Keystone Inspectors - Hans Blix

Keystone Inspectors - Hans Blix missed this one, according to the Guardian:

But the most disturbing find was two Russian-made Harith cruise missiles, each six metres (20ft) long, and nine warheads hidden in two enormous, reinforced-concrete bunkers.

Another missile, as yet unidentified, was found still in its crate.

The scale and possible implications of the weapons find took British forces by surprise and raised fresh questions about the extent of the Iraqi war machine and the ability of weapons inspectors to cope with the task of scouring such a vast country for prohibited ordnance.

The discovery of the missiles - which were stamped with the year 2002 - came as British troops from the Black Watch regiment fought to secure the area around Iraqi's second city, Basra, in preparation for the capture of the city.

Just the thing to put nerve gas over an oil terminal?

And, from the same story, in the Weapons of Mass Persuasion department:

Lieutenant Angus Watson said soldiers had found the haul when they arrived on Saturday night. "The complex is massive and we were surprised to find a lot of the kit intact, easily enough for a whole brigade," he said.

They also discovered hundreds of leaflets lying on the floor, dropped by coalition planes, urging the defenders to surrender. The leaflets, and evidence of a bombardment from the air or by artillery, appeared to have persuaded the defenders to abandon their posts without a fight.

That, or the Black Watch's bagpipes...

(Via Volokh)

Posted by Mitch at March 24, 2003 10:00 AM