re: That story was a hoax Tom
Odd. I got the story from the Independent and the Evening Standard, although you can only get it free from other sources, now.
The story did seem to fizzle out afterwards, with some people saying one thing, and some another, but I saw no source that stated the ships never existed at all. You got a link?
I just brought it up because it connected with what the author of the original article had discussed. I personally think that it would have been kind of stupid for Saddam to stuff contraband on ships and putter around under the Navy's nose with them.