Duelfer confirms 'a lot of material left Iraq and went to Syria'

Geostrategy Direct ^ | 10/14/04 | staff

[Perdogg]

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Oct. 6, Charles Duelfer, an adviser to the CIA, did not rule out Saddam's transfer of Iraqi missiles and weapons of mass destruction to Syria.

Charles Duelfer, head of the Iraq Survey Group, pauses during an Senate Armed Services committee on Oct. 6, in Washington. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Duelfer agreed that a large amount of material had been transferred by Iraq to Syria before the March 2003 war. "A lot of materials left Iraq and went to Syria," Duelfer said. "There was certainly a lot of traffic across the border points. We've got a lot of data to support that, including people discussing it. But whether in fact in any of these trucks there was WMD-related materials, I cannot say."

The Iraq Survey Group, headed by Duelfer, said Russia, Syria, Jordan and other arms suppliers were paid from Iraqi oil revenues.

A CIA report, authored by the Iraq Survey Group, identified Russia and Syria atop a list of 12 arms suppliers to Iraq until the U.S.-led war against Baghdad started in March 2003.

The report listed Russia and Syria above North Korea — regarded as the leading missile proliferator to the Middle East — as leading suppliers to Baghdad.

Jordan was the third largest supplier of weapons to Iraq.

Duelfer (left), speaks with General Joseph J. McMenamin, military commander of the Iraq Survey Group, before start of the Senate Armed Services committee meeting. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Jordan came Belarus, China, India, North Korea, South Korea, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, France, Romania and Turkey. The report said these countries were involved in both "weapons of mass destruction and arms-related procurement." The report said Saddam diverted money from the UN oil-for-food program to pay for both conventional and nonconventional weapons and components.

The report said state-owned companies in Russia and Syria defied UN sanctions and supplied weapons and platforms to Baghdad. The report said Syria also served as the leading route for illegal arms supplies from Europe and other countries.

Several of Iraq's neighbors were said to have joined in the secret military effort to aid Baghdad. The report — based on interviews with senior Iraqi officials and 40 million pages of documents and classified intelligence — cited Jordan and Turkey as leading suppliers to the Saddam regime.

[maestro]

A CIA report, authored by the Iraq Survey Group, identified Russia and Syria atop a list of 12 arms suppliers to Iraq until the U.S.-led war against Baghdad started in March 2003.

The report listed Russia and Syria above North Korea ? regarded as the leading missile proliferator to the Middle East ? as leading suppliers to Baghdad.

Jordan was the third largest supplier of weapons to Iraq.

After Jordan came Belarus, China, India, North Korea, South Korea, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, France,France,France,France,France,... Romania and Turkey.

Say What?

/sarcasm

[mewzilla]

But whether in fact in any of these trucks there was WMD-related materials, I cannot say."

Can't or won't?

[ez]

Well, duh, duelfer. The whole reason the left dragged their feet so hard was to allow Saddam to get his stuff out of country.

[thoughtomator]

No sh*t! Those of us reading FR knew before the war that Saddam had shipped out his WMDs to Syria and Lebanon (and it appears as well to Lybia and Sudan).

[mewzilla]

According to Bill Gertz's new book, Treachery, Kay wasn't tasked with finding out whether or not WMD left Iraq while Kay was in charge. I thought that was strange.

[trebb]

Gee Mr. Duelfer, most of us knew that there was some serious WMD hiding going on while the President wasted time trying to sway the corrupt U.N. to do something useful...

[cvq3842]

Don't expect front-page stories about this in the NY Times anytime soon.

Disgusting.

[BillyCrockett]

Does anyone think the Syrians are being pressured HARD by the US right now, to come clean on what they did for Saddam? It would make a nice little October surprise for sKerry.

[jonno]

bump

[Flightdeck]

Maybe if we hadn't been forced to diplomatize (what's the verb form of that word?) by the UN and the cowards in our own country, we wouldn't have had to conduct the most telegraphed war in history. We would have attacked sooner, won just as fast, killed more of their armed forces/"insurgents", and got these WMD's off the world market.