Another WMD tale or the Truth?

[GROUCHO MARX]

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) Iraq's foreign minister warned Thursday that weapons of mass destruction could still be found in Iraq, but the search could take time because of the sophistication of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari made his comments only days after the expert who led the CIA's search for banned weapons in Iraq said he found no evidence Saddam possessed such weapons in recent years. That expert, David Kay, said he found no traces of chemical or biological stockpiles.

But Zebari said that because Saddam used chemical gas against his own people, he remains certain that stockpiles of such weapons still exist.

''We in Iraq have seen Saddam Hussein develop, manufacture and use these weapons against us with impunity,'' Zebari said.

''The system of hiding, of concealment was very sophisticated in Iraq. So I really believe some of those weapons could be found.''

Zebari, a Kurd and longtime critic of Saddam, has said in the past the Iraqi ruler had such weapons and used them. Saddam's regime used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers and killed an estimated 5,000 Kurdish civilians in a chemical attack on the northern city of Halabja in 1988.

Zebari also commented on an Iraqi newspaper report that Saddam's regime bribed prominent foreigners with oil money, saying ''it was a standard practice of Saddam's regime'' to buy the support of foreign officials and business people with oil bribes.
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There was more, but this road has been traveled

 

[mormit]

For nearly a year now, the former regime and it's supporters has had nothing to loose but has not employed such weapons. They will walk into certain death ambushng vastly superior US troops but they're not gonna use the supposed trump card?

There's nothing there but some old shells in the eastern desert from the Iran/Iraq war.

 

[needtoknow]

quote:

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Originally posted by GROUCHO MARX:
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) Iraq's foreign minister warned Thursday that weapons of mass destruction could still be found in Iraq, but the search could take time because of the sophistication of Saddam Hussein's regime.

---

Sophistication of Saddam's regime!!! Boy is he way off target. These were a bunch of bumbling thugs that were too afraid to give Saddam the real picture. They were all living in denial. As for this WMD thing, justification for war was "imminent threat from WMD". How was Iraq an imminent threat and North Korea a diplomatic mission?

 

[MolaKule]

Syria Shipping WMD Components to Sudan
By Jim Hauser
Talon News
April 13, 2004

DAMASCUS (Talon News) -- Syria, long suspected for hiding some of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD), is reportedly smuggling missiles and WMD components to Sudan in an effort to conceal them from western intelligence sources.

According to Middle East Newsline, "western intelligence sources said the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has been flying shipments of Scud C and Scud D extended-range missiles as well as WMD components to warehouses in Khartoum since at least January 2004. The sources said the Syrian shipments to Khartoum were placed on civilian airliners but authorized and directed by the Defense Ministry."

The whereabouts of Saddam's WMD and related programs has fueled much speculation and controversy since the end of major combat operations in the coalition war. Most of what Americans were told was based on statements by David Kay, former head of the coalition's search for weapons of mass destruction.

But many of Kay's statements contradict each other.

In a January 27 interview with the New York Times, Kay is said to have "denied any proof that Iraq had moved unconventional weapons to Syria."

"Iraq was totally free of weapons of mass destruction at the beginning of 1999 year, that is to say, four years before launching the U.S. war on Iraq under the pretext of its possession of the said weapons," Kay was quoted as saying in the same article.

But just two days prior to the New York Times article Kay gave an exclusive interview to the UK Telegraph and "claimed that part of Saddam Hussein's secret weapons program was hidden in Syria."

"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons," he told the Telegraph. "But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD program."

"Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved," Kay added.

According to Debka, a mid-east firm that specializes in political analysis, espionage and terrorism security, not only did Kay know that unconventional weapons were being shipped to Syria; he also knew their exact locations.

"U.S. administration and its intelligence agencies, as well as Dr. Kay, were all provided with Syrian maps marked with the coordinates of the secret weapons storage sites," claims Debka.

The information about the site locations came from Nizar Najoef, a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe. In a January 5th letter to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, Najoef detailed the three sites where he says Iraq's WMD are being kept.

-- "Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels."

-- "The village of Tal Snan, north of the town of Salamija, where there is a big Syrian air force camp. Vital parts of Iraq's WMD are stored there."

-- "The city of Sjinsjar on the Syrian border with the Lebanon, south of the city Homs."

Najoef writes that the transfer of Iraqi WMD to Syria was organized by the commanders of Saddam Hussein's Special Republican Guard, including General Shalish, with the help of Assif Shoakat, Bashar Assad's cousin. Shoakat is the CEO of Bhaha, an import/export company owned by the Assad family.

Syria is now coming under increased pressure to end its own WMD programs due to the passage of Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act and other mid-east developments.

"There is widespread concern in the Syrian regime that Damascus will be the next to face heavy U.S. and international pressure to open its WMD facilities in the wake of the Libyan example," a senior intelligence source told Middle East Newsline. "The Syrians have decided that they want to take some of their assets out of the country."

Middle East Newsline was the first to report details concerning the smuggling of missiles and WMD components from Syria to Sudan.

Intelligence sources reportedly told Middle East Newsline that the Sudanese regime of President Omar Bashir was not informed of the Syrian missile and WMD shipments. They said the Syrian material was sent to Khartoum as part of the increased trade relations between the two countries and processed and stored by Sudanese companies.

Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

 

[Mystic]

I have seen this report before. Like I said in a previous post, Iraq's WMD were supposed to be located in three places in Syria. This was according to information supplied by a noted Syrian news reporter who left Syria. Now we are hearing that maybe the stuff is being smuggled to the Sudan.

Only time will tell what the truth is.

 

[JohnnyO]

possibly Sadaam was mislead by his own people, killing the bearer of bad news all the time will do that, but he didn't gas all those Kurds to death by mixing bleach and toilet cleaner either.

 

[labman]

I have speculated before that maybe Saddam didn't even know what he had in WMD. We certainly weren't sure he didn't have any before the war. Now we are sure that he doesn't have any.

 

[needtoknow]

MoleKule,
This may be a credible article except that when I checked the Talon News web site it's totally Republican, so I can't tell if selected snipits of info were pasted together to appear legit for the article. We have so much more resources available now to ferret out WMD in Iraq and the Administration has a huge reason for finding anything, and yet nothing. We were told before the war that Iraqis would take us to hidden WMD once the threat of Saddam was gone. Still nothing. David Kay was our man and probably had more to gain in finding WMD than not. Yet he says the president should admit his error and move on. I expect that for the next 20 years we will hear stories about how Iraqi WMD are just around the corner, we just need more time.

 

[labman]

quote:

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Originally posted by needtoknow:
MoleKule,
This may be a credible article except that when I checked the Talon News web site it's totally Republican, .

---

So what?


And you would never think of posting something from a liberal biased site? You dismiss anything that doesn't contribute to your agenda of undermining Bush as conservative biased. Anything attacking Bush is highly credible, right? There seems to a lot of facts you find inconvenient.

 

[Al]

I think the disposition of Syria's present and future WMD will be decided as soon as the results of our National election in November. Is there any doubt who Asad, KIM Chong-il , and Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI are hoping are hoping wins the Presential Election. Hint: it's not Bush.

 

[labman]

Well Kerry once said there were forign leaders that favored him. I think maybe he unsaid it when pressed to name some.

 

[needtoknow]

Labman,
We all tend to agree with and feel comfortable with news and views that reinforce our ideas, perceptions and wannabe truths. My reply to MoleKule was trying to separate the reporter from the web site. I try to post from different web sites, even the conservative ones, when they reinforce my opinion. I also try to see who is behind the web sites sponsorship. You are free to research my posts and their source. You don't have an agenda Labman? You don't dismiss anything not in harmony with your perceptions? I think you would dismiss something I posted from the Heritage Foundation just because it came from me. As for Kerry and the foreign leaders, it would be tough diplomatically to make their names public, if indeed they did say they would prefer him to Bush, not a hard stretch though.

 

[sciroccoGTX16V]

This says alot about nothing. Scud-C and Scud-B are tactical ballistic missiles, not WMD. Maybe Mystic can correct me....