Thanks :)
From Captain's Quarters who posted the entire translation:
Nothing in this memo speaks to WMD, at least not explicitly, nor of any notable breach of the cease-fire agreements or UNSC resolutions. It does raise some questions. Why would the Iraqi military have spent so much time and effort in IED development in 2000? After all, the Americans had not attacked Iraq in force since 1991. Almost exactly one year prior to the memo from this senior chemist in the IIS, Bill Clinton had retaliated for the expulsion of the UN inspectors by firing a fusillade of missiles at Baghdad, but no hint of an invasion or even a sustained military effort had come from the US since the Gulf War.
IEDs have no military use; the shells used for their construction have much better effect if fired normally at an enemy. And yet, not only do we have Iraqi intelligence investigating these explosive devices, this memo even proposes "tournaments", presumably for competing designs. It also mentions "Arab fedayeens", a term that Americans might remember from the irregular Ba'athist forces called the Saddam Fedayeen which formed the core of the native insurgency as Baghdad fell. (They also preyed upon the regular Iraqi Army to prevent desertions and surrenders during the conflict.) In this context, "Arab fedayeen" obviously refers to non-native forces, and irregulars rather than soldiers from another allied country -- in other words, Arab terrorists.
Given all of this information, it seems clear that Iraq had planned to train and equip Arab terrorists on the manufacture and use of IEDs. They intended on doing research on making these terrorist weapons even deadlier and more effective, and they wanted it all done before the end of 2000. They may not have realized their own need for the technology in 1999, but they certainly considered the program so urgent at that time that they pushed to get it completed within a year.
It looks like those ties between Saddam and terrorism keep getting stronger every day.
Also from Powerline today:
A very interesting document. Note that the Iraqis were working on IEDs as early as 1999. Why, I wonder? The most striking thing, of course, is the reference to "Training of the Arab Fedayeens." "Arab Fedayeens" is, I believe, a common term for foreign terrorists. So this seems consistent with the recent revelation that Saddam's regime operated at least three terrorist training centers, attended by terrorists from numerous countries, right up until the eve of the war in 2003.
And note who wrote the memo: a "Senior Chemist." Which suggests that Iraq was sharing its knowledge of chemical weaponry with foreign terrorists as of 2000.
As always, we welcome comments on the translation, which can be accessed through the jveritas link above.