| Washington, DC – Congressman Bill Shuster received testimony from top military and intelligence officials today on 500 weapons of mass destruction (WMD) found in Iraq. Recently declassified information specifically states that coalition forces have uncovered about 500 munitions containing mustard or sarin nerve agent. These are the same types of chemical warfare agents used by Saddam Hussein to kill thousands of Iranians and to slaughter thousands of his own countrymen in northern Iraq.
“One drop of sarin on a person’s skin can be enough to kill,” said Shuster. “This declassified report reiterates Saddam Hussein’s heinous intentions and that he in fact kept chemical weapons of mass destruction after dozens of futile U.N. resolutions.”
The National Ground Intelligence Report was recently declassified after House Intelligence Chairman Pete Hoekstra’s tireless efforts over the past four months to provide the American public with further insight into Saddam’s WMD buildup.
“Those [WMDs] containing sarin nerve gas could be extremely toxic. Originally developed by the Nazis, sarin is 500-times more deadly than anthrax,” said panelist Frank Gaffney, President of the Center for Security Policy. “[And] it is a possibility that such deadly weapons could find their way into the hands of terrorists or others willing to use them against us, our allies or our interests.”
Today’s panelists included U.S. Army Lieutenant General Michael D. Maples, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Mr. Frank Gaffney, President, Center for Security Policy; Dr. David Kay, First Director, CIA Iraqi Survey Group; and Dr. Terence Taylor, Former Commissioner, U.N. Special Commission on Iraq. Their testimonies are available at http://armedservices.house.gov/schedules/. |
