Melanie Phillips is a British neoconservative who has devoted herself to warning England that Muslims are taking over and destroying its culture. Her book, oh-so-cleverly titled Londonistan, warns of "the collapse of traditional British identity and accommodation of a particularly virulent form of multiculturalism."
She has described James Baker and Jimmy Carter as "the kept creatures of the Arab world" who "are intent on smoothing the path to Israel's destruction." She thinks global warming is a "con-trick" because everything is "well within the normal cyclical fluctuations in temperature from century to century." And on and on and on. Needless to say, she is a deeply admired figure in the world of Fox News and right-wing blogs.
But all of that is rendered moderate, restrained, sober and even sane by a new article she wrote for the British magazine, The Spectator (headline: I Found Saddam's WMD Bunkers), which claims that: (a) WMDs really were found in Iraq after the invasion, (b) they were located in vast underground bunkers (c) which contained "nuclear, chemical and biological materials", but (d) the U.S., through negligence, failed to secure those sites and, as a result, (e) the WMDs were stolen by The Terrorists and/or Syrian agents, who now have them and are actively plotting (along with China, Russia and North Korea) to use them against the West, but --
(f) because the Bush administration is so embarrassed by their failure to prevent the theft of all these dastardly weapons, and because Democrats are embarrassed by this discovery because it proves that Saddam really did have WMDs all along, they have all jointly created a vast conspiracy where they conceal the discovery of WMDs in order to cover up for their negligence.
Should Ms. Phillips wend her way to this blog, I have a hint as to where to look. Just dig up sections of Washington, DC. From the Earth Island Journal:
During World War I (WWI), American University, adjacent to the site that would become Spring Valley, was the headquarters for all of the research and testing that was performed by the Chemical Warfare Service. Work was done not only on campus, but also throughout the surrounding area, covering over 500 acres and constituting the American University Experimental Station. Here scientists conducted extensive outdoor tests on poison gases. Some of these tests exposed animals to chemical agents. Others included forming poison gas clouds and testing their duration in the atmosphere. Thousands of these tests were performed, and after the war, the testing areas were bulldozed over with dirt, burying exploded and unexploded chemical warfare munitions. Bottles, barrels, and laboratory equipment were similarly buried in large pits. The remaining chemical agents were probably poured into the ground. One of the most toxic agents tested here was lewisite, an arsenic-based compound thought to be carcinogenic and mutagenic, and that has dangerous residues that can remain in the soil indefinitely. Lewisite was not used during WWI, but it became a commonly produced chemical warfare agent during the early and middle parts of the 20th century. North Korea may still produce it.
For a few years after WWI ended, there were anecdotal reports of new homeowners in the area surrounding American University finding their backyards pitted with shell holes, but eventually even the residents of the area forgot their neighborhood’s history. Thus it was a surprise when, during the construction of a new home in 1990, some of the workers experienced skin burning and eye pain severe enough to warrant a visit to the emergency room. One suffered from black spots on his skin, which was considered consistent with exposure to a blister-causing agent such as lewisite. The workers unearthed antique laboratory equipment, broken jars and a 55-gallon drum. An environmental firm hired to investigate the situation attributed the workers’ symptoms to the presence of a herbicide in the soil.
In January 1993, workers digging a utility trench about a mile from that house uncovered rusted bombs. The Army Corps of Engineers began an operation to locate and remove all WWI-era chemical agent munitions and equipment from Spring Valley; their work continued through 1994. In total, 141 munitions were recovered, including 43 shells suspected of containing poison gas, as well as glassware and other lab equipment. Some of the recovered materials tested positive for lewisite and its arsenic-containing degradation products. As part of this investigation the Army Corps tested soil samples and in 1995 concluded that all poison gas related materials had been removed, and that Spring Valley was now safe.
But some people were justifiably skeptical of the Corps’ remediation efforts. In June 1996, workers planting a tree on the grounds of American University President Benjamin Ladner’s property were overcome by odors and suffered severe eye burning. Subsequently, the workers found broken bottles and glassware containing liquids, and an environmental firm confirmed the presence of arsenic in the soil at 28 times permissible levels. Still, nothing was done for a few more years until the Army Corps agreed in 1999 to examine one other site, the South Korean Ambassador’s residence, two houses away from Ladner’s property. The Corps found extremely high levels of arsenic (up to 1,000 parts per million [ppm]) and unearthed 250 shells and 175 bottles. Soon after, another excavation at a different residence unearthed 380 shells, several 50-gallon drums and 40 bottles, most containing mustard gas or lewisite. Arsenic levels at the site were found to average 241 ppm The American University experimental station, c. 1918. Photo courtesy of the authorswith a high of 498 ppm. These findings eventually led the Army Corps in 2001 to expand its efforts and agree to test every property in Spring Valley. Any property that had a soil sample exceeding 13 ppm of arsenic would have additional samples taken; any that were higher than 20 ppm would have the soil removed and replaced. As of June 2004, 139 properties have been found to have arsenic levels higher than 20 ppm. Over $100 million has been spent by the Army Corps thus far, and the Corps estimates that four more years will be required to complete the remediation work.
At the time, I lived on the campus of Wesley Theological Seminary, which is immediately adjacent to the north of American University on Massachusetts Avenue. I well remember the day - screeching sirens, roads cordoned off, the warnings of imminent evacuation of a huge section of the city (which, thankfully, never transpired) - but I also remember little in the news at the time. Could it be that this was because these were not WWI ordinance at all, but the secret repository of Saddam's chemical munitions? Was the link to American University's history as a testing area for chemical weapons used as a convenient cover? Did the helicopters used and planes used to transport cocaine for Clinton to Mena, AR also remove those Iraqi munitions to Syria? Was Vince Foster murdered by Hillary Clinton and rolled up in a rug because he had discovered this plot?
Atrios sums it up best:
Right wing bloggers are the stupidest fucking people on the face on the Earth.
