Posted on 01/26/2006 9:20:54 AM PST by plenipotentiary
Iraq Official: Saddam Moved WMD to Syria
The former number two official in Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force claims the former Iraqi dictator moved weapons of mass destruction from Iraq to Syria in the months preceding the current Iraq war.
Georges Sada revealed the charges in an interview Wednesday with the New York Sun. They are detailed in his new book, "Saddam’s Secrets.”
"Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming," Sada told the Sun. "They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians.”
The former Iraqi general said Special Republican Guard brigades loaded WMDs onto two converted Iraqi Airways planes.
He said he was told of the operation by two pilots that helped transport the materials. Sada says 56 flights were made, and were accompanied by a ground convoy of trucks carrying similar materials.
The Sun reports that the flights attracted scant international attention because they occurred at the same time that Iraq was sending relief to Syria for a dam collapse.
Sada’s claims echoed those made by Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s top general in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Yaalon told the Sun in December that Saddam had "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria.”
According to the Middle East Quarterly, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon issued a similar warning in a Dec. 23, 2002 television appearance on Israel’s Channel 2.
"Chemical and biological weapons which Saddam is endeavoring to conceal have been moved from Iraq to Syria,” Sharon said.
Together, their claims challenge the conventional wisdom in the United States and Europe that pre-war intelligence estimates were incorrect in suggesting the mass-murdering Iraqi dictator either possessed or was close to possessing WMDs.
Even President Bush has conceded the point, telling Americans in a televised address in December, "It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.”
Recent reports by Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard have similarly challenged the conventional wisdom on Saddam’s relationships with al-Qaida.
Hayes is calling for the release of approximately 2 million unclassified documents recovered in Iraq from the Hussein regime. He claims the documents could prove Saddam maintained significant contacts with al-Qaida.
Sada’s and Yaalon’s claims will be even more difficult, if not impossible, to prove, but several U.S. Senators will try to get to the bottom of the claims. Sada is scheduled to meet with Senators Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., next week. Both are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Are hands are tied.
If we march in Syria, we will look like an Imperialist country trying to capture the Middle East.
We have bigger fish to fry with Iran getting the bomb.
Are=Our
Give it enough time, and you'll find some Iraqi @sshole who insists that those WMDs really, really, really ended up in John Kerry's basement.
Princess leah....that would be great if this can get some traction.
But, but, there were no weapons of mass destruction. Even if Saddam had used them. Bush lied, people died. Right, Howard? Right, J Effin K? Right, Dingy Harry?
thanks, oh wise one!
Right. IMO Saddam's two sons knew
where the WMD went...and they received
megabucks for the deal. I doubt
the former ruler will ever admit
anything to anyone about his regime.
In fact, I doubt he's the type of
megalomaniac who would never tell
his own sons the whole truth about
his dealings inside and outside Iraq.
This guy is confirming what has been suspected for a long time. This story makes sense and offers some specifics I had not seen before.
Anyone know how DU is handling the news that they were very, very wrong... again? :-)
Didn't we know this at least two years ago when some Freeper showed maps of Syria where the weapons are reportedly buried?
“Remember, former weapons hunter David Kay said, "We know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD program." Terrorism expert John Loftus said that the terrorists caught entering Jordan probably intended to kill as many as 80,000. "Syria does not make VX nerve gas," says Loftus, "only Saddam Hussein did."”
Heck! I figured everything was headed to Syria and the Bekkaa Valley long before the first shots were fired.
A pity this story won't really see the light of day.
Jack.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...I'm sooooooooooooooooooooooo shocked!!!
July 2002:
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
IRAQ is smuggling nuclear-related equipment banned by the United Nations on board aircraft that have been flying relief aid to Syria, intelligence agencies believe.
Baghdad has sent more than 24 planes to Syria, carrying humanitarian aid to help victims of a dam collapse that flooded villages and agricultural land. The Zeyzoun dam near the town of Idlib, about 220 miles north of Damascus, burst on June 4, killing more than 20 people and leaving about 30,000 homeless.
Intelligence agencies trying to monitor flights in and out of Baghdad believe that the Iraqis took advantage of the disaster to smuggle banned equipment back on the return journey. Some intelligence reports indicate that one of the returning planes was filled with spare parts for sensitive so-called ?low-forming machines?, which are used to produce components for uranium-enrichment systems. Enriched uranium is a key component of nuclear weapons.
More about the dam disaster: Syria: Dam Collapse - IRIN-04: 10-Jun-02
.......Iraq has sent 12 airplanes with food, medicines and blankets, and also dispatched a 12-member medical team.
That part of the story seems correct. There was a lively air traffic from Iraq to Syria June/July 2002.
yes, little ole you...I've not kept up with this situation recently. Am out of touch, therefore, so do appreciate your input.
How true. Remember Sadaam's "bomb-maker" who appeared ad nauseam on Hannity's programs and claimed that Iraq was 6 months (?) away from developing a nuclear bomb?
This story will fizzle away like the others. If there is any substance to this story, the MSM will have no choice but to cover it.
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