Hyping WMD’s

Analysis:

In this story Representative Hoekstra is interviewed and he claims that according to a classified report that his office was able to obtain, US forces in Iraq have uncovered approximately 500 artillery shells containing mustard gas or Sarin nerve agent. Hoekstra does state that these munitions are from before 1991, and that while they are old, they are in his words “still very very dangerous.” The newsreaders ask him three questions, all of which assume the validity of Hoekstra’s claim that these are in fact the WMD’s that the US was looking for in Iraq. The questions asked are “why didn’t the government make this public, where were the weapons found, and was this information kept quiet to protect France, Russia and China. Hoekstra answers that he cannot say where they were found as that is classified, that he has no idea why the existence of these muntions was kept secret, and he does not answer the third question about France China and Russia. At no point do the reporters ask the obvious questions of how dangerous are these two decade old shells, did they actually constitute a threat to the United States, and were they part of an ongoing WMD development program by Iraq.

The station also plays various background footage while Hoekstra was speaking, much of it unrelated to the actual topic addressed. Footage of Ahmed Chalabi attending a meeting is shown, despite the fact that he has nothing to do with this particular story. Also, footage of US troops uncovering a box of munitions that appear to be conventional detonating caps, Iraqi’s pulling unidentified crates out of a hole in the ground, and a room full of unmarked metal barrels are shown. None of these images are actually are of these particular artillery shells and yet if a viewer is not paying close attention, it gives the impression that these are images of WMD’s being found. And no other voices or opinions are presented in this story, congressman Hoekstra is the only source used.

According to CIA weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, who headed the US mission to find WMD’s in Iraq and authored the Duelfer report; “the ones which have been found are left over from the Iran-Iraq war. They are almost 20 years old, and they are in a decayed fashion. It is very interesting that there are so many that were unaccounted for, but they do not constitute a weapon of mass destruction, although they could be a local hazard.” He further said that “these do not indicate an ongoing weapons of mass destruction program as had been thought to exist before the war. These are leftover rounds, which Iraq probably did not even know that it had.”

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader #1 – Find a newly declassified report shows for the past few years the US has made strides in finding those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Newsreader #2 – The report from the army’s national ground intelligence center says coalition forces have recovered about munitions containing mustard or Sarin nerve agent.

Newsreader #1 – Lets go straight to Washington right now to talk live with the chairman of the house intelligence committee congressman Pete Hoekstra of Holland, who announced the finding today. And Congressman, why wasn’t the information first of all declassified long ago. October 2004 for example the CIA testifying before congress that the weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq essentially destroyed back in 1991, no stockpiles, and there was a push at that time to declassify more information. So what happened?

Hoekstra – Well what’s happened Larry over the last eighteen months since the Iraq survey group finished their work, and remember, they stopped searching in the field five months after they started actually in 2003. But as our troops have been going through Iraq and they have been coming across these weapons caches, they’ve been finding these WMD materials, WMD shells, over 500 shells to date.

Newsreader #2 – Can you tell…

Hoekstra – I don’t know why it has not been declassified.

Newsreader #2 – Congressman, were they found in a number of different locations, can you tell us where they were found or all together?

Hoekstra – I can’t tell you where they’ve been found because that information is still classified but they have been found in a number of different locations. Most of this is pre 1991 shells and artillery but it is still very very dangerous material, it is deadly.

Newsreader #1 – You said you didn’t know why it wasn’t declassified congressman, but why now and some folks suggesting it is political, midterm elections, it supports the Bush White House certainly.

Hoekstra – Sure no, Larry someone came, Senator Rick Santorum came to me last week and said through a non-conventional source somebody outside the intelligence community said you need to be looking for this report. Senator Santorum spent six weeks looking for it; they wouldn’t give it to him. This report was complete in April, I asked for it last week, I received it last week, we asked the same question that you did, is why is this information not public. The American people ought to at least know this information as we continue moving forward.

Newsreader #2 – Did they give you an answer of why it wasn’t made public and may I ask you this. Could it be that it was protecting someone? A retired general who’s name is McInerney is claiming that France, Russia, and China’s fingerprints are all over these weapons. Is that the case as you know it?

Hoekstra _ Well we’re gonna dig into this more deeply because I don’t have a very good answer as to why the intelligence communities were not informed about these findings over the last 18 months. We’ve had a great degree of interest, this has been one of the big questions that have been out there and we’re going to try to uncover exactly why the White House and why the Administration would want to keep this information secret, it makes absolutely no sense to us, they’ve declassified a lot of other things, but for some reason this information they chose to keep classified.

Newsreader #2 – Well everyone is interested in finding out why that is Congressman Hoekstra, we’ll be back in touch with you because when you learn more we want to learn more as well.