Poison Cell or Poison Smell?
I haven't been following the various tease-outs of pre-war claims made by the Bush administration, and I have no real idea about the veracity of GlobalSecurity.org, but I figured this article was worth passing along:
One of the last claims in Colin Powell's presentation to the UN Security Council on February 5, 2003 blew away like dust in the wind late last week in the Old Bailey, London's central criminal court.
The trial of the infamous "UK poison cell," a group portrayed by Secretary of State Powell as al Qaida-associated operatives plotting to launch ricin attacks in the United Kingdom and in league with Muhamad al Zarqawi in Iraq, found nothing of the sort. The jury did find "the UK poison cell," known as Kamel Bourgas and others (Sidali Faddag, Samir Asli, Mouloud Bouhrama, Mustapha Taleb, Mouloud Sihali, Aissa Kalef), not guilty of conspiracy to murder by plotting ricin attacks and, generally speaking, not guilty of conspiracy to do anything. Kamel Bourgas had been previously convicted of murder of a British policeman in an unpublicized trial.
Link via Secrecy News.
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In other news, not only did John Bolton go on the record as believing that Cuba has a WMD program that they're sharing with rogue nations, but he tried to ruin the careers of two intelligence analysists who pointed out that Cuba has no such program.
The jury did find "the UK poison cell,"...not guilty of conspiracy to murder by plotting ricin attacks and, generally speaking, not guilty of conspiracy to do anything."
Oh Yeah! Well what about the yellowcake?
...oh...yeah.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4433709.stm
An al-Qaeda suspect who stabbed to death a policeman has been jailed for 17 years for plotting to spread ricin and other poisons on the UK's streets.
Kamel Bourgass, 31, is already serving a life term after being convicted of murdering Detective Constable Stephen Oake during a 2003 raid in Manchester.
Four other men were cleared last week of taking part in a conspiracy. A second trial has been abandoned.
Anti-terror chief Peter Clarke said a "real and deadly threat" was averted.
In a statement, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Clarke said: "This is an important conviction that has removed a very dangerous man from our streets."
I'm sure your correction and appology is coming...