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2004-09-26 Iraq-Jordan
Army intelligence believes Iraqi WMDs in Syria
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Posted by Dan Darling 2004-09-26 12:16:05 AM|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 Before you ask me...

I can neither confirm nor deny.
Posted by OldSpook 2004-09-26 12:17:41 AM||   2004-09-26 12:17:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 So does just about everybody else with half a brain.
Posted by Barbara Skolaut  2004-09-26 12:19:55 AM||   2004-09-26 12:19:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Can you confirm or deny that something has changed with respect to Syrian policy - or is the troop movement and terror HQ shutdowns just more rope-a-dope?
Posted by Old Spook 2004-09-26 1:07:37 AM||   2004-09-26 1:07:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Hmm - there's 2 of me here?

Policy is up the the politicians.
Posted by OldSpook 2004-09-26 1:32:44 AM||   2004-09-26 1:32:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 I see a mosaic here with the Iraqi nuclear scientists being transported to Iran for "safe keeping" all part of the puzzle.

Old Spook: No need to be coy with us. Your secret is safe with us, we won't tell anyone.

Posted by Capt America  2004-09-26 1:33:29 AM||   2004-09-26 1:33:29 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 What I have not figured out...yet...is why the NCA does not spill the beans on the Syrians, and the long lost Iraqi WMDs. Apparently Mossad believes it. Apparently a subset of MI believes it. I'll bet some in the NCA circle of friends believe it, too.

One of these days, after we recover a some of the weaponized chem and/or bio, maybe the political types will let us in on why they are not pursuing the Syrians.
Posted by anymouse  2004-09-26 2:11:04 AM||   2004-09-26 2:11:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Old Spook, sorry that was me.
Posted by Super Hose 2004-09-26 2:16:56 AM||   2004-09-26 2:16:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 What, OldSpook = Super Hose?
Or Old Spook = Super Hose?
Ya need to keep your identities straight! :-)
Posted by Zarathustra 2004-09-26 3:11:18 AM||   2004-09-26 3:11:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Super Hose was for OldSpook before he was against him....aw hell.
Posted by Thurston Howell III 2004-09-26 3:45:09 AM||   2004-09-26 3:45:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Saddam made $$$$ on the WMD trucked shipments (completed at night) to Syria to the tone of $31 million paid in Euros and USD's. The majority of these chemical weapons were 'relocated' to 'Greater-Syria' which means Lebanon to Dr. Assad's Damascus' power brokers. Israel made it real clear if these weapons we moved any further southward in the direction of the Jewish state there would be a series of swift & massive air strikes to the likes of Hizballah and Syria itself.

Aside from the radical left beating this dead horse issue, due to the volatile nature of many of these chemical weapons, soon they may prove a dangerous liability in inexperienced hands.

In terms of 'how do you know?' ...don't even bother to ask.
Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-09-26 5:18:24 AM||   2004-09-26 5:18:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Mark, that's a bit illogical that Saddam made killing on shipping WMD to Syria. I mean, if you go to a storage place and put your stuff there, you not getting paid, rather the owned is getting money from you.

Otherwise, rest of it, fairly on target.

How do you know I don't know, but reading between lines usually works pretty fine.
Posted by Zarathustra 2004-09-26 6:39:49 AM||   2004-09-26 6:39:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 Personally I've thought for some time that the WMD's were either in Syria, or buried somewhere in the desert.

I can see one Bathist bastard selling these things to another Bathist bastard.

Syria is playing a very dangerous game in all this, if they don't end up getting bombed by the Israilies, then it'll be the US getting the honor.
Posted by RJB in JC MO 2004-09-26 7:36:36 AM||   2004-09-26 7:36:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 I don't know much about Yossef Bodansky's bona fides, but he claims to have three independent sources for the intel that Syria has the WMDs.
Posted by V is for Victory 2004-09-26 9:30:46 AM||   2004-09-26 9:30:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 I can't believe this intelligence is so hard to come by. Someone knows what happended to these WMDs. We have rolled up a lot of people in Iraq that should know their location. We know Saddam had them because he did use them on the Marsh Arabs, Kurds, and Iran during their war. I wouldn't think they would be shipped to Iran as Iran and Iraq have not been all that cozy (except with the Shite faction in Iraq). Syria is the best bet for their location. If Syria has these weapons they are playing a dangerous game. What do you make of the newsprint story the other day about the Bush administration "making nice" with the Syrian governement? I'm sure I read that sometime last week. Do you think this is an attempt to obtain these WMDs?
Posted by The Ol Prof 2004-09-26 9:53:53 AM||   2004-09-26 9:53:53 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 People are just too damn slow or unwilling to actually think.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/print/106666/1/.html

Gee, I wonder where they got it from?
Posted by Don 2004-09-26 10:17:17 AM||   2004-09-26 10:17:17 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 1. You can't convince me that Saddam would have risked death for non-existent WMD's.
2. They're either buried in Iraq or they're in Syria. If in Iraq, the hostiles would have dug some up by now.
3. All evidence points to Syria.
4. Assad has big problems: he can't use them and he can't sell them.
5. Saddam can't buy them back.
6. Libya won't touch them.
7. He's got no way to get them to Iran. Besides, the stupid mullahs have drawn way too much attention to themselves lately.
8. He's got the U.S. to his east and his west and George Bush may be re-elected.
9. Israel is to his south and can easily reach him with nukes and would not hesitate to respond to any significant attack.
10. His best bet is to keep them hidden and dry and hope that they don't leak before his death.

Assad jumped into a lose-lose game and can only hope to extend out the game until everybody else leaves or falls asleep.
Posted by Tom 2004-09-26 11:28:04 AM||   2004-09-26 11:28:04 AM|| Front Page Top

#17 BTW, he's not powerful enough at home to take the Libyan approach either.
Posted by Tom 2004-09-26 11:30:12 AM||   2004-09-26 11:30:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#18 Way to go Mossad boys!!!!
Posted by Anonymous6649 2004-09-26 11:40:51 AM||   2004-09-26 11:40:51 AM|| Front Page Top

#19 Guys, the info is out there but I cannot tell you anything more without getting myself and a dear friend in trouble.
Posted by OldSpook 2004-09-26 11:53:43 AM||   2004-09-26 11:53:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#20 without getting myself and a dear friend in trouble

Super Hose? I'm soooo confused!
Posted by Frank G  2004-09-26 12:00:53 PM||   2004-09-26 12:00:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 The Mossad? Here? Today?
All right?
Posted by Shipman 2004-09-26 1:09:28 PM||   2004-09-26 1:09:28 PM|| Front Page Top

#22 Bipeds just can't think in real time 3 dimensions.
Dadm,nit, sorry ass barracude, you are food pal, check my pearlies little teeth.
Posted by Shamu 2004-09-26 1:12:46 PM||   2004-09-26 1:12:46 PM|| Front Page Top

#23 'Zarathustra', you believe what you like. As stated previously on that particular issue ...nuff said in terms of specific intelligence .

Of Saddam's monetary making capabilities, in many eye was always 'a bit illogical' but he made it a point to make money on everything he got involved with. What do you think, he just handed Dr. Assad these stock piles of deadly chemical weapons because he was a 'nice guy'?

Dr.Assad and Saddam had an ongoing profitable working arrangement over the exportation of Iraqi crude oil via the Iraqi-Syrian interconnected pipeline where as Saddam, for cash ONLY, sold his Iraqi crude to Assad for 50% below global spot price. Assad in turn 'relabelled the Iraqi crude product as Syrian crude oil and made another 50% on what he made Saddam. Then there was the very lucrative 'oil for food', the U.N. 'supervised farce in which a lot of people on a number of fronts made even more $$$

Instead of the Left pounding the dead issue of Saddam's so-called weapons of mass destruction maybe they should be focusing on Iranian nuclear weapons, which if allowed to be launched will not differentiate Right nor Left, they just make you glow.

To think Shi'ite death cultists rulers with workable short to medium range deliverable nuclear weapons? What a nightmare ..unless a régime change is soon forth coming in Tehran.
Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-09-26 3:33:39 PM||   2004-09-26 3:33:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#24 'anymouse'. you are on target :)
Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-09-26 3:34:33 PM||   2004-09-26 3:34:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#25 Don, Barb, anymouse, Tom & Old spook ..you guys already know the facts, let the others (those on the radical left) dig for themselves, if it will not interfere with their currently held political agenda's concerning the upcoming presidential election.

The self inflicted blind refuse to see truth.
Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-09-26 3:43:25 PM||   2004-09-26 3:43:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#26 So, once again we've got all the data but a failure of analysis, eh OS?
Posted by Mrs. Davis 2004-09-26 4:20:15 PM||   2004-09-26 4:20:15 PM|| Front Page Top

#27 I still don't know why Super Hose was typing my moniker in that one time - probably thouhgt he was typing it into the main box instead of the "your name" - but Fred can tell you different IPs, and probably from diffrerent regions.

Secondarily, analysis is inconclusive on most anything unless you have the totality of collection methods. And culturally closed societies are notoriously difficult to collect against. Remember -the old SOviet Union was a conglomeration fo cultures - Syria, Iraq, and even Iran are much more culturally homogenous than the old CCCP was. Plus they are not western oriented, so they think differently. Their religion lends itself to top-down master-slave relationships. Add to that the tribalism that they have ingrained and have never shaken off. Then add the lack of individualism and democratic instututions throughout their history in the region. And on top of that there is the social stratification, and the lack of fully developed economies and the stratification and limited area of modern infrastructure in the region.

Makes it a tough nut to crack from many aspects.
Posted by OldSpook 2004-09-26 6:20:51 PM||   2004-09-26 6:20:51 PM|| Front Page Top

#28 1) Saddam sent his airforce to Iran in GWI to get them out of harm's way.

2) Two weeks ago - reports of "Syrian" use of nerve gas in Sudan.

Trying out the new toys?
Posted by Mercutio 2004-09-26 6:45:48 PM||   2004-09-26 6:45:48 PM|| Front Page Top

#29 Intelligence of this sort without action is irresponsible. We went to war to get rid of the WMDs - if we know where they are or what nation state has them why haven't we acted?

The state of our intel is deplorable. Why would we keep it a secret if we knew? Who are we keeping it a secret from? The bad guys certainly know. We keep it a secret because we aren't sure -
Posted by JP 2004-09-26 9:17:10 PM||   2004-09-26 9:17:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#30 When I plan my chess moves, I don't announce them all or play them all in the same move.
Posted by Tom 2004-09-26 9:21:08 PM||   2004-09-26 9:21:08 PM|| Front Page Top

#31 "or play them all in the same move"

Unless you negotiate, that is.
Posted by Korben Dallas 2004-09-26 9:25:17 PM||   2004-09-26 9:25:17 PM|| Front Page Top

#32 Old Spook, I was trying to address a question to you and instead put your name in the wrong box. It was late, and I don't work Saturdays much. Through me off.

I know in the past Old Spook has made reference to a weapons dump. I also know that the head of Defense Imaging has offered testimony to the fact that there was truck movement from suspected WMD sites across the Syrian border on the eve of the war. Thre is also the Sudanese demand that the Syrians remove WMD materials from storage in their country. We also have had some sort of attempted chemical attack on Jordan that looks to have originated in Syrian soil.

I guess I'm just not looking in the right places because all of these elements of "the story" have been pretty hazed over. Even some of Powell's UN testimony has not bloomed into what I expected after the invasion. I remember seeing satillite pictures of production facilities in use, but I haven't seen anything with repsect to what was found at those sites after the invasion.
Posted by Super Hose  2004-09-26 10:48:42 PM||   2004-09-26 10:48:42 PM|| Front Page Top

#33 Give this some thought:

The US intelligence Community has been grilled pretty hard about being "wrong" when they said "Our best analysis points to Iraq and Saddam as having and trying to produce WMD"

So "analysis product" is no longer acceptable - the standard now is hard proof. Excating complete evidence along with the who what where when and how of the prevenance of the intelligence is now the standard.

The press (and the left) has seen to that.

So, while analysts may have very good case for WMD in some locations - "very good case" doesn't fly unless you have hard evidence, anymore.
Posted by OldSpook 2004-09-26 11:45:06 PM||   2004-09-26 11:45:06 PM|| Front Page Top

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