Saddam And WMD: Russia's Role

Investor's Business Daily ^ | 3/7/2006 | Editor

[Isara]

..frenzy over the Katrina tapes stands in stark contrast to..disinterest of Democrats and the media in the Saddam tapes showing Iraq had WMD and Bush didn't lie.

...just before Operation Iraqi Freedom both Israeli intelligence and U.S. satellite surveillance detected large amounts of military material moving from Iraq to Syria.

...not a panicked move...it was a well-planned operation conducted with the assistance of Russia, to which Iraq was $8 billion in debt, much of it for weapons. Russia was worried about what coalition forces might find.

According to John Shaw, former deputy undersecretary for international technology security, the WMD were moved out of Iraq by Russian special forces (Spetsnaz) units. "While in Iraq," Shaw states, "I uncovered detailed information that Spetsnaz units shredded records and moved all WMD and specified advanced munitions out of Iraq to Syria and Lebanon."

Former top Romanian spy chief Ion Mihai Pacepa has written about the existence of "a standard Soviet operating procedure for deep-sixing weapons of mass destruction" in Soviet client states. The plan, which the Romanians called "Sarindar," or "emergency exit," was initially designed for Libya — a Reagan administration target — and implemented in Iraq.

According to an article by David Dastych in the Canada Free Press, the operation in Iraq was carried out by Russia's GRU (Military Intelligence), Spetsnaz (Special Troops) and Russian military and civilian logistic personnel in Iraq under the command of two veteran ex-Soviet generals — Vladislav Achalov and Igor Maltsev, operating under the guise of being civilian consultants.

Photos taken in early 2003 show Achalov and Maltsev receiving awards from Iraqi Defense Minister Sultan Hashim Akhmed in a building destroyed by U.S. cruise missiles.

What were they receiving awards for just days before coalition forces began their rush to Baghdad? Achalov reportedly said he "didn't fly to Baghdad to drink coffee."

...

[Isara]

So what happened to the 380 tons of high explosives that were reported missing from the Al-Qaqaa military installation south of Baghdad in the fall of 2004, explosives so powerful they could be used to detonate nuclear weapons? The Pentagon issued a statement saying the "movement of 377 tons of heavy ordnance would have required dozens of heavy trucks," not something ragtag elements of a crumbling resistance could have managed on roads occupied by an onrushing U.S. Army. Maybe the WMD were on some of those trucks driven out of Iraq into Syria, likely under Russian supervision.

[infidel29]

Thanks, I was hoping someone would post this, Jim Quinn referenced it on his show this morning and I can't wait to read the entire thing.

[x5452]

Why is it folks insist on propagating this rumor?

The supervision was that of exiled Soviet generals who are persona non grata in Russia.

[x5452]

Ion Mihai Pacepa (born 28 October 1928) is the highest intelligence official ever to have defected from the Soviet bloc to the West. In July 1978, Pacepa was a two-star Romanian general who simultaneously held the rank of advisor to President Nicolae Ceausescu, acting chief of his foreign intelligence service and state secretary in Romania’s Ministry of Interior. He defected to the United States following President Jimmy Carter's approval of his request for asylum.

[Isara]

I was surprised that nobody posted it. The article was up on IBD site since last night.

[infidel29]

I was going to look for it on IBD, I heard about it at work, and due to a sick step daughter, now I don't have to :)

[Isara]

You're welcome!

[x5452]

John Shaw is widly regarded as having been pressured to resign for falsifying documents, and for trying to get sweet contracts for croonies, at home and abroad. He helped Ukranians get high positions in the Ukraine intelligence service as well.

Is it more likely that MI6, the Pentagon, and the White House are covering up Russian involvement or that Shaw's Ukranian pals gossiped to him that Russians were involved so he's shouting it from the tree tops to try to distract from his tarnished name?

[GOP_1900AD]

Consider also the strange death of Dr. David Kelley in the UK. It was labeled a suicide and came on the heels of a shameful experience of being caught between a hostile media and the pro war faction of the government.

The interesting thing is, Kelley was one of few arms inspection experts who had personally inspected both Russian and Iraqi biowar programs and was in quite a good position to connect the dots. Obviously, this is not "evidence" of anything, but it is nonetheless a very interesting circumstance.

[GOP_1900AD]

You are doing lots of spin control here.

[tonycavanagh]

Keep reading articles on FR about WMD being moved out by the Russians, from all sorts of sources.

Why has there been no firm statement on this from the White House and/or the Pentagon.

[\/\/ayne]

And in this interview from WorldThreats.com The Changed Baathist: Interview with Ali Ibrahim Al-Tikriti the General says:

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 capitols were 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.

[mewzilla]

And I only caught the tail end of an interview on FNC this morning, but the gentleman being interviewed on this same subject said something about the Russians using a ship or ships to dump Iraqi WMDs into the ocean. WMDs which had been shipped out of Iraq and into Syria in the months before the war. Anyone catch that interview?

[x5452]

It's hardly spin control, there are facts not being reported here, and they are the reason the White House, MI6, and the Pentagon have yet to come to a conclusion on this.

It's quite likely that the weapons moved to Syria, and there's evidence for it (the trucks seen crossing the border). The only evidence Russians were involved is Shaw saying that he saw evidence in a MI6 report indicating as much. Oh and a former KGB leader who Jimmy Carter gave asylum saying he recalls a plan like this for FSU states.

[Thunder90]

PING

[x5452]

(And why is it that the only guy from the Pentagon to say the Russians were involved was basically fired. Crackpot maybe?)

[tonycavanagh]

re :Russians using a ship or ships to dump Iraqi WMDs into the ocean.

I have heard this rumor if this is true then we tracked those ships and know where they were sunk and would be able to extract some if not all there contents.

[Thunder90]

Where are the envriomentalists on this????

[Thunder90]

Then, why was Primakov the one who authorised the movements of the WMD???

[tonycavanagh]

All I can see is

1) There were no WMD

2) There were WMD and for reasons I cannot fathom we have a deal with the Russians.

3) There were WMD and they were moved but we really have no idea who moved them and where they were moved to and who controls them.

I cannot think of any other reason for this silence from the White house and Pentagon on the WMD issue and the Rumor issue