General Zinni on Sixty Minutes

In message . net,
Steven P. McNicoll writes

"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message
...

Porton Down.


I never heard of this person. Who is he?

It's a place, not a person - and if the name means nothing to you, then
you're too ignorant to talk to. Which would be a shame.

It's where the UK does its chemical, biological and radiological warfare
work. Purely defensive, of course, and a side-effect is some
marvellously preserved downland that hasn't seen a farmer for over a
century.

Colleagues who work there were students on the same "train for field
deployment" course as me: but they were hauled off in mid-course to be
sent to Iraq to look for WMEs. They didn't find any despite being told
exactly where to look and what to look for.

This inspires a certain cynicism about our marvellous intelligence
picture of Iraqi operations.



--
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Julius Caesar I:2

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk

In article ,
"Paul J. Adam" wrote:

In message . net,
Steven P. McNicoll writes

"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message
...

Porton Down.

I never heard of this person. Who is he?

It's a place, not a person - and if the name means nothing to you, then
you're too ignorant to talk to. Which would be a shame.

Not in this case. McNicoll is one of those folks who thinks that
nothing he says really matters as long as he can keep denying it when
he's caught, after cutting out the relevant parts of his own posts.

--
cirby at cfl.rr.com

Remember: Objects in rearview mirror may be hallucinations.
Slam on brakes accordingly.

"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message
...

It's a place, not a person - and if the name means nothing to you, then
you're too ignorant to talk to. Which would be a shame.


Let's see, I state; "Prior to the invasion of Iraq the one point on which
there was near universal agreement was that Iraq had significant WMD."

You respond; "I guess 'near universal' can exclude a lot of people, then."

I ask; "Such as?"

And you answer; "Porton Down."

I had been thinking; "Gee, you'd think a guy that claims a lot of people
said Iraq had no WMD before the invasion could come up with more than just
one example." But it turns out you couldn't provide a single example!

By the way, if you don't know the difference between a place and a person,
then it's you that's too ignorant to talk to.

In message . net,
Steven P. McNicoll writes
"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message
...
It's a place, not a person - and if the name means nothing to you, then
you're too ignorant to talk to. Which would be a shame.


Let's see, I state; "Prior to the invasion of Iraq the one point on which
there was near universal agreement was that Iraq had significant WMD."

You respond; "I guess 'near universal' can exclude a lot of people, then."

I ask; "Such as?"

And you answer; "Porton Down."

I had been thinking; "Gee, you'd think a guy that claims a lot of people
said Iraq had no WMD before the invasion could come up with more than just
one example." But it turns out you couldn't provide a single example!

There is a difference between "knowing the names of the relevant
colleages" and "being at liberty to post them".

I went through RTMC Chilwell with a number of fellow analysts from
Porton who were immediately (mid-course!) deployed to Iraq to look for
the WME that were supposedly sure to be found. They expected to find
very little, but were willing to be surprised. And that's as much detail
as I'm happy to give.

--
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Julius Caesar I:2

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk

"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message
...

There is a difference between "knowing the names of the relevant
colleages" and "being at liberty to post them".


Well, if they were publicly stating that Iraq had no WMD prior to the
invasion, why wouldn't you be at liberty to post their names now?



I went through RTMC Chilwell with a number of fellow analysts from
Porton who were immediately (mid-course!) deployed to Iraq to look for
the WME that were supposedly sure to be found. They expected to find
very little, but were willing to be surprised. And that's as much detail
as I'm happy to give.


Who do you think you're fooling?

In message k.net,
Steven P. McNicoll writes
"Paul J. Adam" wrote in message
...
There is a difference between "knowing the names of the relevant
colleages" and "being at liberty to post them".

Well, if they were publicly stating that Iraq had no WMD prior to the
invasion, why wouldn't you be at liberty to post their names now?

Who said "publicly stating"? That's your invention, not mine. We were
talking shop during a predeployment training exercise, not hosting a
press conference.

I went through RTMC Chilwell with a number of fellow analysts from
Porton who were immediately (mid-course!) deployed to Iraq to look for
the WME that were supposedly sure to be found. They expected to find
very little, but were willing to be surprised. And that's as much detail
as I'm happy to give.

Who do you think you're fooling?

Why should I care? You'll either listen, or ignore what I say because
it's inconvenient. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, drink coffee
from the commemorative mug.

(Out of interest, how many fielded analysts do *you* know and how
enthusiastically did they believe the claims that Iraq was awash in
WMEs?)

--
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Julius Caesar I:2

Paul J. Adam MainBoxatjrwlynch[dot]demon{dot}co(.)uk