rotten > Library > History > War > Weapons of Mass Destruction > Iraqi WMDs
Iraqi WMDs
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"From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."
Andrew H. Card, Jr.
White House Chief of Staff
The New York Times -- September 7, 2002
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President George W Bush had a serious problem. In 2002, he was trying to sell the American people a war against Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein. But despite a wide selection of rationales offered to justify the thing, very few people were buying. When none of his advertising slogans seemed to be working, Bush had no choice but to employ a little old-fashioned puffery.
So the President and his lackeys tweaked the message. They started promoting the idea that Saddam currently possessed significant weapons of mass destruction, poised to strike the United States and Britain. That certainly got people's attention.  Public opinion quickly swayed in favor of military intervention, and the rest is history.
Since the war, however, millions of Americans have concluded that they are victims of false advertising. None of the fabled WMDs has actually shown up, despite months of intensive searching. Understandably, people feel they were lied to.
But let's start at the beginning. Prior to the 2001 al Qaeda attacks against the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Bush and his administration were openly uncommitted as to whether there were any extant WMDs in Iraq:
Before 9-11
| 2 Dec 1999 |
During a debate in New Hampshire, Presidential candidate George W Bush declares: "If I found in any way, shape or form that he was developing weapons of mass destruction, I'd take 'em out. I'm surprised he's still there." Asked if that meant he would overthrow Saddam, Bush said he was only talking about "the weapons of mass destruction." |
| 11 Feb 2000 |
Stumping in South Carolina, Presidential candidate George W Bush declares: "If we catch them developing weapons of mass destruction, there won't be any weapons of mass destruction left in Iraq -- if I'm the Commander-in-Chief." |
| 11 Oct 2000 |
During a debate at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Presidential candidate George W Bush declares: "We don't know whether he's developing weapons of mass destruction. He better not be, or there's going to be a consequence -- should I be the President." |
| 22 Feb 2001 |
President George W Bush declares: "The Secretary of State is going to go listen to our allies as to how best to effect a policy, the primary goal of which will be to say to Saddam Hussein: we won't tolerate you developing weapons of mass destruction, and we expect you to leave your neighbors alone." |
| 24 Feb 2001 |
In Cairo, Secretary of State Colin Powell declares: "He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors." |
| 17 May 2001 |
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher declares: "We're working toward what will be a significant change in our approach to Iraq in the United Nations... The focus is on strengthening controls to prevent Iraq from rebuilding military capability in weapons of mass destruction, while facilitating a broader flow of goods to the civilian population of Iraq." |
| 7 Aug 2001 |
President George W Bush declares: "He's been a menace forever, and we will do -- he needs to open his country up for inspection, so we can see whether or not he's developing weapons of mass destruction." |
But shortly after September 11, 2001, the Bush administration (and Tony Blair, and several members of Congress) suddenly began telling everybody that Saddam Hussein definitely possessed weapons of mass destruction, and that those things constituted a clear and present danger against the United States:
After 9-11
| Nov 2001 |
Pentagon official Richard Perle: "He has weapons of mass destruction. The lesser risk is in pre-emption. We've got to stop wishing away the problem." |
| 11 Mar 2002 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares: "The threat that Saddam Hussein poses is an issue in its own right, because the reason why the UN Security Council passed these resolutions was precisely because we know the threat that there is from the weapons of mass destruction that he has." |
| 26 Aug 2002 |
Vice President Dick Cheney declares: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." |
| 4 Sep 2002 |
Senator Joseph Lieberman declares: "Every day Saddam remains in power with chemical weapons, biological weapons, and the development of nuclear weapons is a day of danger for the United States." |
| 18 Sep 2002 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells the House Armed Services Commitee: "[Saddam] has amassed large clandestine stocks of biological weapons... including anthrax and botulism toxin and possibly smallpox. His regime has amassed large clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX and sarin and mustard gas... [he] has at this moment stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons." |
| 19 Sep 2002 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells the Senate Armed Services Commitee: "There are a number of terrorist states pursuing weapons of mass destruction -- Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, just to name a few -- but no terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people than the regime of Saddam Hussein and Iraq." |
| 24 Sep 2002 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares: "His weapons of mass destruction program is active, detailed and growing. The policy of containment is not working. The weapons of mass destruction program is not shut down. It is up and running... The intelligence picture (the intelligence services) paint is one accumulated over the past four years. It is extensive, detailed and authoritative. It concludes that Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, that Saddam has continued to produce them, that he has existing and active military plans for the use of chemical and biological weapons, which could be activated within 45 minutes, including against his own Shia population; and that he is actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons capability." |
| 7 Oct 2002 |
During a speech in Cincinnati, President George W Bush declares: "Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological or chemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists." |
| 28 Oct 2002 |
During a speech at the Riner Steinhoff Soccer Complex in Alamogordo, New Mexico, President George W Bush declares: "He's got weapons of mass destruction. This is a man who has used weapons of mass destruction." |
| 28 Oct 2002 |
During a speech at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver, President George W Bush declares: "It's a person who claims he has no weapons of mass destruction, in order to escape the dictums of the U.N. Security Council and the United Nations -- but he's got them. See, he'll lie. He'll deceive us. And he'll use them." |
| 31 Oct 2002 |
During a speech at Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, President George W Bush declares: "This is a guy who's used weapons of mass destruction. He not only has them, he's used them." |
| 1 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Pease International Tradeport Airport in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, President George W Bush declares: "Saddam Hussein is a man who has told the world he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, and yet he deceived the world. He's got them... We know he's got chemical weapons, probably has biological weapons." |
| 2 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the University of South Florida, President George W Bush declares: "He's a man who has told the world he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, yet he does." |
| 2 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Georgia, President George W Bush declares: "He's a threat to America, he's a threat to our close friends and allies. He's a man who has said he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, but he's got them... Not only does he have weapons of mass destruction, but, incredibly enough, he has used weapons of mass destruction." |
| 2 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Tri-Cities Regional Tn/Va Airport in Blountville, Tennessee, President George W Bush declares: "He told the world he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction -- 11 years ago he said that. He's got them... We know that this is a man who has chemical weapons, and we know he's used them." |
| 3 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Illinois Police Academy in Springfield, Illinois, President George W Bush declares: "Saddam Hussein is a threat to America. He's a threat to our friends. He's a man who said he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, yet he has them. He's a man that not only has weapons of mass destruction, he's used them." |
| 3 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, President George W Bush declares: "This is a man who not only has got chemical weapons, I want you to remind your friends and neighbors, that he has used chemical weapons." |
| 3 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Sioux Falls Convention Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, President George W Bush declares: "Saddam Hussein is a man who told the world he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, but he's got them... It's a man who not only has chemical weapons, but he's used chemical weapons against some of his neighbors." |
| 4 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Family Center in St. Louis, Missouri, President George W Bush declares: "He said he wouldn't have chemical weapons; he's got them." |
| 4 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, President George W Bush declares: "This is a man who told the world he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, promised he wouldn't have them. He's got them... He said he wouldn't have chemical weapons, he's got them." |
| 4 Nov 2002 |
During a speech at Southern Methodist University, President George W Bush declares: "He has weapons of mass destruction. At one time we know for certain he was close to having a nuclear weapon. Imagine Saddam Hussein with a nuclear weapon. Not only has he got chemical weapons, but I want you to remember, he's used chemical weapons." |
| 7 Nov 2002 |
During a press conference, President George W Bush declares: "Some people say, 'Oh, we must leave Saddam alone, otherwise, if we did something against him, he might attack us.' Well, if we don't do something he might attack us, and he might attack us with a more serious weapon. The man is a threat... He's a threat because he is dealing with al Qaeda... And we're going to deal with him." |
| 13 Nov 2002 |
Condoleezza Rice declares: "He already has other weapons of mass destruction. But a nuclear weapon, two or three our four years from now -- I don't care where it is, when it is -- to have that happen in a volatile region like the Middle East is most certainly a future that we cannot tolerate." |
| 2 Dec 2002 |
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declares: "If he declares he has none, then we will know that Saddam Hussein is once again misleading the world." |
| 9 Jan 2003 |
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declares: "We know for a fact there are weapons there." |
| 10 Jan 2003 |
Senate majority leader Bill Frist tells Capital Report: "I am absolutely convinced, based on the information that's been given to me, that the weapon of mass destruction which can kill more people than an atomic bomb -- that is, biological weapons -- is in the hands of the leadership of Iraq." |
| 20 Jan 2003 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declares: "Saddam Hussein possesses chemical and biological weapons... His regime is paying a high price to pursue weapons of mass destruction -- giving up billions of dollars in oil revenue. His regime has large, unaccounted for stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons -- including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas; anthrax, botulism, and possibly smallpox -- and he has an active program to acquire and develop nuclear weapons." |
| 20 Jan 2003 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declares: "It should be noted that biological weapons -- which Iraq and North Korea both possess -- can be as deadly, and arguably more immediate a danger -- because they are simpler and cheaper and deliver, and are even more readily transferred to terrorist networks than are nuclear weapons." |
| 22 Jan 2003 |
Senate majority leader Bill Frist tells The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: "What is unique about Iraq compared to, I would argue, any other country in the world, in this juncture, is the exhaustion of diplomacy thus far, and, No. 2, this intersection of weapons of mass destruction." |
| 5 Feb 2003 |
Senator Hillary Clinton declares: "Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national security of the United States and international peace and security in the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations by, among other things, continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations." |
Then Secretary of State Colin Powell went to the United Nations for a Show 'N Tell presentation. He passed around recent surveillance photos taken of Iraqi WMD sites. According to Powell, the black-and-white pictures depicted a chemical weapons complex in Al-Musayyib, as well as 15 chemical weapons bunkers in Taji.
Although the briefing was vague on many details, Powell's exhibits were too specific and numerous to be ignored. Taken in total, they seemed to portray an ongoing biological and chemical weapons production effort under way in Iraq.
After the United States finally explained what the deal was, the general consensus became: someone is gonna have to disarm that sneaky motherfucker.
| 5 Feb 2003 |
During his U.N. presentation, Secretary of State Colin Powell declares: "Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets." |
| 8 Feb 2003 |
During a radio address, President George W Bush declares: "We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have." |
| 8 Feb 2003 |
During a radio address, President George W Bush declares: "Saddam Hussein has longstanding, direct and continuing ties to terrorist networks. Senior members of Iraqi intelligence and al Qaeda have met at least eight times since the early 1990s. Iraq has sent bomb-making and document forgery experts to work with al Qaeda. Iraq has also provided al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training. And an al Qaeda operative was sent to Iraq several times in the late 1990s for help in acquiring poisons and gases. We also know that Iraq is harboring a terrorist network headed by a senior al Qaeda terrorist planner. This network runs a poison and explosive training camp in northeast Iraq, and many of its leaders are known to be in Baghdad." |
| 6 Mar 2003 |
During a press conference, President George W Bush declares: "Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country, to our people, and to all free people.... I will not leave the American people at the mercy of the Iraqi dictator and his weapons." |
| 7 Mar 2003 |
In a speech, Senate majority leader Bill Frist declares: "Iraq is a grave threat to this nation. It desires to acquire and use weapons of mass terror and is run by a despot with a proven record of willingness to use them. Iraq has had 12 years to comply with UN requirements for disarmament and has failed to do so. The President is right to say it's time has run out." |
| 16 Mar 2003 |
In an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post, Senate majority leader Bill Frist declares: "Getting rid of Saddam Hussein's regime is our best inoculation. Destroying once and for all his weapons of disease and death is a vaccination for the world." |
| 16 Mar 2003 |
Vice President Dick Cheney tells Meet the Press: "Let's talk about the nuclear proposition for a minute. We know that based on intelligence, that he has been very, very good at hiding these kinds of efforts. He's had years to get good at it and we know he has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons." |
| 17 Mar 2003 |
During an address to the nation, President George W Bush declares: "We cannot live under the threat of blackmail. The terrorist threat to America and the world will be diminished the moment that Saddam Hussein is disarmed." |
| 17 Mar 2003 |
During an address to the nation, President George W Bush declares: "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." |
| 18 Mar 2003 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair tells the House of Commons: "We are asked now seriously to accept that in the last few years -- contrary to all history, contrary to all intelligence -- Saddam decided unilaterally to destroy those weapons. I say that such a claim is palpably absurd." |
| 19 Mar 2003 |
During an address to the nation, President George W Bush declares: "The people of the United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder." |
Then, on March 20th, the war began.
During the War
| 20 Mar 2003 |
In a debate on the Senate floor, majority leader Bill Frist declares that we are at war "so we will not ever see" what terrorists could do "if supplied with weapons of mass destruction by Saddam Hussein." |
| 21 Mar 2003 |
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declares: "Well, there is no question that we have evidence and information that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical particularly." |
| 22 Mar 2003 |
General Tommy Franks declares: "There is no doubt that the regime of Saddam Hussein possesses weapons of mass destruction. And... as this operation continues, those weapons will be identified, found, along with the people who have produced them and who guard them." |
| 22 Mar 2003 |
Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark declares: "One of our top objectives is to find and destroy the WMD. There are a number of sites." |
| 23 Mar 2003 |
Kenneth Adelman of the Defense Policy Board declares: "I have no doubt we're going to find big stores of weapons of mass destruction." |
| 24 Mar 2003 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells Face the Nation: "We have seen intelligence over many months that they have chemical and biological weapons, and that they have dispersed them and that they're weaponized and that, in one case at least, the command and control arrangements have been established." |
| 25 Mar 2003 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares: "I have always said to people throughout that our aim has not been regime change, our aim has been the elimination of weapons of mass destruction." |
| 30 Mar 2003 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells This Week with George Stephanopoulos: "the area... that coalition forces control... happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." |
| 31 Mar 2003 |
In a speech, Senate majority leader Bill Frist declares: "We simply cannot live in fear of a ruthless dictator, aggressor and terrorist such as Saddam Hussein, who possesses the world's most deadly weapons." |
| 4 Apr 2003 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares: "I have no doubt that we will [find WMDs]. We have got absolutely no doubt that these weapons exist. But there has been a campaign of concealment by Saddam ever since he knew that UN inspectors were coming back into the country, and I have got absolutely no doubt that those weapons are there." |
| 4 Apr 2003 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares: "We know that he has stockpiles of major amounts of chemical and biological weapons, we know that he is trying to acquire nuclear capability, we know that he is trying to develop ballistic missile capability of a greater range." |
| 8 Apr 2003 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares: "On weapons of mass destruction, we know that the regime has them, we know that as the regime collapses we will be led to them. We pledged to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and we will keep that commitment." |
| 10 Apr 2003 |
In a message to the Iraqi people, President George W Bush declares: "The goals of our coalition are clear and limited. We will end a brutal regime, whose aggression and weapons of mass destruction make it a unique threat to the world." |
| 10 Apr 2003 |
In a message to the Iraqi people, British Prime Minister Tony Blair declares: "We did not want this war. But in refusing to give up his weapons of mass destruction, Saddam gave us no choice but to act." |
| 10 Apr 2003 |
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer declares: "We have high confidence that they have weapons of mass destruction. That is what this war was about and it is about. And we have high confidence it will be found." |
And then, quietly at first, some doubts began to creep in.
| 24 Apr 2003 |
President George W Bush declares: "We are learning more as we interrogate or have discussions with Iraqi scientists and people within the Iraqi structure, that perhaps he destroyed some, perhaps he dispersed some. And so we will find them." |
| 25 Apr 2003 |
ABC News journalist John Cochran reports: "Officials now say they may not find hundreds of tons of mustard and nerve agents and maybe not thousands of liters of anthrax and other toxins. But U.S. forces will find some, they say." |
| 29 Apr 2003 |
In Moscow, British Prime Minister Tony Blair wonders openly: "Where is Saddam? Where are those arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, if they indeed were in existence? We don't know whether perhaps Saddam is still hiding somewhere underground in a bunker, sitting on cases containing weapons of mass destruction, and is preparing for blowing the whole thing up, bringing down with him the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. We simply do not know." |
On May 1st, President Bush declared the end of combat operations from the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier protecting the dangerous waters off San Diego harbor. By then, two mysterious developments had cast serious doubts on the WMD hunt (which began to resemble more and more Geraldo Rivera's 1986 live TV special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vault):
- During the invasion, Iraqi defense forces had somehow restrained themselves from dipping into their stockpiles of chemical agents to use against the American aggressors.
- In the aftermath of the fighting, none of Iraq's weapons caches were found to contain even slight traces of the offending materials. Not even the sites depicted in satellite photography presented by Colin Powell in his U.N. speech.
Perplexing. After a few more attempts at putting on a brave face, administration officials began to offer excuses why nothing had turned up yet. And the excuses would become more labored as time went on.
After the War
| 3 May 2003 |
President George W Bush declares: "We'll find them. It'll be a matter of time to do so." |
| 4 May 2003 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells Fox News Sunday: "we never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country... We're going to find what we find as a result of talking to people, I believe, not simply by going to some site and hoping to discover it." |
| 4 May 2003 |
Secretary of State Colin Powell declares: "I'm absolutely sure that there are weapons of mass destruction there and the evidence will be forthcoming. We're just getting it just now." |
| 6 May 2003 |
President George W Bush declares: "I'm not surprised if we begin to uncover the weapons program of Saddam Hussein -- because he had a weapons program." |
| 12 May 2003 |
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice declares: "U.S. officials never expected that we were going to open garages and find weapons of mass destruction." |
| 13 May 2003 |
Maj. Gen. David Petraeus declares: "I just don't know whether it was all destroyed years ago -- I mean, there's no question that there were chemical weapons years ago -- whether they were destroyed right before the war, whether they're still hidden." |
| 21 May 2003 |
Gen. Michael Hagee, USMC declares: "Before the war, there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found." |
| 26 May 2003 |
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers tells The Today Show: "Given time, given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction." |
| 27 May 2003 |
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells the Council on Foreign Relations: "Now what happened? Why weren't they [the WMDs] used? I don’t know. There are several possible reasons for that... it may very well be that they didn’t have time to... use chemical weapons. It is also possible that they decided that they would destroy them prior to a conflict." |
And then this admission dropped out of the sky:
| 28 May 2003 |
Paul Wolfowitz declares: "For bureaucratic reasons, we settled on one issue -- weapons of mass destruction -- because it was the one reason everyone could agree on." |
Remember when President Bush claimed that the WMD hunt had finally turned up something?
| 30 May 2003 |
President George W Bush tells Polish TV: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories... we’ve so far discovered two. And we'll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." |
Except it later turned out that the equipment was actually used to generate hydrogen gas for artillery balloons. Not a WMD at all. (Oh, well.) Ironically, on the very same day, there was this revelation in Iraq:
| 30 May 2003 |
During a press conference, Lt. General James Conway, USMC declares: "It was a surprise to me then, it remains a surprise to me now, that we have not uncovered weapons... in some of the forward dispersal sites. Again, believe me, it’s not for lack of trying. We’ve been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad, but they’re simply not there... We were simply wrong." |
D'oh. (Wonder where James Conway is, presently.) And also there were these gems:
| 30 May 2003 |
During a press conference, Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton of the Defense Intelligence Agency declares: "Do I think we're going to find something? Yeah, I kind of do, because I think there's a lot of information out there." |
| 8 Jun 2003 |
In Iraq, WMD hunter Lieutenant Colonel Keith Harrington declares: "It doesn't appear there are any more targets at this time... We're hanging around with no missions in the foreseeable future." |
Anyway, with the 2004 election looming ever larger on the horizon, the administration's self-conscious tapdancing promptly resumed and has carried on unabated ever since:
| 24 Jun 2003 |
At a press briefing, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declares: "I don't know anybody that I can think of who has contended that the Iraqis had nuclear weapons." [see Dick Cheney quote above, March 16, 2003] |
| 26 Jun 2003 |
Senate majority leader Bill Frist tells The Today Show: "I'm not sure that's the major reason we went to war." |
| 9 Jul 2003 |
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer somehow manages to say with a straight face: "Saddam Hussein had biological and chemical weapons that were unaccounted for that we're still confident we'll find. I think the burden is on those people who think he didn't have weapons of mass destruction to tell the world where they are... just because they haven't yet been found doesn't mean they didn't exist. The burden is on the critics to explain where the weapons of mass destruction are. If they think they were destroyed, the burden is on them to explain when he destroyed them and where he destroyed them." |
| 13 Jul 2003 |
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice tells Fox News Sunday: "I believe that we will find the truth, and I believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction." |
| 14 Jul 2003 |
President George W Bush declares: "I think the intelligence I get is darn good intelligence. And the speeches I have given were backed by good intelligence. And I am absolutely convinced today, like I was convinced when I gave the speeches, that Saddam Hussein developed a program of weapons of mass destruction, and that our country made the right decision." |
| 22 Aug 2003 |
Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Richard Butler hypothesizes: "I'm a bit shaken, as everyone is, by the fact that the country, now under occupation, hasn't yielded this treasure trove of WMDs." |
| 4 Sep 2003 |
At the US Embassy in Paris, Undersecretary of State John Bolton declares that whether Saddam actually possessed WMDs "isn't really the issue... The issue, I think, has been the capability that Iraq sought to have... WMD programs." |
| 10 Sep 2003 |
In a speech to the National Press Club, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declares: "I said, 'We know they're in that area.' I should have said, 'I believe they're in that area.' Our intelligence tells us they're in that area, and that was our best judgment." [see previous quote above, March 30, 2003] |
Complicating matters somewhat was David Kay's interim report on the Iraqi WMD hunt. Regarding the threat of chemical weapons, the Iraq Survey Group reluctantly admitted:
Information found to date suggests that Iraq's large-scale capability to develop, produce and fill new CW munitions was reduced -- if not entirely destroyed -- during Operation Desert Storm and Desert Fox, 13 years of UN sanctions and UN inspections.
And as for nuclear projects:
Despite evidence of Saddam's continued ambition to acquire nuclear weapons, to date we have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material.
| 19 Oct 2003 |
Secretary of State Colin Powell tells Face the Nation: "I think Dr. Kay's report certainly suggests that there are programs for the development of weapons of mass destruction. We're looking to see what stocks may be there." |
| 26 Oct 2003 |
Secretary of State Colin Powell tells Meet the Press: "If the intelligence was wrong, and people knowing it was wrong presented it as right, that is bad. That is not what happened. I am absolutely convinced that the assessments we were given by the intelligence community reflected their best judgment based on the information they had available to them." |
| 7 Nov 2003 |
During a speech in Denver, Dick Cheney declares: "In Iraq, a ruthless dictator cultivated weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them. He gave support to terrorists, had an established relationship with al Qaeda, and his regime is no more." |
| 10 Nov 2003 |
During a five-minute interview via satellite with Fox affiliate WTVT-TV in Tampa, Florida, Condoleezza Rice declares: "Since we've been there, we've been on a consistent and coherent course to try and find out the true nature of the extent of his programs, what became of the weapons of mass destruction that he had. And we're finding interesting things." |
| 21 Jan 2004 |
During his State of the Union speech, President Bush gingerly avoids the topic of whether WMDs actually exist in Iraq by declaring: "We are seeking all the facts. Already the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day." |
And then David Kay suddenly resigned his post as head of the Iraq Survey Group and promptly told everyone within earshot that Saddam neither had any of those horrible WMDs, nor could he have ever developed any. Needless to say, this outcome posed a problem for the Bush administration.
| 23 Jan 2004 |
In an interview with Reuters, former weapons inspector David Kay is asked about the WMDs. He opines: "I don't think they existed. I think there were stockpiles at the end of the first Gulf War and those were a combination of U.N. inspectors and unilateral Iraqi action got rid of them. I think the best evidence is that they did not resume large-scale production, and that's what we're really talking about, is large stockpiles, not the small. Large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons in the period after '95." |
| 25 Jan 2004 |
With a brave face, British Prime Minister Tony Blair tells the Observer: "I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the intelligence was genuine... It is absurd to say in respect of any intelligence that it is infallible, but if you ask me what I believe, I believe the intelligence was correct, and I think in the end we will have an explanation." |
| 27 Jan 2004 |
Regarding the possibility that Saddam might never have had any appreciable WMDs, President Bush puts on the tap shoes: "First of all, I think it's very important for us to let the Iraq Survey Group do its work so we can find out the facts and compare the facts to what was thought." |
| 3 Feb 2004 |
Secretary of State Colin Powell tells the Washington Post he's unsure whether he would have recommended invading Iraq if he had known there were no WMDs there. "I don't know, because it was the stockpile that presented the final little piece that made it more of a real and present danger and threat to the region and to the world... [the] absence of a stockpile changes the political calculus; it changes the answer you get." |
| 4 Feb 2004 |
When asked by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee whether Saddam might never have possessed the WMDs in question, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld replies: "I suppose that's possible, but not likely." |
| 5 Feb 2004 |
Former weapons inspector David Kay tells CNN that since Saddam was unlikely to have ever succeeded in developing WMDs: "If the administration had laid out a case based solely on the intentions of the Iraqi regime, I doubt you would have had massive public support or any international support for that. The argument last year was one not only of intentions but of capability and actual possession of weapons of mass destruction." |
| 24 Mar 2004 |
At the annual Radio and Television News Correspondents Association dinner, George W Bush shows slides of himself searching clumsily behind furniture in the Oval Office, joking: "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere ... nope, no weapons over there ... maybe under here?" |
| 28 Mar 2004 |
On 60 Minutes, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice tells Ed Bradley: "Iraq, one of the most dangerous regimes, I think the most dangerous regime in the world's most dangerous region, in the Middle East, is a big reason -- or was, under Saddam Hussein -- a big reason for instability in the regions, for threats to the United States. He had used weapons of mass destruction. He had the intent and was still developing the capability to do so. Saddam Hussein's regime was very dangerous." |
| 2 Apr 2004 |
Secretary of State Colin Powell concedes that the two mobile biological weapon labs he identified at his UN presentation might not have been WMD-related. "Now it appears not to be the case that it was that solid... But at the time I was preparing that presentation it was presented to me as being solid." |
| 16 May 2004 |
Secretary of State Colin Powell tells Meet the Press: "When I made that presentation in February 2003, it was based on the best information that the Central Intelligence Agency made available to me. We studied it carefully; we looked at the sourcing in the case of the mobile trucks and trains. There was multiple sourcing for that. Unfortunately, that multiple sourcing over time has turned out to be not accurate. And so I'm deeply disappointed... it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed and I regret it." |
| 17 May 2004 |
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld tells an audience at the Heritage Foundation that he fully expects to find those WMDs, eventually: "I can't guess how much longer it will take to get what we will finally look and say was ground truth -- certainly months, maybe a year-plus. I just don't know how long it will take. We certainly won't just discover anything.  |
| 5 Jun 2004 |
During a joint press conference at Elysee Palace with President George W Bush, French President Jacques Chirac declares: "I have always said that I had no information that would lead me to believe that there were, or were not, for that matter, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. That's a fact. All the information available to us at that time and on that subject did not allow us to take a stand or to reach any conclusion, which is why I said to President Bush that I, personally, was incapable of saying whether or not there were weapons of mass destruction." |
| 17 Jun 2004 |
President Bush attempts to deflect the WMD issue: "I always said that Saddam Hussein was a threat. He was a threat because he had used weapons of mass destruction against his own people. He was a threat because he was a sworn enemy to the United States of America, just like al Qaeda. He was a threat because he had terrorist connections -- not only al Qaeda connections, but other connections to terrorist organizations; Abu Nidal was one.  No, he was a threat, and the world is better off and America is more secure without Saddam Hussein in power." |
| 6 Jul 2004 |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair finally concedes: "I have to accept we haven't found them and we may never find them. We don't know what has happened to them. They could have been removed. They could have been hidden. They could have been destroyed." |
| 17 Feb 2005 |
At a banquet for the Conservative Political Action Conference, U.S. Congressman Christopher Cox declares: "We continue to discover biological and chemical weapons -- and facilities to make them -- inside Iraq, and even more about their intended use. [...] The facility in which the weapons were being made also housed a large inventory of perfume atomizers of various shapes and sizes to mimic the existing brands on the store shelves in the United States. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to understand the implications." When questioned later, Cox admits he got his information from a February 13th Fox News story. |
Media Coverage
Outside the government, everybody's got their pet theories on the unfolding WMD debacle. And that naturally includes members of the media. Most political pundits picked sides on the WMD debate early on, and the ones who lined up behind the White House are beginning to feel the heat.
Case in point: Fox News Channel's own Bill O'Reilly. For several months, O'Reilly was playing a little game regarding the WMD situation in Iraq. Originally, Bill was convinced that when we liberated Iraq, there would be WMDs aplenty. Back in March 2003, he went so far as to tell the Good Morning America viewers that "if the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again."
Months later, after President Bush declared the end of combat operations in Iraq and still no weapons of mass destruction had been uncovered, O'Reilly started to regret those words. So he gave the White House an ultimatum to come clean about the WMDs "in the next few weeks." But when that deadline was about to expire, Bill offered a new expiration date, granting the President an additional five months. Five weeks later, when it became obvious that the administration had no intention of meeting O'Reilly's decree, Bill extended it another six months. When you add it all up, the drop-dead date was dragged out one full year. How's that for accommodating?
In effect, Bill kept hitting the snooze button on his WMD deadline to avoid (or at least postpone) apologizing to the nation and declaring his mistrust for the Bush administration, two things he probably never had any intention of doing under any circumstances. But, in the end, it became unavoidable.
| date |
O'Reilly quote |
deadline |
| 5 Jun 2003 |
On his television show The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly declares: "Reasonable people are faced with two conclusions -- one, that the intelligence was wrong, or, two, that more time is needed to find the weapons. Talking Points just asks one thing from President Bush: an update on the situation in the next few weeks. That's a very reasonable request, and one the President must take seriously if he wants to advance the cause of the USA throughout the world. In the end, if the intelligence was faulty, some people have to be fired. If, God forbid, the intelligence was contrived, and I don't believe that, but if it is proven, then Congressional action must be taken." |
1 Jul 2003 |
| 11 Jun 2003 |
On his television show The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly declares: "It is possible the President did lie, but most of the credible evidence points to wishful thinking on WMDs, rather than outright deception. By the way, the President must tell us his feelings on the guerrilla action in Iraq and the WMDs, or risk losing popularity... We the people deserve an extensive update from the President before he goes on summer vacation. This is not a partisan issue. This is a people issue. There are things we have the right to know about, and the President must tell us." |
1 Aug 2003 |
| 31 Jul 2003 |
On his television show The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly declares: "We're confused about the WMDs. And Mr. Bush has an obligation to clear this up by the end of the year." |
1 Jan 2004 |
| 8 Oct 2003 |
During his appearance on the National Public Radio interview program Fresh Air, Bill O'Reilly declares: "Well, certainly the WMD situation is troubling, okay. All Americans should demand within the next nine months -- before the Presidential candidate, uh candidates, really swing in -- for an explanation of what exactly happened. Americans will accept mistakes if mistakes were made honestly, but it needs to be defined by the Bush administration why the intelligence was faulty. And, uh, you know, there is no spin on that. They have to do it." |
1 Jul 2004 |
| 10 Feb 2004 |
Still lacking any substantive explanations from the White House, Bill O'Reilly grudgingly apologizes on Good Morning America.
| O'REILLY: |
Well, my analysis was wrong and I'm sorry. Absolutely, you know. |
| GIBSON: |
Camera's right there. |
| O'REILLY: |
Um, and I'm not pleased about it. |
| GIBSON: |
Camera's right there. |
| O'REILLY: |
Yeah, I just said it. What do you want me to do? Go over and kiss the camera? |
|
Pornopolis |
Rotten |
Faces of Death |
Famous Nudes
|


Want another API to play with? The Plazes API 1.0 is here. More information right on the Plazes Blog.
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OpenBC Last Profile Visits

Those of you who use OpenBC know that you can in the pro version see who visited your profile page. This is visibly via this search. I presume it is one of the most visited pages on OpenBC and be it only for ego surfing. I have to say that you really do make contacts over that page as weird as it sounds. But now you don’t have to check OpenBC every day, but you can just add the RSS feed of the search to your feed reader. Thank you OpenBC. And for all those out there who are not connected to me yet, go here for me OpenBC profile and connect, provided we know each other at least a little bit of course :)
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Twisting

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 If this ad is correct then the second cam could twist which it can’t

An Inconvenient Truth
Al Gore has shook up people at this years TED conference and now the trailer of his new movie is out. Go watch: An Inconvenient Truth - Trailer <!– technorati tags start –>
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Anina posted a link to a Google Video about Animated Music. Watch it! <!– technorati tags start –>
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Mobile Internet Arrives in Germany
When I first heard about the 25 EUR Base UMTS Internet Flatrate I was thrilled. Then I really complained because you needed a second SIM card to use it. Ever heard of Bluetooth and UMTS phones? I went as far as complaining to both the support line as well as their press people. In the end, one of their press representatives called, I threatened with the blog of course ;), and explained their view to me, which revolved around the fact that billing it on one card would be harder and that they really saw it as a replacement for internet at the home.
I was however reassured that they would be looking into it and only 3 months later I see a change. If you look at this page on base.de, you will see that the footnote changed, if you speak german. There is now the option to either have this on your normal SIM card or on a second one. Rock on! This is affordable always online! This is where the mobile internet has to move. Add stuff like Mabber, Moblogging via Flickr, SyncML, Bluetooth and lots of train travel and you are having something that the mobile internet can really be used to. Yeah, I am a big supporter of FON, but that is not, and will not be, available everywhere. This will. My second phone from T-Mobile still has two months to go on its included bandwidth plan but I am pretty sure to enable this base thing pretty soon. Thanks Base!
P.S.: VoIP is excluded, but you have to give them something ;)
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Amazon S3 File Hosting
I posted about Amazon S3 when it launched and am starting to get more excited about the platform as the days pass. Now I found an article by Adrian Holovaty, the guy behind Chicago Crime entitled How I’m using Amazon S3 to serve media files. In it he explains how he has moved all his static files over to Amazon S3, partly because it frees up his Apache to only handle the dynamic files and second because the $0.20 per GB is really cheap. Just ask about Akamai prices. <!– technorati tags start –>
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TV Going AdWords
John is linking to an article on Lost Remote about Time Warner developing a kind of AdWords system for TV. This is something I have long expected and we are finally moving this way. With TV getting a backchannel, the distinction to the internet is getting marginalized. This again will push accountability into the TV market. Great. <!– technorati tags start –>
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Get Mobile With Macs
I am very happy to see that O2 in Germany has started mobile-macs.de, a blog and wiki about how to get your mac online via GPRS, UMTS or WLAN. It’s really getting filled with info and I am happy to hear that they really want to open it up to other providers than O2 making it a real goto site for mobile mac users. So go over there and check it out. Nice design and implementation thanks to GoJou.
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Ahhhh…

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 ahhhh…, originally uploaded by owt.


I was recently asked by Robin Emley why EmonLib has not been using the interrupt based sampling approach that has been adopted for Solar PV Diversion, I explained that it was more a lack of time than there being a technical reason and that I'd been focusing my attention on other areas of the project, anyway after a few email's between myself Robin and Robert and with the knowledge that Il soon have a MK2 PV router built by Robin and that the current snapshot based EmonLib approach will mean my existing monitoring here will miss the short current draws produced by the router, I thought I'd try and bring EmonLib into the interrupt age ;) the code is getting there but Im having trouble getting a few things to work.
I started by studying Martin Roberts, Robin Emley, Pcunha and Jorg Becker's implementations which was really useful:
MartinR: http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/node/1535
Robin Emley: http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/sites/default/files/Mk2i_PV_Router_rev5a.ino_.zip
Pcunha: https://github.com/pcunha-lab/emonTxFirmware/tree/master/emonTx_Interrupts
Jorg Becker: (a modification of Pcunha's code) http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/sites/default/files/EmonTx_Interrupt_JB.zip
I've put the development version of EmonLib up on github here (Its not yet a library - so open as normal arduino sketch) https://github.com/openenergymonitor/FirmwareDev/blob/master/EmonLib/EmonLib.ino
In the comments at the top of the code I have described all the development questions I have and the things I'd like to implement.
The main question I have at the moment regards the high pass filter implemented using integer math:
Integer math filter problem
I've been trying to implement the integer math based high pass filter as used by Pcunha, Jorg Becker and AVR465 example but having trouble getting it to work its currently reporting the rms voltage at about 14000 rather than 244V but Im sure my implementation is the same (pretty much copied and pasted) so not sure where Im going wrong.
Can anyone help me figure out where I'm going wrong?
Trystan
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
[Edited]
There's something queer going on
thereat your end!With the sketch unmodified, a standard emonTx and Ideal adapter, I get 296 - 297 reported for 243 - 244 V measured. Change the voltage calibration to 227.5 (standard emonTx) and I'm within 2 V.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Hi Trystan,
I am atm using the sketch attached. All the math is included (somewhere :-)).
Still using floats for the 'final' values after averaging is done, but at that point this does not lead to performance problems.
I have done this some months ago and not touched since then. And it was not written in a way to be published. But please ask if you are unsure about anything.
BR, Jörg.
PS: this code is working since some weeks in my home. Three phase CT current sensing combined with one 400V AC trafo for voltage sensing. Data sent to a RasPi, where Emoncms shows the data. Impressive results, I have reached ~+-1% accuracy compared to my ferraris counter (but I am using a 12 bit adc MCP3208). Hmmm, yes, the code is for the MCP3208, but you can easily replace the MCP_Read() by reading the internal ADC.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Hello Robert, a yes the voltage calibration is for an emontx here with a 120k 10k voltage divider combination.
Thanks Jorg for sharing your latest version will take a look.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Just copied and pasted your latest filter Jorg and it works great:
Thanks!
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Before I forget to mention it:
At least part of the integer code optimization was done and/or inspired by Robin Emley!
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
High pass filter in integer maths? Is your question how or why?
It depends on recognising that 0.996 isn't a magic number, all that is required is a number reasonably close to unity in order to provide an adequately long time constant so that there is little phase and amplitude distortion at the 50 Hz fundamental frequency being measured.
It so happens that 255/256 is a number that fits the bill, and this is easy to do with very efficient low level operations - bit shifts and subtractions - because n × 256 = n << 8 and n × 255 = n × 256 - n, and then if you take n × 256 - n and right-shift it by 8 bits, you divide by 256.
I suspect if you wanted a longer time constant, you could go for 0.998 ( = 511/512 - a 9-bit shift ). The actual time constant, equivalent to RC, is (sample period) × α / (1 - α) [α of course being the coefficient], so it would go from 250 × sample period to 499 × sample period, with a correspondingly longer settling time to reach a stable value.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Thanks Robert that makes a lot of sense, yes it was 'how'.
I think I may have been getting caught out with the type conversion
long testA = (long)300*256;
long testB = ((long)300)<<8;
Serial.print(testA);
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.println(testB);
The importance of putting (long) before 300*256 to get the expected result 76800 instead of 11264. I have often added .0 so 300.0/256.0 which takes it into floating point math but as we're trying to avoid floating point math here was getting caught out.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Ok this is making much more sense now
gives:
298.80 298
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
It's great that you are looking at this Trystan. an "offical" sketch that can support continuous monitoring will be very beneficial.
You might also want to look at my PLL library here as that is what I am using now in my system. It doesn't use filters to determine the DC offsets but instead takes advantage of the PLL knowing where the zero crossings are and implements a second loop to adjust the zero crossings to 0 volts.
In my 3-phase system I have also implemented the WHr metering with backup to EEPROM when the power fails and I also have self-calibration with the calibration parameters stored in EEPROM. I created a single-phase version a couple of months ago but never got around to fully testing it.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
With a small change:
it would match the float result even better :-))
But I understand that you just wanted to get an idea if the results are comparable.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
And of course you recognise 128 as being ½ << 8 (The old trick to round to the nearest integer.)
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Trystan,
looking into your code I see one possible problem (which you also mention):
Runtime of your calc() function has to be (quite a bit) shorter than the time between two ADC interrupts. This could be hard to achieve even with integer calculations. On the other hand you do not 'use' the time between most of the ADC conversions.
One possible solution would be to set a flag 'conversion_ready' in the IRQ routine after sampling all channels and do the calculations in the main loop. But then you have to guarantee that this calculation gets done before the next setting of the flag.
BR, Jörg.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Thanks Martin, Jorg, Robert
So for voltage
n = lastFilteredV + sampleV - lastSampleV;
filteredV = ((n<<8)-n+128)>>8;
appears to work well, the 128 made all the difference bringing the voltage down form ~270V to ~240V
When I apply the above to the current channels the values dont come out right at all, am I right in thinking this is because a small current signal is getting rounded at to few decimal places as is where?
So Im trying to relate:
n = lastFilteredV + sampleV - lastSampleV;
filteredV = ((n<<8)-n+128)>>8;
to your code Jorg:
TempL = (long)(sampleV-lastSampleV)<<8;
TempL += filteredV;
filteredV = TempL - (TempL>>8);
TempV = (filteredV+128)>>8;
sumV += (TempV*TempV);
I wonder if you could explain why filteredV is different to TempV, or why bring out filteredV at the earlier point, Im guessing its to do with getting better accuracy but I'm struggling to decode it with tests here.
Thanks a lot
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
I agree with Jörg, it's not a good idea to try to do all your calculations during one interrupt. It would be better to update each filter after it's associated ADC has completed. There will be time to do this with integer maths.
Also, you can't use the same phaseShiftedV value for all the CTs as the sample times will be different.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
In EmonLib.ino TrystanLea wrote:
"- Dev Question: MartinR uses a phase locked loop approach to always sample over an integer number of wavelengths and sample in the same place each time. But would a method that deviates slightly each time be better given issues around ADC step size relative to signal, sampling at slightly different places each time could average out errors caused by sampled value being one step up or down from actual value.."
This has been suggested before but I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind it. The sampling is a fixed place yes, but the voltage and current are varying continuously so there's still a large element of randomness to the sample value relative to the step values.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
This has been suggested before but I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind it.
Martin, I think you are absolutely right there. Varying the sampling point between fullwaves is effectively a sampling with a frequency different from a multiple of 50Hz (or 60Hz). This will almost certainly lead to a 'beat' frequency in the measuring result. So, not a good idea (I think).
(PS: Martins PLL is a really good solution (as far as I can recall it). In most of my professional projects I use a zero crossing signal to measure the mains frequency (or better period) and then try to divide the next fullwave into the same number of sampling intervals, effectively varying the interval length. This tends to give perfect results without any beat effects. Another useful solution is to average over a 'sufficient' number of fullwaves, the only question is what sufficient really means.)
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Just to say in relation to my earlier question on why filteredV is different to TempV, or why bring out filteredV at the earlier point, I think I've got it so no need to go to the effort to explain.
Il write up my understanding of it.
Will get on to thinking about PLL next, thanks a lot
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
All the theory I was ever taught had samples at precisely defined points on the wave, so I'm naturally inclined to think this is right, and intuitively it seems right. Because the PLL maintains that relationship (to at least a very good approximation) over each and every cycle, then by locking to mains and with a guaranteed integral number of samples per cycle you immediately dispose of all 'end effects' and the inaccuracy that those bring with them. There's one possible snag: I haven't thought it through but there might be implications for an anti-alias filter - or the absence thereof. I've not even contemplated testing it with a deliberately distorted wave with loads of 25th harmonic and above, as there shouldn't be much of that on the voltage wave in any case.
Which begs a question for Martin: presumably it would not require much change for your PLL to lock to 60 Hz? I tried to check the actual lock range but I couldn't generate enough voltage from my sig.gen for it to lock at all, and I didn't want to tack too many wires onto my emonTx.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
I wonder if you could explain why filteredV is different to TempV, or why bring out filteredV at the earlier point, Im guessing its to do with getting better accuracy but I'm struggling to decode it with tests here.
Ups, sorry Trystan , I oversaw your original question.
Just to say in relation to my earlier question on why filteredV is different to TempV, or why bring out filteredV at the earlier point, I think I've got it so no need to go to the effort to explain.
No real effort :-))
As you already said yourself, filteredV is scaled by a factor of 256 in order to maintain a higher accuracy during calculations. FilteredV has to have this high accuracy (or long 'memory' about hundreds of samples taken before) for the high pass filter to work as expected, whereas the accuracy of TempV has to be just 'good enough' for calculation of the momentary voltage squared sample.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
The importance of putting (long) before 300*256 to get the expected result
If you want to avoid hazards like that, enable compiler warnings in your build environment. gcc will then warn you with:
warning: integer overflow in expression
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Which begs a question for Martin: presumably it would not require much change for your PLL to lock to 60 Hz?
Shouldn't be a problem. Currently I limit the lock range to about +/-0.5Hz but by changing the allowed timer count range it would be possible to lock to 60Hz.
More of an issue might be how many samples per cycle you could get at 60Hz with 3 CTs. If you're sampling 4 analogue signals (3 current & 1 voltage) at the standard 104µs then the absolute maximum is 40 samples per cycle. Even at 50Hz you could only manage a maximum 48 samples per cycle.
You would probably have to run the ADC at 250KHz, as I do in all my sketches (Arduino default is 125kHz). This drops ADC cycle time down to 52µs.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
I've written up a building block page on digital filters, trying to cover everything I learnt yesterday so that it will help others asking similar questions, any comments, improvements are very welcome: http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/buildingblocks/digital-filters-for-offset-removal
So to clarify the concern with not using PLL is that it could lead to a beat frequency in the measuring result.
If we dont use PLL but still check for zero crosses and count say 20 zero crosses per full measurement, starting and ending as close as the last sample is to the zero cross the concern is that this may not be close enough to the zero cross to avoid beat effects even if its within a single sample width of the zero-cross.
Another approach to add to the mix is the AVR465 code which if I read correctly samples 401 samples which they worked out to be an integer number of both 50Hz and 60Hz. Here's their comments in defines.c:
Trystan
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
If we dont use PLL but still check for zero crosses and count say 20 zero crosses per full measurement, starting and ending as close as the last sample is to the zero cross the concern is that this may not be close enough to the zero cross to avoid beat effects even if its within a single sample width of the zero-cross.
I think that summing over 10 or 20 fullwaves of the mains frequency will effectively cancel out most of the discussed 'beat' problem (to a level where it does not really matter any more). But at the same time the sample frequency should be high enough! Doing this at 10 samples per fullwave (extreme example) will have the similar effect as summing over a smaller number of fullwaves.
Adn, summing over a higher number of samples (before doing the divide and square root of that sum), you have to make sure that the sum does not overflow (this is the main reason why the above mentioned TempV is not used with higher resolution).
PS: I read your write up about digital filter. Very nicely done! I especially like the way you did it, showing the improvements which come up after thinking about it in more and more detail.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
A bit of progress:
I've implemented integer mains cycle sampling using the zero-cross detection method. Not ruling out PLL at this stage, just went with what I was nearer to implementing.
I've then used your approach Martin of having total accumulators that are updated with cycle accumulations at the end of each cycle making it possible to do the final calculations outside of the interrupt function in an asynchronous manner so as not to slow the interrupt function down. It also has a nice benefit of being able to control the measurement window in the main loop.
I've also gone for the approach that seems to be generally adopted of not measuring the supply voltage using internal bandgap, interesting to hear that using the bandgap measurement are less accurate, I havent done the calculations. It certainly simplifies code a bit to do it manually and also less of an issue with the continuous sampling approach as its not for running off a battery.
It did turn out that my approach of doing all the analog input calculations (filters etc) at once after sampling all 4 analog inputs took longer than the interrupt period of 104us. So I split the calc() function up so that analog input specific calculations are done as the ADC value becomes available as seems to be the general approach. The calculations then take between 28us to 56us out of 104us.
I've added grid frequency measurement, its amazing (but I guess one would worry if it didnt) how close it matches the value recorded on the www.dynamicdemand.co.uk website. Quite fun to watch.
The code is in the main emontxfirmware repository here:
https://github.com/openenergymonitor/emonTxFirmware/blob/master/emonTx_CT123_Voltage_Interrupt/emonTx_CT123_Voltage_Interrupt.ino
Next to add the RF part and test temperature sensing..
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Good work Trystan.
Just a couple of points...
I don’t think it’s a good idea to base your outer calculation loop purely on millis() since the interrupt that updates the total_xx variables may occur while you are using these values. You need to set a flag in the interrupt routine when all the total_xx values have been updated and then check and clear it in the outer loop. This way you have a safe 20ms to do your calculations.
Presumably you plan to add phase adjustment later?
Any particular reason why you use a bunch of “if (sample_in_register == inPinx)” statements instead of a case statement?
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Also wanted to say that you need to be very careful temperature sensing as the DallasTemperature library can lock out interrupts for long periods, that's why I didn't use it. I avoided using JeeLib for RF for the same reason but in this case I didn't actually try it so I don't know for sure that it interferes with the interrupt timing.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
I wonder if you are considering the implications of a variable gain CT input as demonstrated in AVR465.when developing this library. To my mind this approach has some benefits, but also some potential pitfalls.
Looking at the AVR465 code it seems that the HPF is applied to the raw sample. I've not studied the code in detail or tried it , but is seems to me that this will introduce a DC offset each time the gain is changed and a period to settle back as the HPF ultimately removes the offset.
I'm considering implementing a variable gain and read elsewhere that it is part of the future emontx strategy, so I would be interested in how much of a problem this is and is the AVR465 code the right approach?
Will variable gain be implemented in the EmonLib?
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Thanks Martin, yes phase adjustment to come.
John, I'm not planning to add variable gain at this point and haven't really thought about the code implementation in detail yet. Would be great to have it though!
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Trystan,
Nice that you're able to get the grid frequency accurately without resorting to PLL. Have you figured out how many samples per grid cycle? I see your resetting your counters every 5 seconds (5000ms). Since you're not using Martin's timer interrupt approach to starting the ADC, I was thinking you might be over sampling?
To measure frequency, you're using the voltage zero crossing (filteredV>0). I am considering your approach for a "current only" sensor. This would be a design of a current sensor and data logger (with I2C data delivery) using the ATtiny85 for electric vehicle charging station.
The ATtiny85's built-in clock is not very accurate (+-10%), so I was looking using the grid frequency to accurately time intervals instead of using millis(). I realize the grid frequency varies, but it's more accurate than the internal clock I'm working with. The ATtiny85's internal clock also varies with temperature, so grid frequency seems the best approach for my application. Only 8 MHz, but I'm just looking at capturing data from one sensor to measure current draw and to estimate power consumption in kWh on one type of load (vehicle charging).
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
The sampling rate when all 3 CTs are enabled will be once every 416µs, or about 48 per mains cycle. This means that the per-cycle frequency measurement will have 416µs of jitter, but when sampled over enough cycles this will be averaged out. The PLL method has the advantage that the frequency measurement is accurate every cycle, but I doubt this gives any advantage for just displaying frequency.
The frequency of the internal clock on the ATiny is user programmable so a really neat solution would be to design a software PLL that adjusts the oscillator frequency to lock it to the mains frequency. I used this technique with a PIC chip for an MSF clock decoder and it worked really well.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Thanks Martin,
I missed that... Trystan's stated 104us "interrupt period" is the interval between interrupts. So for 3 CTs enabled, at 50Hz, it works out to 48.08 samples per grid cycle, and at 60Hz, it works out to 40.06 samples per grid cycle.
Good suggestion about using the user programmable feature of the ATtiny's oscillator calibration register!
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Just tried adding the jeelib rfm12 code, it seems to work ok, will have to check sample timings in detail to be sure, but nothing is locking up.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
Trystan, recently wrote on a Building Blocks page:
Why a low pass filter? The low pass filter was introduced with the Mk2 Energy Router which uses a common bias supply (buffered by an operational amplifier) to supply the offset voltage for both voltage and current channels. The filter only has to be calculated once, and the resulting offset is naturally the same for both channels and therefore can be subtracted from both readings. This saves a significant amount of processing time.
The LPF in the Mk2 PV Router is subtly different than the normal Wiki-style one. Rather than updating the filter after every sample, which invariably results in ripple, it is only updated once per mains cycle. Once the filter has settled, there is no ripple at all, hence there is no attenuation of the AC signal. Because the output value is only required once per mains cycle, this technique works really well. It's been there right from Day 1:
RAE 15/7/12: "In the standard EmonLib code, there is a separate high-pass filter (HPF) on each of the voltage and current streams. I’ve taken a different approach (thanks Robert for the suggestion), and have instead implemented a single LP filter which allows the DC bias to be accurately determined. By updating the LPF only once per mains cycle (my idea!), its performance is nigh-on perfect, with no attenuation or phase shift.
Too good to believe? Well, the LPF is not acting alone. There is also a standard HP filter which acts just on the voltage stream. The purpose of this secondary filter is to group the voltage samples into cycles so that the LPF can be accurately updated. Unlike the LPF, the HPF can always be relied upon to start up correctly. Together, they form a great combination."
Later versions of the Mk2 code avoid the need for the HPF by simple preventing the LPF output value from straying far from the mid-point value. Providing that an AC signal source is present, the single LPF filter always starts up correctly. Simple and effective.
For "real power", there is no need to remove DC offset from one of the sample streams. Any DC component is removed automatically within the standard maths calculation. There's more about this in Section 6 of my Surplus Power Diversion article.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
The point that I made yesterday about how the LPF in my Mk2 PV Router operates is already covered near the end of the Building Blocks article.
Thanks Robert for pointing this out, and sorry for any confusion.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
See my post about EmonLibPro http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/node/2406
It does what you want.
Re: Development of Interrupt based EmonLib
I thought Id pick up from where I left off last time with interrupt based emonlib development (or EmonTX_CT123_Voltage firmware dev - as EmonLib in its current form is still useful for battery operation and easy, simple coding because of the library and discrete in time nature of it).
I have still been in need of an interrupt based direct replacement for EmonTx_CT123_Voltage as I have Robin's Solar PV diverter which because of its short pulsed power draws is not compatible with the current EmonLib, To be a direct replacement to my current setup I need ideally both RF support and DS18B20 support (I currently run a solar hot water controller + solarpv/whole house energy monitor on one emontx)
As I mentioned above it appeared on initial testing that adding in the RF sending code worked. I have uploaded an example with RF sending to github. I have also created an example for temperature sensing with a DS18B20.
RF example:
https://github.com/openenergymonitor/emonTxFirmware/tree/master/InterruptBased/emonTx_CT123_Voltage_Interrupt_RF
RF + DS18B20 example
https://github.com/openenergymonitor/emonTxFirmware/tree/master/InterruptBased/emonTx_CT123_Voltage_Interrupt_RF_temperature
There are a couple of things as MartinR pointed above that need adding or addressing in these examples:
- The first is the use of millis() in the outer calculation loop instead of a flag based system as the variables used may be changed by an interrupt mid calculation, this could mess up the calculation.
- Phase adjustment needs to be added
Testing
But I thought before going on to both of these things I would do some spot testing of how the current implementation compares to EmonLib, how it compares at different power factors and with RF and reading from a DS18B20 temperature sensor.
The testing consisted of:
Results are in this spreadsheet:
http://openenergymonitor.org/emon/sites/default/files/Interrupt_based_EmonTx_CT123_Voltage_testing.ods
From these few tests the results seem good for powerfactors above 0.5 and most of the CT's even with RF sending and reading from a DS18B20 however there appears to be two issues that I cant immediately explain:
I wouldn't think that adding a flag based system or phase correction will fix the last issue so it must be something else, the only difference between the voltage input and current input is the magnitude of the waveform being sampled, that would suggest some sort of interference caused by the fast running switching of the ADC channels.
Edit: but then again the effect does only become apparent when the DS18B20 temperature sensing is added, which would suggest some timing influence. Could it be that the ADC sampling is being 'squashed together' because the atmega is busy processing all the additional RF and DS18B20 stuff. If this is the case maybe the ADC does not have enough time to settle between readings.


50 GeV gamma shot randomly at 3<|eta|<5 Simulation: no field, no beam pipe, no Tracker.
>>> click on thumbnail to get a full-size plot


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--- title: Java Applets Demo Page layout: post tags: [java, interactive, game] uuid: 0caa6106-7605-3b67-59c2-215e415f062f ---
Update February 2013: Java Applets are a dead technology and using a Java web browser plugin is simply much too insecure. I strongly recommend against it. This applet page has since been moved to a more generally-named URL.
Because the two projects I announced over the weekend can be used as Java applets, I went back and upgraded two older projects so that they could also behave as interactive applets. Now that I have several applets to show off I've collected them together onto a "Java Applet Demos" page.
I intend on expanding this in the near future with improvements (Michael is unhappy with my integration function on the water wheel, for one) and new applets while I'm on a roll. Swing is my oyster.


---
layout: splash
title: About Me
permalink: /about/
feature_row:
- image_path: assets/images/headshot.jpg
alt: "It's me"
title: "About Me"
excerpt: "I'm a post-graduate researcher at the University of Bristol, studying new ways to monitor greenhouse gas emissions.
I primarily work on the London GHG project, developing a new monitoring network to focus on London's carbon dioxide and methane emissions.
Previously I have worked on fluid dynamic simulations of nuclear fusion plasmas, and helped operate one of the world's most powerful lasers.
I also really enjoy art, as a chance to see something beautiful, tell a great story or to express something that is hard to describe.
In my own art I mostly work digitally, although I still paint from time to time. Currently I'm most interested in landscapes, animation, abstract, generative art and video games.
I built this website as a single place to share all my work, and provide extra thoughts I think could be helpful to others."
---
{% include feature_row type="left" %}


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Kim Chung Ha reveals her official light stick
by sl278Kim Chung Ha has released her official lightstick design for fans.
The beautiful design shows a beautiful crescent moon sitting inside a sparkly encasement. The light eventually shows off a turquoise and purple light that's bound to look pretty in a sea of lights.
Check the design out below!


Free Trial Available: Download and install Nuvola and the 31-day free trial of Nuvola Premium will start automatically. No action nor registration required.
[Snippet: pricing]*Upon their explicit approval, we advertise people who purchased Patron plan as our patrons on Nuvola website, in release announcements, and in Nuvola's About dialog. Current patrons are:
[Snippet: patrons]Yes, it is. Nuvola Player is an open-source project. We make the entire source code available on GitHub for free. You can download it, study it, modify it, build Nuvola for you, or even distribute it further. There are also some third-party builds of Nuvola you can install right away. However, their quality varies and they come with no support from Nuvola Player project. If you wish to enjoy the best user experience, we recommend our official builds.
The official flatpak builds of Nuvola, our flagship product, contain free features as well as paid ones. If you wish to use the latter, you need to purchase a license. Alternatively, you can participate in the Nuvola Player project to get a free developer license.
Firstly, the Nuvola project needs to pay for its real expenses. The Tiliado.eu domain, hosting of the Nuvola website and the Flatpak repository, a VPN service to support geographically restricted streaming services, a grammar checker to improve texts in release announcements and the documentation. Moreover, some streaming services don't have a free plan, so we need to purchase a paid plan to maintain their integration scripts and fix bugs.
Secondly, it motivates us to focus on quality and to continue working on the project further even though it may sometimes be too demanding or frustrating. Nuvola is an example of small projects (one core developer and three script maintainers) which tend to disappear when the primary developer losses interest and moves on to improve skills in different areas. If it weren't for the fantastic users who value Nuvola so much that they purchased it, Nuvola would have already been retired.
We also explored the option to make Nuvola available for free while asking for donations, but it didn't work well enough. Instead, we want to provide you with a product worth paying for.


§54-29 Pensions. All officers and employees of the board of water supply shall be entitled to the benefits of part II of chapter 88. The employer's contribution to the retirement fund, as provided thereunder, shall be paid from the funds under the control of the board. [L 1961, c 155, pt of §1; Supp, §145A-19; HRS §54-29]


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The various projects have included new construction, renovation and adaptive re-use as a way of providing new space for the various clients. Tessier Associates provides in-house programming, master planning, architectural design, construction documentation, project administration and interior design services. Sustainable design, as appropriate for each client, is incorporated in cost effective ways to benefit the long term value of the buildings created by the firm.
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Earlier I haven’t been able to produce much. Or… I’ve produced a lot,
but I haven’t really finished anything. I’ve seen this as a flaw. It annoys
me that my projects never get anywhere. I’d try to write, create music, design
something, come up with novel products. So many ideas that never amount to
anything fully tangible. But! I just had an idea. The piano does that to you.
What if I am looking at it entirely wrong? What if my role isn’t to finish things,
but just come up with lots of random stuff? It doesn’t need to be polished. I just
need to think the thought, to sketch it out, show it to other people, and they can
take it from there. Thing is, this didn’t work for me before, because I had to
earn money, and giving away your ideas for free won’t earn you anything. My new model
for life is that I don’t think about money; I just work, and (enough) money will appear.
So in practical terms, what does this mean? It means that I will have to publish all the
stuff I produce.  A new idea?
Put it on the microblog. You see, I’ve been to vain. I’ve been caring too much about
what other people think of me, through their opinions of what I make. That’s vanity.
I will improve, through publishing everything I create, near moment of
inception.
Inspiration can be a dangerous thing. After getting inspired by someone,
I too often compare myself to them. When considering what I am doing,
stepping through scenarios, I try to see that same thing with their eyes.
Compare my habits, to their habits. Just now I was playing the piano,
and I was thinking: “but Jony Ive and Steve both work during the day time,
if they do most their work around other people, I should be able to do
that too”. These are the perils of inspiration. Just because we get inspired,
we need to control just how much of their habits and thoughts we should
integrate into our own lives. Two lives are remarkably different,
and so they must be led.
Day time is hard for me. I have no clue what to do. There are a lot of things
that I could be doing, but none of them are tempting. I feel weird during daytime.
I actually had a period where I’d go to bed 08.00 and sleep till 16.00. Needless
to say, that was a programming period, where I didn’t do anything else besides writing
software.
 It’s hard to explain.
Outside, kids are screaming, I hear the sounds of roadworkers and all sorts of noisy
machinery. Also, I’m sort of uninspired. Thing is, the mornings are fine. Early
mornings are OK. At least for working out, answering e-mails. Aha! It’s the computer.
I don’t like computers during daytime. That’s weird.
Before going to bed last night, and this morning, I’ve been watching videos
about Steve Jobs. I’ve been interested in Apple’s employees and their products
since I was 16 years old, but I haven’t been thinking about it that much the
last years. As they became behemoths of popularity, I peered into other parts
of the world.
When Jonathan Ive speaks of Steve, it’s with an enamouration for his childlike
joy and sense of civic responsibility. Steve created the products because he
felt like they needed to be perfect. Not because he wanted the admiration or
the cheque. I need that sort of inspiration. I need to see that other people
feel this way. It’s what keeps me going. The feeling that
someone deeply cares about something, about a product.
Oh. One more thing. A week ago I disabled notifications for Messenger and Snapchat.
I was hoping that this would help me relax and disconnect. It sort of has. But it’s
still not good enough. I actually considered deleting Snapchat and Messenger, but
that seems over the top. They’re fun sometimes. Any way, disabling notifications
is not enough, because now I have to go into the applications to see if I have any
new messages. This is annoying (and disappointing) when I don’t have any new messages
(sad face). I guess I just need to be more disciplined. Move them to a separate screen,
keep badge count on (so I don’t have to open the app), and then only check every 3-4 hours.
We’ll see.
Ok. So I am getting a bit tired. I actually was making some good progress, until Dropbox halted me
with some sort of service disruption. I’ve been doing some testing on an EC2 instance on AWS, where
I’ll be hosting the dropbox service integration server.
I’ve got basic functionality working, but there’s a lot of code to be written. No chance that it’ll
be done today. Apparently Dropbox will be hitting the notification endpoint every single time a file
is changed / added, and that can happen multiple times when I’m editing the file.  I’ll have to set some upper
limit on how often this actually can happen… Probably won’t be too big of a deal, but it still adds
some complexity. Oh well. I’ll soldier on. (I’m soon going to bed). (I think).
In Zero To One, Peter Thiel claims that the next Facebook won’t be a social network.
I think the next big thing won’t even be a company. We’re constantly thinking about
companies, about profit. Well guess what, I’m tired of profit. We don’t need more money.
Individuals do not need a lot of money. We don’t need most of the stuff we consume.
It’s a system that feeds itself. We use advertising to make people desire things, so
that we can do a wealth transfer between individuals. People do not actually want those
things, you are tricking them into wanting it.  It’s all rotten.
What’s next? Something that isn’t a company. Is it a non-profit? Perhaps, but not the
kind of non-profit we see today. I think something in between. Non-profits that sell
things and generate revenue, but that don’t make any profit. Now that’s interesting.
Have a look at this guys website. Now I really want to do van life.
He even has his own solar panles on the roof, and custom antennas for better 4G coverage. I’m doing van life
at some point! I need to get a remote job. I sort of have one, but I need to make the one I have more remote,
and then I need to get a programming gig. I’ll contact some companies today. Am I really doing van life? Maybe.
I’ve been fixing a lot of stuff on this page today. Added a link to an about page in the footer. Now I just need
to make some sort of system for posting remotely. It’s either the Writer iCloud/Dropbox thing, or just post
from e-mail. Posting from e-mail sounds alluring. Ok. I need breakfast.
I just woke up. I read about someone living in a van, driving around the country,
remote coding as a living. I like that idea. Sometimes I think that it would be
cool to live as a nomad coder. It’s just that I like comfort too much. Maybe
somtime.
Today I want to keep working on my setup, and I want to do something about this
microblog. I don’t know if I am happy using jekyll to host it, although it
certainly is the simplest.
I’ve given Emacs another try this week. This time I did it properly.
I set up everything from scratch. Backed up my Spacemacs config, and let it all go.
Every time I start using Emacs I have a dream that this piece of software will do everything for me. It won’t.
So I’m back on my vim+tmux setup. I’ll probably keep using org-mode in Spacemacs, like I used to. I’ll write some more about this when I’m not supertired.
Also, it’s super annoying, because I’m struggling to get this site to order my posts based on the date+time they were created. No such luck yet. Going to bed.
Before I go to bed. I need to create some sort of system that will allow me to post from my phone etc.
I think I can do that with something like crontab polling my Dropbox/iCloud. Probably harder with iCloud,
but I really don’t want to go back to syncing my Writer documents on Dropbox. Actually, that isn’t happening.
You know what’s going to be painful?  Whatever. I’ll get used to it (or find a workaround).


Matt is a California transplant who decided to test his wit by learning Software Development. He comes from a customer service background with a company that went through intense expansion. He developed an interest in software due to friends in the industry who encouraged him to explore software development. Matt persues a career where he can help others better themselves and enjoy the journey along the way.
Travis is a Software Developer from Bend, OR. He comes from a background in the health and fitness industry, and has recently jumped into the tech sector after introducing himself to the industry as a hobbyist. He brings excellent interpersonal skills and a wealth of experience in breaking down problems and finding effective and usable solutions. His goals are to eventually bridge the gap of health and technology to create products that allows people to realize their health in new ways.
Conor is a Human Being, Oregonian, and Software Developer. His educational background is in the natural sciences and his most recent work experience was in forestry. He is excited by the internet’s ability to advance human understanding and make previously esoteric data actionable. Eventually he would like to use the adaptability, persistence, and creative problem-solving skills he developed as a wildland firefighter to reduce the cost of ecological data monitoring. Barring that, he just wants to make sweet graphs and solve other interesting problems.


The Queen Of Trees
"We cannot tire or give up.
We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk!"
Professor Wangari Muta Maathai was the founder of The Green Belt
Movement and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
She authored four books:
The Green Belt Movement
,
Unbowed: A Memoir
,
The Challenge for Africa
and
Replenishing the Earth
.
As well as having been featured in a number of books, she and the
Green Belt Movement were the subject of a documentary film,
Taking Root: the Vision of Wangari Maathai
(Marlboro Productions, 2008).
Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya (Africa),
on April 1st, 1940. She obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from
Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), a Master of
Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and pursued
doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before
obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi, where she also
taught veterinary anatomy.
The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.
The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.
Professor Maathai was active in the National Council of Women of Kenya
(1976–1987) and was its chairman (1981–1987). In 1976, while she was
serving in the National Council of Women, Professor Maathai introduced
the idea of community-based tree planting. She continued to develop this
idea into a broad-based grassroots organisation, the
Green Belt Movement (GBM), whose
main focus is poverty reduction and environmental conservation through
tree planting.
Professor Maathai was internationally
acknowledged for her struggle for democracy, human rights, and
environmental conservation, and served on the board of many organisations.
She addressed the UN on a number of occasions and spoke on behalf of
women at special sessions of the General Assembly during the five-year
review of the Earth Summit. She served on the Commission for Global
Governance and the Commission on the Future.
Professor Maathai represented the Tetu constituency in Kenya’s parliament
(2002–2007), and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural
Resources in Kenya’s ninth parliament (2003–2007). In 2005, she was
appointed Goodwill Ambassador to the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem by the
eleven Heads of State in the Congo region.
The following year, 2006, she founded the Nobel Women’s
Initiative with her sister laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi,
Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Betty Williams, and Mairead Corrigan.
In 2007, Professor Maathai was invited to be co-chair of the Congo
Basin Fund, an initiative by the British and the Norwegian governments
to help protect the Congo forests.
In recognition of her deep commitment to the environment,
the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General named Professor Maathai
a UN Messenger of Peace in December 2009, with a focus on the environment
and climate change. In 2010 she was appointed to the Millennium
Development Goals Advocacy Group: a panel of political leaders, business
people and activists established with the aim to galvanise worldwide
support for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Also in 2010, Professor Maathai became a trustee of the Karura Forest
Environmental Education Trust, established to safeguard the public land
for whose protection she had fought for almost twenty years.
That same year, in partnership with the University of Nairobi,
she founded the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental
Studies (WMI). The WMI will bring together academic research
—e.g. in land use, forestry, agriculture, resource-based conflicts,
and peace studies—with the Green Belt Movement approach and members of
the organisation.
Professor Maathai died on 25 September 2011 at the age of 71 after a
battle with ovarian cancer. Memorial ceremonies were held in Kenya,
New York, San Francisco, and London.
Should you be interested in learning more about Professor Maathai, please
visit this Wikipedia page which is dedicated to her life.
Also, the Green Belt Movement site is a goldmine of
her work and contributions to the world.