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| Iraq | |||||
| Iraq's WMD Secreted in Syria, Sada Says | |||||
| 2006-01-26 | |||||
| The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein's air force says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed. The Iraqi general, Georges Sada, makes the charges in a new book, "Saddam's Secrets," released this week. He detailed the transfers in an interview yesterday with The New York Sun. "There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands," Mr. Sada said. "I am confident they were taken over." Mr. Sada's comments come just more than a month after Israel's top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria."
The discovery of the weapons in Syria could alter the American political debate on the Iraq war.
Mr. Sada, 65, told the Sun that the pilots of the two airliners that transported the weapons of mass destruction to Syria from Iraq approached him in the middle of 2004, after Saddam was captured by American troops. "I know them very well. They are very good friends of mine. We trust each other. We are friends as pilots," Mr. Sada said of the two pilots. He declined to disclose their names, saying they are concerned for their safety. But he said they are now employed by other airlines outside Iraq. The pilots told Mr. Sada that two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, Mr. Sada said. Then Special Republican Guard brigades loaded materials onto the planes, he said, including "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel." The pilots said there was also a ground convoy of trucks.
Mr. Sada said that the Iraqi official responsible for transferring the weapons was a cousin of Saddam Hussein named Ali Hussein al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali." The Syrian official responsible for receiving them was a cousin of Bashar Assad who is known variously as General Abu Ali, Abu Himma, or Zulhimawe. Short of discovering the weapons in Syria, those seeking to validate Mr. Sada's claim independently will face difficulty. His book contains a foreword by a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, David Eberly, who was a prisoner of war in Iraq during the first Gulf War and who vouches for Mr. Sada, who once held him captive, as "an honest and honorable man." In his visit to the Sun yesterday, Mr. Sada was accompanied by Terry Law, the president of a Tulsa, Oklahoma based Christian humanitarian organization called World Compassion. Mr. Law said he has known Mr. Sada since 2002, lived in his house in Iraq and had Mr. Sada as a guest in his home in America. "Do I believe this man? Yes," Mr. Law said. "It's been solid down the line and everything checked out." Said Mr. Law, "This is not a publicity hound. This is a man who wants peace putting his family on the line." Mr. Sada acknowledged that the disclosures about transfers of weapons of mass destruction are "a very delicate issue." He said he was afraid for his family. "I am sure the terrorists will not like it. The Saddamists will not like it," he said. He thanked the American troops. "They liberated the country and the nation. It is a liberation force. They did a great job," he said. "We have been freed." He said he had not shared his story until now with any American officials. "I kept everything secret in my heart," he said. But he is scheduled to meet next week in Washington with Senators Sessions and Inhofe, Republicans of, respectively, Alabama and Oklahoma. Both are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
When, during an interview with the Sun in April 2004, Vice President Cheney was asked whether he thought that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been moved to Syria, Mr. Cheney replied only that he had seen such reports. An article in the Fall 2005 Middle East Quarterly reports that in an appearance on Israel's Channel 2 on December 23, 2002, Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, stated, "Chemical and biological weapons which Saddam is endeavoring to conceal have been moved from Iraq to Syria." The allegation was denied by the Syrian government at the time as "completely untrue," and it attracted scant American press attention, coming as it did on the eve of the Christmas holiday.
Syria is one of only eight countries that has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty that obligates nations not to stockpile or use chemical weapons. Syria's chemical warfare program, apart from any weapons that may have been received from Iraq, has long been the source of concern to America, Israel, and Lebanon. In March 2004, the director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, saying, "Damascus has an active CW development and testing program that relies on foreign suppliers for key controlled chemicals suitable for producing CW." The CIA's Iraq Survey Group acknowledged in its September 30, 2004, "Comprehensive Report," "we cannot express a firm view on the possibility that WMD elements were relocated out of Iraq prior to the war. Reports of such actions exist, but we have not yet been able to investigate this possibility thoroughly." Mr. Sada is an unusual figure for an Iraqi general as he is a Christian and was not a member of the Baath Party. He now directs the Iraq operations of the Christian humanitarian organization, World Compassion. | |||||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #24 Old Spook and .com are right: Syria comes later. It is one notch down the food chain from Iran, so if Iran is out, Syria and Pencilneck fall from lack of support. Iran is the keystone to unravelling the madness of the Middle East. And they are making |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-01-26 22:22 |
| #23 Old Spook - thanks, I think you summed that up so well that I don't have to wonder anymore. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-26 21:09 |
| #22 What are the odds of some of this stuff getting... distributed? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-01-26 20:34 |
| #21 To your point, Com, some 59% of polled Americans share the same view. In essence, employ "any force necessary" to take down the Moolahs. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-01-26 19:57 |
| #20 I went to the Intel Summit last year, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Met John Loftus, John Batchellor, Doctor Zin, and passed Walid Jumblatt in the hall. Dan Darling was supposed to present, but was told his skoolwork took precedence. Go figure. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-01-26 18:06 |
| #19 A takedown of the Iranian regime would leave Syria completely naked, alone, and probably in armed chaos. Iran has to be done - and done by us, IMHO. So don't waste good people on Syria. Do Iran, seal up Syria and then deal with the remnants at a time of our choosing. Might allow the Lebs to get control over their embedded Syrian proxies, too, as the pucker factor in Syria would dry up such luxuries fast. Just my take. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-26 18:01 |
| #18 Decapitate the Syrian baathist tyranny, go in exclusively to capture their WMD stockpiles, and return to Iraq while the Syrian factions kill each other. 2-3 months of operations. Probably very dirty, and many casualties on our side, but we can't afford to convert one country at a time. The coming direct confrontation with Iran should not require watching the Syrian border at the same time. |
| Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) 2006-01-26 17:57 |
| #17 Has Khaddam in his Paris exile told us anything about Iraqi WMD movement into Syria/Lebanon? All that's been reported has been about Hariri. |
| Posted by: Danking70 2006-01-26 17:51 |
| #16 Old Spook, How will we get any support from the public (dems), Europe, and other countries to go after Iran after all the problems with not finding WMDs in Iraq? If we're able to prove/show that the WMDs did get squirrelled away in Syria, won't we have an easier time with more partners dealing with Iran? Plus we get to show how badly the Dems have behaved running up into the election. We can isolate Syria and let them sit and sweat and then deal with Baby doc after Iran. |
| Posted by: Danking70 2006-01-26 17:18 |
| #15 Debka was on this in 2003-04. Even a broken clock can be right twice a day. |
| Posted by: doc 2006-01-26 16:39 |
| #14 This whole discussion is a no brainer anyway. Let's see, they buried the airforce, they ran away from most direct confrontations during the invasion, they buried artillary shells and RPGs all over the country, They buried nuke equipment in back yards. Key equipment has been found in junk yards in Jordan, Turkey, and The Netherlands. Doesn't it stand to reason that they buried WMDs home and abroad prior to discovery ? Just because we don't have a map of all these sites, doesn't mean there were no WMDs. That entire Bush lied argument is nothing more than an anti-Bushitler leftists koolaid hangover. People with such hangovers are doomed to a future of irrelevance. It is believed that shock treatments alone will not help. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-01-26 14:45 |
| #13 I know how we can settle this....ask Hans Blix |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-01-26 13:58 |
| #12 I've been telling you guys this for how long? This stuff will come out sooner or later. Its there in open sources if you know where to look. Right now, the reasons for not using the data and analysis that shows this to be highly probable: politics. We are already hip deep dariningthe swamp in Iraq, and have Iran ready to go nuclear. We dont have time or attention or political capital to spend on Syria right now. Syria would be a fatal distraction from Iran at the moment. It will be forced onto the back burners. The right doenst want this just yet - timing is not right for the elections. And the military does not want this because we would be forced to act to destroy said stocks (and spread ourselves thinner, increasing risks and risking the gains we have in Iraq). Intel doesnt want this because it calls into quesiton their competence. State doesnt want this because it would make the difficult diplomacy games (ignoreing all kinds of evil) virtually impossible to play anymore with Syria and its allies. Europe doesnt want this because they are likely complicit with illegal trade with Syria. And the lefties *especially* dont want this to come to light because it shows the LEFT lied and smeared the president. Baby Assad's turn will come, its that for now we have more important things to be working on. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2006-01-26 13:58 |
| #11 This account was collaborated by aerial photographs in the lead-up to the invasion. Collaborated by US photos, by the Israelis, and by this fellow. Colin Powell may be right before he was wrong after he said he was right, etc. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-01-26 13:57 |
| #10 i await fuller info eagerly. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-01-26 13:41 |
| #9 Loftus has been wrong (at least so far) on a number of things, but has been right about some others. Although he is a Dem, he has publicly supported Pres. Bush, the Iraq War and many of the things that have been done by W since 9/11. As for his conference, Ledeen, McInerny, Vallely, Hunt, Babbin, Woolsey and others have been pretty supportive of the US military specifically and many of the actions taken by W in the WoT generally (although Ledeen has been critical of our approach to Iran). |
| Posted by: Tibor 2006-01-26 13:23 |
| #8 Thx, growler. Going to the site, Of those I recognize, only one jumps out at me as a total fuckwit: John Deutch. Anytime I see something like this that claims to be bipartisan, my cynicism defenses go up like a blast shield... Anyone recognize other morons in this lot? |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-26 12:38 |
| #7 The supposed tapes are supposedly going to be presented at the so-called "Intelligence Summit" on Feb. 17 |
| Posted by: growler 2006-01-26 12:30 |
| #6 WXJames: I believe the John in question is one John Loftus of: http://www.john-loftus.com/ He often Teams up with John Batchellor. They get a little to close to the edge for my taste. So salt to flavor. For instance, John Loftus is a life long DEM who voted for John Kerry and said on the show one night, I paraphrase, that Repub. should lighten up on the fear of John Kerry because on truth Kerry will not do anything any different the GWB in conducting the WoT. He just has talk that way to keep the left of his party in his camp. |
| Posted by: TomAnon 2006-01-26 12:04 |
| #5 Heh, wxj - now that would justify much more than popcorn, lol. NS - I agree - the BDSers and similarly insane / gullible / rudderless people, such as those who think they want communism or socialism, are what they are completely independent of any facts. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-01-26 11:51 |
| #4 LISTEN UP ! I listen to a radio show The John Batchlor Show on WABC in NY. Last night one John (forgot his last name) stated that millions of documents were recovered after Saddam's fall. Because of a shortage of translators, only a fraction of them have been cataloged. Among these is a tape in Saddam's own voice discussing the WMDs and his activities concealing them from Blix and others. The tape's contents will be made public on Feb 18th. Apparently, Saddam was organizing to write a book about his out foxing the UN inspectors and everyone else. The tape contains several hours of conversations between Saddam and other high ranking Saddamites covering from roughly 1992 to 2002. I may have missed a few facts here, but that is the jist of it. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2006-01-26 11:27 |
| #3 The discovery of the weapons in Syria could alter the American political debate on the Iraq war. It might alter the debate in that no one would discuss WMD any more, but not one person who opposes the war or is indifferent would suddenly support it. They are simply against the war for wahtever reason Kos gives them. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-01-26 11:03 |
| #2 He is pimping a book, and we shouldn't ignore that. That's an interesting thought, mhw, and certainly possible. I was going to say that it seems that looking at the quotes given in this article by "government officials" that the Bush administration is better at Clintonisms than was Clinton himself. Example one: And President Bush himself has conceded much of the point; in a televised prime-time address to Americans last month, he said, "It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong." Said Mr. Bush, "We did not find those weapons." many nations believed? What did you believe Bush? But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong Much, but not all, eh? No mention of which intelligence turned out to be wrong. "We did not The other statements in this article could be likewise parsed. My take is that the Bush administration has taken a policy of not blabbing to the press everything they know. They've figured out it's best to keep all that information close rather than allow the enemey to create a scandal "no weapons of mass destruction - Bush lied" and then the Administration feels compelled to rush to the microphone with details to prove their case - thus giving away valuable information as they try to investigate further. It's been obvious from the get go that Saddam had the weapons. They had to repeat the lie many, many, times before the world bought into the "Bush Lied" meme. That the dem's still ran with it, knowing that the truth would eventually come out, just causes me to wonder. |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-01-26 10:45 |
| #1 Mr. Sada may have seen barrels with WMD type stickers on them loaded into planes but there is a good chance they were dummies. It seems to me that Saddam had a basically Potemkin WMD arsenel that was used to freighten enemies. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-01-26 09:30 |