Posted on 02/15/2011 11:17:01 AM PST by speciallybland
The defector who convinced the White House that Iraq had a secret biological weapons programme has admitted for the first time that he lied about his story, then watched in shock as it was used to justify the war.
Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, codenamed Curveball by German and American intelligence officials who dealt with his claims, has told the Guardian that he fabricated tales of mobile bioweapons trucks and clandestine factories in an attempt to bring down the Saddam Hussein regime, from which he had fled in 1995.
"Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right," he said. "They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Yeesh....get a grip on your Bush Derangement Syndrome...
so all the other countries who thought he had them through THEIR intelligence and the UN sanctions and all the American leftist politicians Bill Clinton, Hillary, Kerry etc etc ...were “nervous nellies’ too.
Good God, go over to DU and peddle your “he forced us into Iraq” crap. There was way more intelligence than just this one jerk.
Put this one to bed, for crying outloud.
Says Wikipedia (not a good source I know):
On July 25, 1990, the U.S. Ambassador in Iraq, April Glaspie, asked the Iraqi high command to explain the military preparations in progress, including the massing of Iraqi troops near the border.
The American ambassador declared to her Iraqi interlocutor that Washington, “inspired by the friendship and not by confrontation, does not have an opinion” on the disagreement between Kuwait and Iraq, stating "we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts."
She also let Saddam Hussein know that the U.S. did not intend "to start an economic war against Iraq". These statements may have caused Saddam to believe he had received a diplomatic green light from the United States to invade Kuwait.
According to Prof. Richard E. Rubenstein, Glaspie was later asked by British journalists why she had said that, her response was "we didn't think he would go that far" meaning take the whole country. Although no follow-up question was asked, one might assume that what the US government thought was that Saddam Hussein would take only the oil field.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait#Iraqi-American_relations
Yep. Cost us thousands of lives and added at least one TRILLION dollars to the deficit.
BS
The Iraqi WMD’s went to Syria.
Israeli bombed them a few tears ago in one of the LEAST reported stories involving Israel in the last 40 years.
EVERYONE knew Iraq had them and moved them to Syria.
Your point?
Wasn't he also responsible for starting the "run" on Tickle Me Elmo dolls?
..and he had plenty of time to move them to Syria or some other sympathetic country.
It's very obvious. I'm not going to hold your hand. Figure it out.
Much has been made of this comment, but there's very little there there.
The US did not have a position on a specific and relatively minor border dispute between two independent countries. What a shock!
If Saddam thought this meant invasion and conquest was OK, he was an even bigger idiot than I thought.
Uh, no you assbag. That would be the US military and its families, as well as US taxpayers.
Actually whether or not there were WMD in Iraq, we would have taken Saddam out. At the time here on FR I argued against using the WMD argument for war, since it was not an open and shut case and we had more than enough proven reasons to go to war without it.
The following are in chronological order from various sources.
In 1982 under Ronald Reagan and during the Iran/Iraq war, the U.S. decided to help Iraq (and Saddam Hussein) win their war with Iran. So in the early 80's, Iraq was our friend. A few years later (late 80's), Saddam Hussein used weapons of mass destruction on his own Kurdish people.
From 1990 to 1991, a U.S. led coalition force of 34 nations (authorized by the U.N.) took on Iraqi forces to liberate Kuwait. This was termed the Gulf War.
From PBS:
At the end of the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein and his elite military units were still in power and in possession of huge stockpiles of deadly weapons. In April 1991, the U.N. Security Council created UNSCOM, a special commission to find and dismantle this arsenal. The U.N. imposed economic sanctions on Iraq that would be enforced until the country eliminated all nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons capability.Two agencies were charged with the task. UNSCOM would uncover and destroy Iraq's biological- and chemical-weapons and ballistic-missile programs; the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was charged with uncovering and dismantling Iraq's clandestine nuclear program.
From 1991 to 1998 UNSCOM and IAEA carried out numerous inspections in Iraq, but with varying degrees of success.
For the first few years, Iraqi officials failed to disclose much of their special weapons programs to the inspectors. In 1995, Saddam Hussein's son-in-law Kamel Hussein defected. He had been in charge of the bioweapons program and revealed to UNSCOM that there was a vast arsenal of weapons they had failed to uncover, including biological weapons, and described how the Iraqis were hiding them. This was a breakthrough for the inspection teams, and they continued their work until 1998, when Iraq blocked further access and expelled UNSCOM.
There's more here.
One to two years before President George W. Bush won the 2000 election, prominent Democrats made some harsh comments about Iraq, Saddam Hussein and his WMDs.
George W. Bush was elected President in 2000. Near the end of 2001, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri fabricated a story about Saddams WMD and relayed this story to U.S. Officials. From 2000-2003, the following comments in regards to Saddam Hussein and his WMDs were made by leading Democrats.
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line." President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998.
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face." Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998.
"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983." Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb, 18,1998.
"[W]e urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs." Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process." Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998.
"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies." Madeline Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999.
"There is no doubt that ... Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to redefine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies." Letter to President Bush, Signed by Joe Lieberman (D-CT), John McCain (Rino-AZ) and others, Dec. 5, 2001
"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandated of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them." Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002.
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002.
"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October of 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..." Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002.
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-- if necessary-- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002.
"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years ... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction." Sen. Jay Rockerfeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002.
"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do" Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002.
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members ... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons." Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002.
"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction." Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002.
"[W]ithout question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime ... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction ... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real ..." Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003.
According to Fox News in 2006, approximately 500 munitions of sarin gas were found (2003-2006). The declassified report can be found here.
From the above article:
Santorum pointed out that during Wednesday's debate, several Senate Democrats said that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq, a claim, he said, that the declassified document proves is untrue. "This is an incredibly, in my mind, significant finding. The idea that, as my colleagues have repeatedly said in this debate on the other side of the aisle, that there are no weapons of mass destruction, is in fact false," he said.
With the Fox news article and the declassified report, it appears going to war with Iraq could be justified for humanitarian reasons alone, plus the fact that approximately 500 munitions were found in Iraq and some WMDs could have been moved.
Is it possible Saddam Hussein was fooled by scientists scared to death of him and the Baath Party? Did Saddam run one of military history's most successful deception operations? If he did the latter, why would he would risk the toppling of his regime, his death or capture, over non-existent WMDs? Considering everything above, one plausible explanation is that WMD stockpiles did in fact exist, but that some were hidden and/or moved to Syria.
Some have said the case for war was not that there were WMDs. Rather, they say the case for war was that Iraq was not complying with the inspections and Saddam might have had WMDs. Also, our colition force allies had a positive belief that Saddam did have WMDs. The fact that Saddam might have had them and was not complying with inspections is good enough reason for the war. Even if everybody knew Saddam had no WMDs, justifying the Iraq war for humanitarian reasons is understandable by some.
According to a 2005 Newsmax article, Moscow moved Iraqi WMD to Syria and Lebanon. From the above article:
Shaw's assertions match the information provided by U.S. military forces that satellite surveillance showed extensive large-vehicle traffic crossing the Syrian border prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom.Also: 500 Tons of Uranium Yellowcake Secretly Moved From Iraq to Canada
You were prepared for Iraq to control that geographic area?
Why? Because that scumbag watched as all the WMDs were moved to Syria right under his nose?
Sheesh people! Curveball’s lies never triggered the US invasion. The 2002 NIE did. Curveball’s lies never made it into that NIE. The CIA didn’t believe him.
Thats right and with Russia’s help. Now what about all the yeallow cake Saadam had. That certainly could be considered a WMD.
Heck there have been posts on FR from people who were there early in this war. The posts included pictures of drums of the chemicals used in gas.
He had them
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