Trailers not WMD labs: report

15jun03

A BRITISH inquiry into two trailers found in northern Iraq has found 
they are not mobile germ warfare labs, but were for the production of 
hydrogen to fill artillery balloons, the Observer newspaper has reported.  

The London-based weekly newspaper said the conclusion by biological 
weapons experts was an embarrassment for Prime Minister Tony Blair, 
who has claimed the discovery of the labs proved that Iraq retained 
weapons of mass destruction and justified the case for going to war 
against Saddam Hussein.  

A British scientist and biological weapons expert, who examined the 
trailers in Iraq, told the Observer: "They are not mobile germ warfare 
laboratories.  

"You could not use them for making biological weapons. They do not 
even look like them. They are exactly what the Iraqis said they were 
- facilities for the production of hydrogen gas to fill balloons."  

Blair has for weeks been forced to defend himself against allegations 
by the media that his office embellished intelligence on Iraq's weapons 
of mass destruction to beef up the case for war.  

Last week he said he would not appear before a parliamentary foreign 
affairs committee probing the claims, but confirmed he would cooperate 
with a separate inquiry by parliament's joint intelligence and security 
committee - which meets behind closed doors, and whose reports are 
subject to censorship by Downing Street.  

Australia has also used the discovery of the trailers to justify its 
role in the attack on Iraq.  

America's CIA said last month the trailers appeared to be designed for 
germ warfare, prompting Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to declare  
their discovery as "very substantial".

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Source: Herald Sun ...
www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6600704%255E401,00.html

Cheers, Steve..

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