UN Confirms: WMDs Smuggled Out of Iraq

The Vanguard ^ | June 18, 2004 | Rod D. Martin

[Veritas_est]

UN Confirms: WMDs Smuggled Out of Iraq

© June 18, 2004, Rod D. Martin

In a report which might alternately be termed “stunning” or “terrifying”, United Nations weapons inspectors confirmed last week not merely that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but that he smuggled them out of his country, before, during and after the war.

Late last week, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) briefed the Security Council on Saddam's lightning-fast dismantling of missile and WMD sites before and during the war. UNMOVIC executive chairman Demetrius Perricos detailed not only the export of thousands of tons of missile components, nuclear reactor vessels and fermenters for chemical and biological warheads, but also the discovery of many (but not most) of these items - with UN inspection tags still on them -- as far afield as Jordan, Turkey and even Holland.

Notably absent from that list is Iraq's western neighbor Syria, ruled by its own Baath Party just like Saddam's and closed to even the thought of an UNMOVIC inspection. Israeli intelligence has been reporting the large-scale smuggling of Saddam's WMD program across the Syrian border since at least two months before the war. Syria has long been the world's foremost state-sponsor of terrorism.

Perricos highlighted the proliferation danger to the Security Council, as well he should: UNMOVIC has no idea where most of the WMD material is today, just that it exists and it's gone; and anything in Syria is likely to be in Jerusalem or New York tomorrow.

This is the biggest news story of 2004 so far. Yet you haven't heard about it, have you?

You probably haven't heard about Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin either -- a socialist and no friend of America. Addressing a group of 700 university researchers and business leaders in Montreal last month, Martin stated bluntly that terrorists have acquired WMDs from Saddam. “The fact is that there is now, we know well, a proliferation of nuclear weapons, and that many weapons that Saddam Huseein had, we don't know where they are…. [T]errorists have access to all of them,” the Canadian premier warned.

The tip of this terrorist sword was scarcely deflected on April 26th, when Jordanian intelligence broke up an al Qaeda conspiracy to detonate a large chemical device in the capital city of Amman. Directed by al Qaeda terrorist leader Abu al-Zarqawi -- the same man who personally beheaded American Nicholas Berg in Iraq last month -- the plotters sought to use a massive explosion to spread a “toxic cloud”, meant to wipe out the U.S. embassy, the Jordanian prime minister's office, the Jordanian intelligence headquarters, and at least 20,000 civilians (by contrast, only 3,000 died on 9/11). Over twenty tons of chemical weapons were seized from the conspirators, who were just days away from carrying out their plot.

One wonders where CNN and USA Today think twenty tons of nerve gas and sarin came from: Chemical Weapons-Mart? Yet their coverage, like most major media outlets, mentioned not a word about Saddam's smuggled WMDs, which -- according to liberal dogma -- “don't exist.”

Even though the UN says they do exist, now spread around the world.

It's not just the UN. Bill Clinton says they exist, even after the war: in a July 2003 interview with Larry King, the ex-president uncharacteristically defended George Bush, saying “it is incontestable that on the day I left office, there [was]…a substantial amount of biological and chemical material unaccounted for” in Iraq. Every intelligence agency in the world -- French, British, German, Russian, Czech, you name it -- agreed before the war; Jordanian intelligence can certainly confirm their opinion today.

So what's the deal? Why the relentless pretence that “Bush lied” when even the UN and Bill Clinton say he didn't? Why the absolute silence about “inconvenient” parts of various UN reports, such as the discovery of chemical and biological weapons plans, recipes and equipment; of bio-weapons agents in an Iraqi scientist's house; of a prison lab for testing bio weapons on humans; of complexes for manufacturing fuel for prohibited long-range missiles; of artillery rounds containing enough sarin to kill thousands of people, of similar shells containing mustard gas, two (but far from the only) of which were used in a terrorist attack against U.S. forces just weeks ago?

America cannot afford the answer to this “why”: that many on the left consider George W. Bush's defeat more urgent than al Qaeda's, his political death more essential than the possible physical death of millions of Americans.

The character of our foreign enemies has never been in doubt. The character of the enemy within -- from Dan Rather to Michael Moore -- has never been clearer. And the stakes are the highest they've ever been.

Rod D. Martin is Founder and Chairman of Vanguard PAC. A former policy director to Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Special Counsel to PayPal.com Founder Peter Thiel, he is a member of the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy, a Vice President of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA), and author of the forthcoming Visions of America.

[Steel Wolf]

The big problem is that the WMDs are still out there, and in the hands of terrorists or terrorist sponsoring states.

Here's the deal. If Syria gets more chemical / biological weapons, that's not good, but it's really not any different than before. They're just getting more of what they already have a lot of. They know they'll be dealt with if they use them, and they don't want to be dealt with. The Syrian government is a secular, Baathist organization that only exports jihad. They don't inhale.

As far as Iran and North Korea getting nuclear weapons, that's the real devil incarnate. We should do everything in our power to keep those weapons out of the hands of religious fanatics and insane cultists. I think we'll be in the position someday of looking back and saying 'Why didn't we act when we could have prevented all of this'.

[Mudcat]

"Late last week, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) briefed the Security Council on Saddam's lightning-fast dismantling of missile and WMD sites before and during the war. UNMOVIC executive chairman Demetrius Perricos detailed not only the export of thousands of tons of missile components, nuclear reactor vessels and fermenters for chemical and biological warheads, but also the discovery of many (but not most) of these items - with UN inspection tags still on them -- as far afield as Jordan, Turkey and even Holland."

If you go HERE, d/l & view the UNMOVIC doc, you can see pictures of one of the banned missile's engines on Page 4, found in a Netherlands scrap yard.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

The Horse has left the Barn... and meanwhile, our Politicians still ain't even halfway serious about "Border Control". ~~ You said a mouthful there. Spend BILLIONS on airport security and leave the house "Unlocked" I love Bush, but he has made a mistake here.

PER-ZACKLY.

I am afraid that this Article may indeed be correct -- Saddam DID HAVE a butcher's pantry full of WMD's, and the ONLY RESULT of all our stalling around seeking "UN approval" was to give him time to EXPORT the whole lot of them!

And now...

Perricos highlighted the proliferation danger to the Security Council, as well he should: UNMOVIC has no idea where most of the WMD material is today, just that it exists and it's gone; and anything in Syria is likely to be in Jerusalem or New York tomorrow.

I still wish... I still wish... that Dubya Bush woulda had the gumption to rescind "Falling Down Ford"s Executive Order 12333 against Assassination, and give CIA and Mossad's best wet-work contractors the opportunity to afflict Saddam and his Boyz with a sudden case of 9mm Lead Poisoning whilst Colin was still stalling the UN...

Maybe it's "Just the Movies", but I love that Scene from "Bourne Identity":

"Activate all our Assassins."
"ALL of them, sir?!"
"You heard me, ALL of them. Bring up EVERYBODY. I want Bourne in a body-bag by sun-down!!"

Well, maybe it wouldn't have worked against Saddam. Maybe it is "Just the Movies". Those decisions are made above my pay-grade, anyway (But I still think it woulda been worth a shot, or nine).

But now that (according to the UN itself) thousands of tons of Iraqi WMDs are circulating Terrorist Bazaars from Riyadh to Amman to Istanbul... the Cat is outta the Bag, and I for one would prefer that Weapons of Mass Destruction didn't end up in New York (I hate New York City, would never live there again, but it's a great place to visit).

This being a "Democracy", I thought I was supposed to get a VOTE. Well, my Vote says we could use that $87 Billion here on the home front (I'll help "rebuild Iraq" -- by purchasing their Sweet Crude Oil! They don't need my Tax Dollars, they can earn my Gas Dollars!).

Between installing "El Al"-style Israeli Protective Blast Doors on our Airliner Cockpits, and commissioning our "National Guardsmen" to... Oh, I dunno... Guard our National Borders (which, I think, many Guardsmen would prefer -- being closer to Home and Family), I bet we could put that $87 Billion to some pretty good use right here at home.

See, I AM a Free Trader and I AM a Pro-Immigrationist (for the right kind of Immigrant -- No Welfare, English-speaking, no Criminal Record, and Employable Skills is always nice)... but I just don't believe that "we don't have the resources" to Inspect our Ports and Protect our Borders.

We have a $400-500 BILLION dollar Defense Budget, much of which is being squandered away on "Allies" who don't even want us anymore... they're rich Countries, let them defend themselves.

If our $400-500 BILLION dollar "Defense Budget" is gonna be spent on anything, how about Defending our own Ports and Borders? Can I get a bid for even a lousy $100 Billion for that "Budget Priority", it being the NATIONAL DEFENSE Budget, and all?

"We don't have the Resources" to Inspect our Ports and Protect our Borders? As John Stossel would say: "gimme a break!"

Egads. OP

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Iraq is soon going to change from being a political liability to a political weapon. It will soon be generating internal pressure against every dictator and theocrat in the Middle East. The example of a modern, prosperous Arab state with a relatively liberal government will be a better destabilizing force for the region than another 10 divisions of the U.S. Army.

You certainly have an immense amount of Faith in the prospects of the institution of a "modern, prosperous Arab state with a relatively liberal government" in an Iraq where, amongst the 65% of the Population which is Shi'ite, the highest form of Religious Devotion is beating your own forehead with a blunt sword until you bleed, and then cutting open your own screaming infant's scalp with a razor-blade.

Don't get me wrong, I hope you're right... but kemosabe, I just don't see it.

[MissyMa]

"We can only hope that the Bush administration is waiting until after the Democrat convention when the anti-Iraq war rhetoric is going to be firmly established, to spring this on the press."
"The results could be to totally destroy the Democrat party. If this were well timed, the Democrats could be a thing of the past."

That makes sense and I hope you are right. I am so sick of the news and how they won't report on things like this. They care more about defeated Bush than they do about honest reporting.

The more I read the more determined I am to defeat the lefties.

[ovrtaxt]

Leftist American Public: (with hands over ears) I'm not listening, I'm not listening, LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA!!!

[ovrtaxt]

Agreed- we need a division of airborne Baptist evangelists!!

[ovrtaxt]

The Horse has left the Barn... and meanwhile, our Politicians still ain't even halfway serious about "Border Control".

Oh, man. You'll just LOVE this: Islamist penetration of Homeland Security?

[bigghurtt]

I first read about this about a week and a half ago, but still have not seen it in tv ANYWHERE.

he is the un report...

http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/new/documents/quarterly_reports/s-2004-435.pdf

[wingman1]

"We can only hope that the Bush administration is waiting until after the Democrat convention when the anti-Iraq war rhetoric is going to be firmly established, to spring this on the press."

That's the advantage of "going last", that is, the GOP will hold their convention after the Dems.

The two events may be worth watching after all.

[alrea]

A solid case could be made that the liberal establishment has REALLY put this country at tremendous risk by not allowing Bush destroy these weapons

terrorism is ineffective without the liberal establishment

[R. Scott]

The “Anybody but Bush” crowd:
I refuse to believe such blatant Bush propaganda until I see it on ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC!

[wingman1]

bump

[Diogenesis]

========= Chemical Warhead found in Kirkuk =============

Chemical warhead found at an Iraqi air base, marked with a green band,
the symbol for chemical weaponry. Trace amounts of a nerve agent were found
at two spots along the ~meter-long warhead. These amounts are consistent with
leakage from the chemically armed weapon. A 13-foot missile was found next to it.

---

Also found in Iraq:

* A clandestine network of laboratories and safehouses within the Iraqi Intelligence Service
that contained equipment subject to UN monitoring and suitable for continuing CBW research.

* A prison laboratory complex, possibly used in human testing of BW agents, that Iraqi officials
working to prepare for UN inspections were explicitly ordered not to declare to the UN.

* Reference strains of biological organisms concealed in a scientist's home,
one of which can be used to produce biological weapons.

* New research on BW-applicable agents, Brucella and Congo Crimean Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF),
and continuing work on ricin and aflatoxin were not declared to the UN.

* Documents and equipment, hidden in scientists' homes, that would have been useful in
resuming uranium enrichment by centrifuge and electromagnetic isotope separation (EMIS).

* A line of UAVs not fully declared at an undeclared production facility and an admission
that they had tested one of their declared UAVs out to a range of 500 km, 350 km beyond the permissible limit.

* Continuing covert capability to manufacture fuel propellant useful only for prohibited SCUD variant missiles,
a capability that was maintained at least until the end of 2001 and that cooperating Iraqi scientists
have said they were told to conceal from the UN.

* Plans and advanced design work for new long-range missiles with ranges up to at least 1000 km -
well beyond the 150 km range limit imposed by the UN. Missiles of a 1000 km range would have allowed
Iraq to threaten targets through out the Middle East, including Ankara, Cairo, and Abu Dhabi.

Clandestine attempts between late-1999 and 2002 to obtain from North Korea technology
related to 1,300 km range ballistic missiles --probably the No Dong -- 300 km range anti-ship cruise missiles,
and other prohibited military equipment.

---

Still missing based on the UNSCOM report to the UN Security Council in January 1999,
when the UN inspectors left Iraq in 1998, they had been unable to account for:

• up to 360 tons of bulk chemical warfare agents, including 1.5 tons of VX nerve agent;

• up to 3,000 tons of precursor chemicals, including approximately 300 tons which,
in the Iraqi chemical warfare program, were unique to the production of VX;

• growth media procured for biological agent production (enough to produce
over three times the 8,500 litres of anthrax spores Iraq admitted to UN inspectors to having manufactured);

• over 30,000 special munitions for delivery of chemical and biological agents;

• 20 al-Hussein missles with a range of 650 km, in violation
of UN Security Council Resolution 687 (Iraq had told UNSCOM that it filled these warheads with anthrax and botulinum);

• 2,850 tons of mustard gas, 210 tons of tabun, and 795 tons of sarin and cyclosarin;

• development of the Al-Samoud short-range missle (which had the capability to fly beyond the 150 km allowed by UN resolutions)

[OXENinFLA]

Pass this along ping..................!!!

---

[The Coopster]

Bump

[datura]

NOTE THE DATE OF THIS ARTICLE!!

---

Report: U.S suspects Iraqi WMD in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COMTuesday, August 26, 2003

U.S. intelligence suspects Iraq's weapons of mass destruction have finally been located.

Unfortunately, getting to them will be nearly impossible for the United States and its allies, because the containers with the strategic materials are not in Iraq.

Instead they are located in Lebanon's heavily-fortified Bekaa Valley, swarming with Iranian and Syrian forces, and Hizbullah and ex-Iraqi agents, U.S. intelligence first identified a stream of tractor-trailer trucks moving from Iraq to Syria to Lebaon in January 2003. The significance of this sighting did not register on the CIA at the time.

U.S. intelligence sources believe the area contains extended-range Scud-based missiles and parts for chemical and biological warheads.

Mutually-lucrative Iraqi-Syrian arms transactions are nothing new. Firas Tlas, son of Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas, has been the key to Syria's rogue alliance with Iraq. He and Assad made hundreds of millions of dollars selling weapons, oil and drugs to and from Iraq, according to the May 13, 2003 edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com.

The CIA now believes a multi-million dollar deal between Iraq and Syria provided for the hiding and safekeeping of Saddam's strategic weapons.

Not surprisingly, U.S. inquiries in Beirut and Syria are being met with little substantive response, U.S. officials said.

[PigRigger]

"Bush's true interest is not in Iraqi WMD but Iraq itself. Iraq is soon going to change from being a political liability to a political weapon. It will soon be generating internal pressure against every dictator and theocrat in the Middle East. The example of a modern, prosperous Arab state with a relatively liberal government will be a better destabilizing force for the region than another 10 divisions of the U.S. Army....."

You my friend see it for what it is. Reshaping Iraq is really an attempt to reshape the region; an attempt to ignite a culture shift in thinking both politically and militarily. Bush is thinking large scale changes - not short sighted solutions.

If Iraq can't accommodate this cultural shift we pretty much have to resign ourselves to the fact that no nation in that region can.

If Iraq fails in that regard; expect a large scale war down the road. If Iraq succeeds in inducing political and cultural changes in other surrounding countries; millions of lives may be saved. In the end, the Iraqi's themselves will determine the road they take; a long lasting military occupation will not deliver the changes we wish to see.

I hope and pray that Iraq succeeds in becoming a positive influence in the region, because if doesn't, the future looks bleak.

The only thing I am sure of is that if we followed the Clinton Middle East doctrine, or decide to adopt the Kerry plan, all out war will be inevitable.

[wjeanw]

You can find the UN report upon which this report is based is linked from a World Tribune article on the same subject dated June 11, 2004 and entitled, "UN Inspectors: Saddam Shipped Out WMD Before War and After.

[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Oh, man. You'll just LOVE this: Islamist penetration of Homeland Security? (LINK)

Oh, gee whillikers...

You mean to tell me that Enemy Penetration of a single, unitary DC Bureacracy is easier than separate and unique penetrations of the Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California Home Guard (assuming, that is, our "National Guard" was employed as a "Home Guard" -- perish the thought)??

This would be a notion shocking to me, except that DC Lobbyists figured it out years ago ("Federalize everything -- It's easier to Bribe and Corrupt one Big Bureaucracy, than 50 small ones")