNBC Countdown: They are WMD: weapons of minor discomfort.
New York Times: headline, For Diehards, Search for Saddam Hussein's Unconventional Weapons Isn't Over
Washington Post: Democrats criticize claim on Iraqi arms.
Associated Press: probably are so old they couldnt be used as designed
Knight Ridder Newspapers: no new evidence

Ironically, the one news agency that reported the facts and quoted from the declassified report was the French Agence France-Press. It noted that the weapons could be sold on the black market and use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out.

Experts agree that the WMD discussed in the report are older weapons, not new ones generated in the late 1990s, but they do nonetheless constitute WMD. As Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: They are weapons of mass destruction. They are harmful to human beings. And they have been found. Therefore, no one can now honestly claim there were no WMD in Iraq and the media must correct the record.

The media have a major responsibility now to report the facts about WMD in Iraq, said MRC President Brent Bozell. Those facts now refute the no WMD claim, endlessly reported by the media and exploited by political left-wingers anxious to ascribe evil motives to the United States. If Iraq is the issue haunting America, as the media claim, then the evidence of Iraqs WMD should bring some rationality to that issue and some reassurance to the public. The top media have a duty to report on this and not ignore it because it doesnt fit their political agenda.