Final Word from Thursday, March 20, 2003
The U.S.-led "disarmament" of Iraq began this morning, but Czech anti-chemical forces aren't taking part. They'll only get involved if there is the use or threat of the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The New York Times reported that the U.S. will send in mobile labs as soon as the war begins for helping the military to find Iraq's hidden weapons. These units will be charged with doing what the U.N. inspectors didn't do, and their mere existence indicates that there is a threat of the use of WMD. The NYT said that the failure by these units to find WMD would leave the U.S. open to charges that it began a war needlessly. If the U.S. claims that it has found hidden weapons, there will inevitably be disputes over whether it put them there itself. If Czech anti-chemical forces are eventually called in, they can serve a crucial role in confirming or denying the official U.S. version.