Assad loses his mind.

Anything's possible I suppose. At this point, my theory is twofold: 1. Saddam wanted to retain the ability to resume manufacture of several different types of weapons, primarily Nuclear and Chemical, sometime in the future when sanctions were lifted. 2. Saddam is actually the source of the 'leaked' bits of intelligence that fooled NOT ONLY the United States, but all concerned nations with capable intelligence gathering networks. Iraq was not 'clean' after the war. They DID maintain materials for manufacture, but no actual finished products, beyond some component parts that had been declared to the UN inspection teams, such as thier RDX explosives stockpiles. Saddam invested too much in his weapons manufacturing programs to have them completely evaporate. My second theory about the source of the intelligence is pretty simple to outline. Saddam profited massively in two ways from the inspections. First, monetarily, and second it kept his people weak, highly dependant on the dregs and leavings of the incoming oil for food money and supplies that were allowed to actually reach the people. It was in Saddam's best interest to keep sanctions alive, hence the screwing around with our inspectors, and various bits of leaked intel, probing diplomatic missions to Niger to inquire about purchasing Uranium, etc. I believe that Saddam tried to maintain a balance of continued sanctions for profit and to dominate his people, without provoking the UN to actual action. I think Saddam 'mis-underestimated' our President's resolve to END this long standing stalemate, and his ability to rally international support to eliminate the baathist regime in Iraq, over the objections of certain parties on the UN Security Council. I'll admit that it's possible WMD's were shipped over to Syria, noting that Saddam made the mistake of sending most of his Air Force over to Iran, for 'safe keeping'. However, I doubt completed biological or chemical devices were shipped en-masse to Syria. They are most likely either consumed in the Iraq-Iran war, or consumed keeping the Kurds under control, in incidents that were not documented, and conflicts we did not witness, and Iraq did not declare. Based on our knowledge of the growth media purchases they made, most of his bio weapons were probably past their pull date in '03 anyway. I wouldn't eat the stuff, but it would have lacked potency as a military weapon. Chemical weapons, particularly binary weapons are another matter. I expect those will be found buried in the desert, leaking, corroded and probably useless, most likely hundreds of years from now during some farming and irrigation project. The people who had direct knowledge of where to find it now are all probably dead already. Anyway, I don't think Syria, even if they had all this stuff is particularly dangerous to the United States. It's pretty hard to be MORE dangerous than the Soviets were during the cold war, and we made it through that alive. Syria MUST know they lack the power to eliminate us, and that it would take only a small amount of resources that we really don't need lying around in our backyards anymore to pave over their country anyway. Save us some disposal costs. I think Syria's announcement was a poorly planned grab for political attention, and maybe some barganing power. Nothing more.

Anybody wonder why they let "dr germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax" go?

Sheesh, Jim. Gonna make me take down my diploma...