Sen. Rick Santorum (R) is standing behind his assertion that prewar claims about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq have been proven by a partially declassified Defense Department report. The report, from April 2006, reveals that American forces found about 500 rounds of chemical-weapons shells containing “degraded” mustard or sarin nerve gas buried in Iraq. It does not suggest that the findings contradict the 2004 Defense Department report stating that Saddam Hussein had no chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons program in the years leading up to the war in Iraq. Defense officials believe the shells were produced before the first Gulf War, for use in the 1988 war with Iran. Experts say nerve gas from the 1980s is probably not dangerous.

Despite such details, Santorum’s not the only Pennsylvania Republican to latch onto the report. Last month, Rep. Curt Weldon (R) argued that “the jury is still out on WMD.” Now, it seems, the jury has come back to convict. "This report specifically confirms that weapons of mass destruction existed when we went to war,” he said. Weldon claims U.S. intelligence agencies have tried to downplay the report and that, if it was completely declassified, his statements would be confirmed.