Satellite Photos Support Testimony That Iraqi WMD Went to Syria

[Yoder777]

Satellite Photos Support Testimony That Iraqi WMD Went to Syria
Pajamas Media » Satellite Photos Support Testimony That Iraqi WMD Went to Syria

Intel chief nominee Clapper held disputed Iraq WMD view
President Obama's choice to be the next director of national intelligence supported the view that Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq sent weapons and documents to Syria in the weeks before the 2003 U.S. invasion.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jun/4/likely-intel-chief-clapper-held-disputed-wmd-view/

Vindicated for Removing Saddam
The Duelfer Report, the final assessment of the Iraq Survey Group, states that a former Iraqi intelligence officer testified that the M16 Directorate “had a plan to produce and weaponize nitrogen mustard in rifle grenades and a plan to bottle sarin and sulfur mustard in perfume sprayer and medicine bottles which they would ship to the United States and Europe.” The plot was not launched because of an inability to get the ingredients for the weapons. This substantiates intelligence received in 1998 that prompted the British government to put its airports and seaports on alert because Iraqis were planning to smuggle anthrax into several countries including the United Kingdom inside bottles used for cosmetics, cigarette lighters, perfume sprays, and other apparently harmless items.

The Iraq Survey Group also found that the M14 Directorate was giving terrorist training to Iraqis, Palestinians, Syrians, Yemenis, Lebanese, Egyptians, Sudanese and other nationals at Salman Pak. The site that had an airliner and other Iraqi defectors reported that it was being used to provide training in tactics including hijacking. According to reporter Stephen Hayes, other documents show that Iraq trained 2,000 terrorists each year since 1999 at three camps. The ISG also said that it received testimony that Iraq had tried to recruit a former member of Hamas to kill Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the Western Wall in Jerusalem using an unmanned aerial vehicle loaded with C4 explosives. Detainees later admitted that an undeclared site existed where such vehicles had been produced that ran test flights beyond the range allowed by the United Nations.

The Bush Administration could have saved its own credibility and that of the United States by explaining that the distinction between having the ability to quickly produce WMD and having actual stockpiles is minimal. The ISG confirmed that dual-use facilities had “assets that could be converted for BW [biological weapons] agent production within 4 to 5 weeks after the decision to do so.” One site had the ability to “provide the core of an alternative break-out capability…perhaps within 2 to 3 weeks.” Furthermore, Iraqi intelligence operated “a set of undeclared covert laboratories to research and test various chemicals and poisons, primarily for intelligence operations” and Iraq “intended to develop smallpox and possibly other viral pathogens.”

As for nuclear weapons, Saddam Hussein told his interrogator that he’d restart that program once U.N. sanctions were lifted, which he expected to happen in 2004. Even if they were not lifted, they were becoming weaker and weaker and the day was coming soon when Saddam would feel comfortable restarting his nuclear weapons work. These facts bolster the case for removing Saddam Hussein without even mentioning the possibility that WMDs went to Syria. Satellite photos provide credibility to the testimony of a Syrian journalist who identified three sites they were shipped to.
http://freedomcenterstudents.org/2010/07/vindicated-for-removing-saddam/

While I am no fan of the Iraq war, this is worth looking into. Please keep in mind, I do not support the Iraq war. I think there were means other than full scale war for removing Saddam. At the same time, I will let history ultimately decide whether going to war was a mistake. It's all based on whether or not Iraq will be better off in the long run than it would have been if Saddam stayed in power.

 

[DaisyDay]

Why would Saddam Hussein give his WMDs to Syria?

 

[brindisi]

Why would Saddam Hussein give his WMDs to Syria?

He knew Iraq was going to be invaded, and he wanted to remove as much evidence of WMD programs as possible in a way that it could be retrieved later. He expected to survive, stay in power, and restart his programs when the invading armies left.

 

[DesertSky]

Why would Saddam Hussein give his WMDs to Syria?

 

[Yoder777]

I believe that Bush misstated the case for the Iraq war and that the post-invasion was badly mishandled until the surge, yet I'll let history ultimately decide as to whether it was a mistake.

 

[DaisyDay]

He knew Iraq was going to be invaded, and he wanted to remove as much evidence of WMD programs as possible in a way that it could be retrieved later. He expected to survive, stay in power, and restart his programs when the invading armies left.

Retrieved later? Fat chance that Syria, which was threaten by Iraq, would ever give them back.

Also what is the point of having WMDs if you can't even use them to defend yourself from an invading army.

 

[Macx]

Retrieved later? Fat chance that Syria, which was threaten by Iraq, would ever give them back.

Pro-Wrestling on TV is real too. Everytime people act like bitter enemies, they really are. . . . really

Also what is the point of having WMDs if you can't even use them to defend yourself from an invading army.

Lez see, are you going to use WMD against the government with the biggest stockpile of nuclear and conventional weapons on the planet (a country that could turn yours into a giant glass bowl), or are you going to bide your time and smoke the ally of that country which incidently has been a bur in the saddle of every Muslim state in the region. . . when the time is right? I am not saying Saddam had any military genius, but. . . . the point of having WMD's if you can't use them to stop the US, should be pretty close to a no brainer.

 

[brindisi]

Retrieved later? Fat chance that Syria, which was threaten by Iraq, would ever give them back.

Also what is the point of having WMDs if you can't even use them to defend yourself from an invading army.

That would be short term thinking, and Saddam Hussein was thinking long term. He felt he could survive an invading army that used only conventional weapons, but KNEW that if he used any kind of WMD the US would respond with devastating force and his regime would be utterly destroyed beyond any hope of recovery. Short term he looked for survival; long term he thought the US and others would lose patience and leave the Middle East for good. He almost got away with that before 2003 as France, Germany, Russia, and China where systematically undermining UN sanctions. It was a good bet for him that he could get away with it again, especially if the world could be convinced to say "See, Bush lied, people died. No WMD!"



Saddam's Secret Tapes, Jim Kouri, CPP, February 17, 2006
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/printFriendly/5999

When former federal prosecutor and terrorism expert John Loftus announced in Janurary that his organization Intelligence Summit (intelligencesummit.com) would host a special conference in order to reveal the contents of 12 hours of Saddam Hussein audiotapes discovered in Iraq, there was hardly any press coverage. But once the blogosphere, talk radio and Fox News Channel -- on which Loftus is a contributer -- got wind of the contents of Saddam's conversations with underlings, some media organizations decided to cover the story -- sort of.

At one point Hussein Kamel, Saddam's son-in-law and the man who was in charge of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction efforts can be heard on the tapes speaking openly about hiding information from the U.N.

"We did not reveal all that we have," Kamel says in the meeting. "Not the type of weapons, not the volume of the materials we imported, not the volume of the production we told them about, not the volume of use. None of this was correct."

Charles Duelfer, who led the official U.S. search for weapons of mass destruction after the war, says the tapes show extensive deception but don't prove that weapons were still hidden in Iraq at the time of the U.S.-led war in 2003.

"What they do is support the conclusion in the report, which we made in the last couple of years, that the regime had the intention of building and rebuilding weapons of mass destruction, when circumstances permitted," he said.

Intelligence Summit's Loftus has maintained for years that Saddam's stash of WMD was moved into Syria prior to the US invasion. An opinion shared by many intelligence experts. This is being confirmed by two of Saddam's military commanders.

A couple of weeks ago, a General Sada, formerly Sadaam’s number two Air Force commander, told the New York Sun that Sadaam’s WMD was moved to Syria just six weeks before the US-led invasion. Now Ali Ibrahim, one of Saddam's commanders in northern Iraq confirms this and explains the underlying strategy of Saddam:

"I know Saddam’s weapons are in Syria due to certain military deals that were made going as far back as the late 1980’s that dealt with the event that either capitol [Damascus or Baghdad] were to be threatened with being overrun by an enemy nation. Not to mention I have discussed this in-depth with various contacts of mine who have confirmed what I already knew. At this point Saddam knew that the United States were eventually going to come for his weapons and the United States wasn’t going to just let this go like they did in the original Gulf War. He knew that he had lied for this many years and wanted to maintain legitimacy with the pan Arab nationalists. He also has wanted, since he took power, to embarrass the West and this was the perfect opportunity to do so."

After Saddam denied he had such weapons why would he use them or leave them readily available to be found? That would only legitimize President Bush, with whom he has a personal grudge. What we are witnessing now is many who opposed the war to begin with are rallying around Saddam saying we overthrew a sovereign leader based on a lie about WMD. This is exactly what Saddam wanted and predicted.


Tapes reveal WMD plans by Saddam, The Washington Times, March 13, 2006
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/mar/13/20060313-123146-7380r/

Audiotapes of Saddam Hussein and his aides underscore the Bush administration's argument that Baghdad was determined to rebuild its arsenal of weapons of mass destruction once the international community had tired of inspections and left the Iraqi dictator alone.

Mr. Tierney said that the quote from the Saddam aide, and scores of others, show Saddam was rebuilding his once-ample weapons stocks. "The tapes show that Saddam rebuilt his program and successfully prevented the U.N. from finding out about it," he said. There also exists a quote from the dictator himself, who ordered the tapings to keep a record of his inner-sanctum discussions, that Mr. Tierney thinks shows Saddam planned to use a proxy to attack the United States.

Mr. Tierney said he thinks the regime poured chemical weapons into lakes and rivers and sent other stocks over the border to Syria. Mr. Tierney served as a U.N. weapons inspector in the 1990s. "The ISG, they were lied to in a very systematic way," he said. "Lying. They were very good at it."

So far, the tapes do not shed light on what ultimately happened to Saddam's large stocks of weapons of mass destruction. None were found by the ISG, whose director, Charles Duelfer, filed a final report in 2004.

Some pundits and recently retired military officers are convinced that Saddam moved his remaining weapons to Syria. They cite satellite photos of lines of trucks heading into the neighboring country before the invasion and the fact Saddam positioned his trusted Iraqi Intelligence Service agents at border crossings.

Mr. Duelfer said there were promising leads that weapons of mass destruction did go into Syria, but the security situation prevented him from closing the loop. Mr. Duelfer concluded that Saddam planned to resume weapons of mass destruction production once the United Nations lifted economic sanctions.

Of the tapes released so far, Mr. Hoekstra said, "Everything [Saddam] is doing is saying, 'Let's take it and hide it' with a clear intent. 'As soon as this is over, we're going to be back after this.' "

 

[DesertSky]

Retrieved later? Fat chance that Syria, which was threaten by Iraq, would ever give them back.

Also what is the point of having WMDs if you can't even use them to defend yourself from an invading army.

WMDs are not defensive weapons. Please, this question and your previous one about hiding them in Syria indicate that you really don't belong in this discussion.

 

[brindisi]

WMDs are not defensive weapons. Please, this question and your previous one about hiding them in Syria indicate that you really don't belong in this discussion.

I like to think aisy_Day does belong in this discussion, but is aware of only one side of these issues. The left has been very successful in their deception.

Perhaps we can change some minds.

 

[Pommer]

Perhaps we can change some minds.

Sorry, that's not possible.




Every once in a while I trot this out

 

[brindisi]

Sorry, that's not possible.




Every once in a while I trot this out

Pommer's law!! I like it. You should trot it out more often.

 

[SOAD]

While I am no fan of the Iraq war, this is worth looking into.

Why didn't Bush and the warmongers chase the WMD's? After all, Rummy is on record of saying where the WMD's were. That is because there were none, and this is just rehashing conspiracy. There is no proof here.

 

[Yoder777]

Why didn't Bush and the warmongers chase the WMD's?

Imagine if the weapons were there and our government had no idea where to find them, no idea how easily insurgents could use them at any moment. Would they want our troops and the Iraqi people to be in constant fear of that?

 

[Yoder777]

Stories like this have appeared from time to time:

Weapons stockpiles destroyed near Iranian border


Thursday, July 19, 2007 14:00

Multi-National Corps – Iraq
Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory
APO AE 09342​

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RELEASE No. 20070720-01
July 19, 2007
Weapons stockpiles destroyed near Iranian border
214th Fires Brigade
Multi-National Division – Center PAO

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq — Iraqi border guards led Coalition Forces to two weapons stockpiles near the Iranian border, a sign they are taking steps to secure their nation.

Iraqi border guards from the 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Region Department of Border Enforcement led members of U.S. Border Transition Team 4321, known as Team Nomad, to a stockpile of 35, 122mm rounds July 13, during a patrol in Dehnuk, Iraq, near the Iranian border.

The weapons were staged to be sold or moved to insurgents, according to Col. Mark Mueller, team leader for BTT 4300. Weapons are often collected at one location and then smuggled into al Kut, he said.

The Iraqi border guards led Team Nomad to a second weapon stockpile July 14 along the Iraq/Iranian border.

The stockpile consisted of six 122mm rounds, five RPG-7 grenades, 10 81mm mortar rounds, and six 60mm mortar rounds.

All of the weapons are believed to be leftover from the Iran and Iraq War and were destroyed during control detonations by the Khazakstani Explosive Ordnance Team, Coalition partners also serving at FOB Delta.

BTT 4321, from Fort Riley, Kan., is part of Task Force Shocker based at FOB Delta.
-30-
FOR QUERIES, CONTACT THE MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION – CENTER PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT MND-CENTER_PAO@IRAQ.CENTCOM.MILThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it OR BY PHONE AT DSN 318-822-7482 OR COMMERCIAL 912-767-4114.
Weapons stockpiles destroyed near Iranian border | United States Forces - Iraq

 

[Yoder777]

WikiLeaks Show WMD Hunt Continued in Iraq – With Surprising Results
WikiLeaks Show WMD Hunt Continued in Iraq – With Surprising Results | Danger Room | Wired.com

 

[Yoder777]

Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq
Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada
The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy.
U.S. removes 'yellowcake' from Iraq - World news - Mideast/N. Africa - Conflict in Iraq - msnbc.com

 

[Yoder777]

Saddam general: WMDs in Syria
Another former confidant of ex-dictator makes claim, also links Iraq to al-Qaida 
A former general and friend of Saddam Hussein who defected but maintains close contact with Iraq claims the regime supported al-Qaida with intelligence, finances and munitions and believes weapons of mass destruction are hidden in Syria.
Saddam general: WMDs in Syria

 

[simonpeter]

That's right. Only US and Israel can have WMDs.

 

[brindisi]

That's right. Only US and Israel can have WMDs.

Do Russia, and China, and the United Kingdom, and France, and India, and Pakistan, and North Korea know about this?