If they were there before and we and the UN have that documented and they are not there now, with no explanation that means Saddam got rid of them?

Saddam, a bloody dictator who would do anything to stay in power, wasn't willing to show UN inspectors for years where he got rid of these weapons?

-Rudey

In fairness, there's a lot of desert over there in which to hide even that amount of stuff. And, there are other countries who would probably help -- although I would hope that CIA or someone would have some information if it had been moved to another country. That kind of secret is pretty hard to keep. Not impossible, though.

I stand corrected... :)

They could very easily be buried in the dessert, like they were found after the 1991 Gulf War. Sattelites can't scan below sand.

That's true, but the movement that much stuff could probably have been noticed by satellites.

If we knew what to look for. That's a big if.

There a saying that if more than one person knows a secret, it isn't safe. It's hard to believe that these quantities could be moved in secret. But, again, not impossible.

We forgget that pretty girls can be bright and knowledgeable to, thanks fot reminding us Jadey28. ;)

I think Saddam was in a wierd postion, in order to stay in power he couildn't afford to look weak in front of his people. A weak dictator is a dead one.

So he postured himself into destruction.

We couldn't determine India and Pakistan's nuclear capabilities until they were tested. More than one person knew.

We still can't determine where North Korea maintains its nuclear weapons.

Information, little by little, trickles out about Iran's nuclear capabilities, but we still know nothing really about where it is kept and to what extent it has developed.

When Libya removed the veil of secrecy on its weapons program, we were taken by surprise on what was in there.

-Rudey
--Some secrets are very difficult to discover

All of your points are correct, but I would think that moving that much material would be easier to detect than static installations -- even nuke facilities.

Hey, speak for yourself. I married one!

Most of the rogue countries moved items around constantly. We can't determine where weapons are just by satellite.

-Rudey

Just because we can't see them or find them doesn't mean that there not out there.

Of course the reverse is true too....

Just because we can't see them or find any doesn't mean that they exist but are hidden.

The difference is that we knew they were there before. There is some context to this let's not forget.

-Rudey

True... most of the chemicals were supplied to Saddam in the 80's. But the storage life of many of the chemical weapons is around 15-20 years; after this period most of the weapons would be either inert or unstable... most.

Read up a few posts by Jadey who is a chemist that has prior work experience with these materials. She seems to indicate no.

-Rudey