Ricciardone: Gates of hell opened in Iraq

VIGAN CITY – They have entered the gates of hell without abandoning all hope.

United States Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone said it could take months before any weapons of mass destruction are unearthed in Iraq as coalition forces literally begin the spadework to find any WMDs in the war-torn country.

"We just opened the gates of hell there. We are just making our way to the outer rooms of hell," Ricciardone pleaded to critics of the American-led invasion of the oil-rich nation.

While the coalition of US and British forces has succeeded in "liberating" Baghdad, critics of the war have charged that the "invaders" have yet to find the much-touted WMDs.

The critics claimed that Iraq may not be hiding such weapons after all and that the disastrous war should not have taken place.

Ricciardone would rather that these naysayers stop talking in the meantime.

"Give us time," Ricciardone told newsmen here yesterday during a breakfast with officials led by Vigan Mayor Eva Singson-Medina.

"The search could take months," he said, adding the searchers have to do it very carefully.

"They should be careful because what they discover could be poison to kill an entire town of people if accidentally (the searchers) get a drop out," he said.

He cautioned against jumping to conclusions just because they have yet to come across a treasure trove of chemical weapons barely a month after launching the war.

"The place has to be stabilized before we can do a systematic search," he said.

The ambassador said the coalition’s priorities are the dismantling of the regime of deposed President Saddam Hussein (who was said to have kept a bank account under the name of Satan), taking care of the Iraqis, and ridding Iraq of WMDs.

Ricciardone, who was accompanied by his wife Dr. Marie Ricciardone and some embassy officers led by press attaché Karen Kelley, disclosed that only seven suspected WMD sites have been checked out so far.

He said there are "about a hundred sites" for WMDs in Iraq which he claimed are mostly underground.

But it looked like what’s delaying the gains in the search is the lack of information going the way of coalition forces.

"We are still looking for leaders of the regime," the ambassador admitted while saying that only two of them are in their custody –a half-brother of Saddam and a top scientist of the regime.

"Once we start talking to Iraqi scientists and soldiers involved (in WMD-making), I’ll be shocked if we don’t come across WMDs," Ricciardone, who is visiting the north for the first time, said.

But he claimed that his government had been receiving intelligence data about WMDs from US sources in the Iraqi nation.

He said he is confident of their Iraqi "friends" and that he would be amazed if no WMD is found.

Among their finds so far are chemical protective suits, and "50 or 60 suicide bomber vests."