That's why it's a mistake to downplay this story; it's further proof that Iraq was, shall we say, less than forthcoming in its declarations. On the other hand, there's no solid evidence that the 155mm shells were produced in large quantities, whereas the "crude" rocket and bomb binary weapons are known to have existed in production-run quantities, despite Iraq's attempts at obfuscation and denial. Thus, it's also unlikely (but again possible) that this shell was part of a significant quantity of chemical weapons.

As with many other issues in this war, only time will tell. If more shells appear, the case for war will be strengthened accordingly. But for right now, we have only a hint that Iraq had weapons we have not yet begun to see.

8:11:56 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []

I agree with Schutze, when the city is hammered, you have to cut things that are important. If you read the background stories, you know that our lovely mayor Laura Miller went on TV basically saying cops injured on the job aren't that different from sanitation workers injured on trucks. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that's baloney. A cop has to actively put himself in danger every single day. When he gets shot or injured in a car wreck or anything else, that happened while he was protecting the rest of us. We definitely have a moral obligation to provide for him and I don't think 13 weeks cuts it.

Obviously, there will be people who scam the system. But what's more important, avoiding those scammers by cutting the time they are paid or fulfilling our moral obligation to people we ask to protect us? That just shouldn't be a hard question to answer. Our mayor, and to a lesser degree our city manager, has consistently gone out of her way to antagonize the police. I for one am glad she didn't get her way this time. Police officers injured in the line of duty are not the place to find your budget cuts. These people protect us every single day. They deserve our respect, our honor, and our promise to provide for them.
7:46:27 PM    What do you think?  []  trackback []