With the ISIS in Iraq having access to old stockpiles of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, some websites are now claiming former President George W. Bush has been “ exonerated .” Some even go so far as to raise the fear of ISIS in America launching a terrorist attack. But are there actual limits to the Iraq WMD stockpiles the ISIS fighters have managed to recover?
In a related report by The Inquisitr , when we originally discussed how the ISIS in Iraq found Saddam Hussein’s chemical weapons , some people were already saying that George W. Bush was right to have pushed for the Iraq War since the original stated goal was to prevent terrorist groups from getting their hands on any WMD materials. Others claimed the exact opposite was the case, and one newspaper ran a front page story that featured a Photoshopped version of the infamous “mission accomplished” Bush photo .
President Obama may have called ISIS “junior varsity” terrorists, but so far, they seem to be slowly taking over much of Iraq. While the potential danger of the weapons of mass destruction has been much discussed over the summer, in recent weeks, some websites have been writing articles based upon the theme that Bush was right. Of course, you might expect something like that since the 2014 mid-term elections are right around the corner, but in this case the claims are fairly alarming.
For example, this is what a website called Political Ears published the other day:
“President Obama is currently meeting privately with his cabinet to discuss the news from Iraq that ISIS has discovered scores of Weapons of Mass Destruction that Saddam Hussein had hidden before the start of the US Invasion in 2003. The UN security council is scheduled to meet for an emergency session…. Jihadists now control nuclear, chemical, and biological WMD, creating a global crisis of the highest order. It is now believed that ISIS is now able to threaten the US Homeland with a mushroom cloud of destruction in as little as 10 hours. ISIS has called for a summit with participating axis of evil nations to discuss strategy.”
If there are any government officials or experts who believe that ISIS has functioning nuclear weapons, then the general public is unaware of that information. Regardless, the Islamic fighters have been making threats toward the U.S., claiming they’ll raise their black flag over the White House.
Recently, the terrorist group even claimed via Twitter that they have ISIS in America , and as evidence, they tweeted multiple photos showing alleged ISIS agents taking photos from various places in the United States, including the White House lawn . Some people believe the White House photo may have been Photoshopped, but ISIS also made a bomb threat directly to Obama.
So how much of a real threat are ISIS’ WMD capabilities as of now? In regards to the chemical weapons, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former commander of Britain’s chemical weapons regiment, believed it would be difficult but not completely impossible to weaponize Saddam Hussein’s remaining WMDs in Iraq:
“It is doubtful that Isis have the expertise to use a fully functioning chemical munition but there are materials on site that could be used in an improvised explosive device.”
In addition, Iraq’s chemical weapons were buried in concrete and sealed. Experts believe it would be very difficult for ISIS to make functioning weapons out of the chemical weapons stockpiles without harming themselves in the process, never mind actually using them in a terrorist attack on America.
The ISIS in Iraq also found uranium , which had everyone speculating for a while.
Iraq’s United Nations Ambassador Mohamed Ali Alhaki had this to say at the time:
“Terrorist groups have seized control of nuclear material at the sites that came out of the control of the state. Such materials can be used in manufacturing weapons of mass destruction…. These nuclear materials, despite the limited amounts mentioned, can enable terrorist groups, with the availability of the required expertise, to use it separate or in combination with other materials in its terrorist acts.”
International Atomic Energy Association spokesperson Gill Tudor did not seem concerned at all about ISIS having nuclear weapons since “the material involved is low-grade and would not present a significant safety, security or nuclear proliferation risk. Nevertheless, any loss of regulatory control over nuclear and other radioactive materials is a cause for concern.”
Of course, even lower enriched uranium can be used to make a dirty bomb, but Olli Heinonen, a former IAEA chief inspector, claims this should not occur:
“You cannot make a nuclear explosive from this amount, but all uranium compounds are poisonous. This material is also not ‘good’ enough for a dirty bomb.”
Now, there’s always the possibility that the ISIS in Iraq could find a hidden cache that the U.S. military missed. After all, it was years after the CIA report that Wikileaks revealed in 2010 that during the occupation of Iraq, the U.S. military discovered many small caches of chemical weapons.
ISIS, of course, has a heavy presence in Syria, which should be a concern since Syrian rebels began identifying weapons that came from Iraq last year. In addition, John A. Shaw, the former Pentagon official who claims to have tracked Iraq’s WMDs being moved out by Russian special forces, claimed that it was possible some of these chemical weapons were hidden in Iraq after the U.S. military left. But if that possible scenario is true, then ISIS has been smart enough to not brag about it via Twitter.
Do you think George W. Bush was justified in pursuing the Iraq war now that ISIS has been finding the remnants of Iraq’s WMD programs?