March 26, 2012
(incomplete)
I'll start with the following, a great comment left elsewhere by site member Felix.
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suddenly after the fall of Tripoli, Gaddafi was revealed to have stocks of Chemical weapons. Which of course, at the very time he could have used them, if indeed they existed, he didn't. No matter. Channel 4 was onto the case. See A visit to the desert warehouse of death, 9 September 2011 by Foreign Affairs correspondent, Jonathan Miller.
The office attached to the [Abu Shwesha] base contained documents indicating that shipments of chemcial warfare protection suits and decontamination kits and antidotes were shipped from the base to Gaddafi strongholds, including Sirte, as recently as the end of JulyAh!
Local people knew of the existence of this place but none had ever been here.So, despite co-ordinates being given to NATO, they had somehow not bombed the site.
So, did any UN Chemical weapons inspectors visit? The protection suits were shipped between April and June 2011 - no problem there, just a no fly zone and an encircled country, but no matter - Noman Benotman who works with Britain’s Quilliam Foundation says the remit of the scientists – one allegedly from Russia, the other from Ukraine — was to adapt conventional munitions to carry a chemical payload.
See also Jonathan Miller's Ch4 video from 11 september, where he meets his secret agent with the American accent who had "cultivated regime figures-turned informants" From two of the secret agent's contacts: "He was talking about chemical weapons and Gaddafi had chemical weapons and he was going to use these weapons pretty soon if he lost control of Tripoli itself." (just having lost control of Tripoli....)
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Other things I'll cover and/or let others:
Early threats of chemical warfare planned against the Libyan people, gas masks seen, etc.
Poisoned water in the Qala'a/Yefren area near Az Zintan.
Quatchi Canada's video of dead sheep - poison gas?
Turning Tripoli's water off on supposed rumors that Gaddafi had poisoned it, then struggling for (days? weeks?) to turn it (and the electricity, security, etc.) back on, having a hard time because "Gaddafi's brutal 42 year reign" somehow caused it to be off and hard to turn back on.
Etc...
OPCW report on a visit to Ruwagha in the south-east of Libya dated 4 November 2011 here This is nowhere near Abu Swesha , wrong end of the country, and at Ruwagha it seems that destruction of stocks was proceeding according to agreement.Stocks does not mean weaponisation. Stockpiles were declared following 2004. Stocks were found intact and secure in late 2011.
ReplyDeleteTwo other sites were pointed out to OPCW on 1 November by the new Libyan regime and according to Ahmet Üzümcü in the video OPCW Director-General on the Chemical Weapons Stockpiles in Libya and the OPCW has asked the new regime to make a declaration and it will send inspectors to verify the claim when "conditions permit" and when the Libyan authorities allow a visit...
From Fox News 30 Oct 2011:Libya's Prime Minister Confirms Presence of Chemical Weapons
Last week, Ian Martin, the top U.N. envoy to Libya, told the U.N. Security Council that undeclared chemical weapons sites have been located in Libya.
In August, Fox News interviewed Rep. Mike Rogers, R.-Mich., who said he saw a chemical weapon stockpile in the country during a 2004 trip. [!!!! see above] At the time, he said the U.S. was concerned about "thousands of pounds of very active mustard gas."
He also said there is some sarin gas that is unaccounted for. Fox Propaganda of no worth.
So how does Mr Martin know? As reported by the Daily Telegraph on 27 October 2011, The NTC said the chemical warheads had been secured and would be made safe by experts....Ian Martin, head of the UN mission in Libya, told a Security Council meeting that new previously undeclared sites for storing chemical weapons had been uncovered since the fall of Gaddafi's government.
So, the NTC told Mr Martin, who told the UN and finally the real experts, OPCW were told.
The OPCW visit took place beween 17-19 Jan 2012.
continued...
According to the OPCW OPCW Inspectors Verify Newly Declared Chemical Weapons Materials in Libya, 20 Jan 2012 :
DeleteThe OPCW inspectors verified the declared chemical weapons, which consist of sulfur mustard agent that is not loaded into munitions. At the same time, at the request of the Libyan authorities the inspectors examined munitions, mainly artillery shells, which they determined are chemical munitions and hence declarable.
All of the newly declared materials are stored at the Ruwagha depot in southeastern Libya....Libya must now submit a detailed plan and completion date for destroying all of the declared materials to the OPCW not later than 29 April 2012, the date of the final extended deadline.
So, the new finds were in the same place in SE Libya and there is no mention of Abu Shwesha which appears to be yet another fake story. Otherwise, it would have been easily pointed out to OPCW for verification.
For the record, this is how Mr Martin was reported on October 26: After liberation, elections and security top priorities in Libya – UN official: Mr. Martin also voiced his concern for the large amounts of weaponry left by the ousted Qadhafi regime, which include chemical weapons and Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS). Vague, isn't it? But manufactured into a scare story.