The story that seems to have kicked off the firestorm here was one fed to Capitol Hill Blue. (Seymour's article didn't get much traction, evidently.)
The CapHill Blue article was quickly picked up by truthout.org, a web site with connections to the usual suspects seen hanging around rat sites. The truthout.org site in turn sold the story under its name to JapanToday, and the next day it was all over the news, though some sources conveniently deleted the name of the alleged source, T J Wilkinson, supposedly a CIA guy. Now, the same story may have been fed to others but Cap Hill Blue is the one some noticed .
The curious thing about Truthout.org was that it was registered on September 10, 2001 by a "Marc Ash."
Which reminds me, maybe the talking points are all coming from ANSWER's Ramsey Clark.
FEBRUARY 14, 2003 : (SOUTH AFRICA WILL SEND ITS EXPERTS TO IRAQ; IRAQ ACCEPTS) South Africa will send experts in dismantling weapons of mass destruction to Iraq as part of Pretoria's bid to avert war, President Thabo Mbeki said in his state of the nation address today.
The intervention follows a visit to Baghdad by Aziz Pahad, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, and comes ahead of today's crucial report-back by United Nations weapons inspectors to the Security Council in New York.
Addressing a special joint sitting of Parliament, Mbeki said it was hoped the UN report-back "will not serve as a signal to some that the time has come to unleash the fury of war".
"As we speak, a number of our citizens are preparing to travel to Iraq. These are the experts who led our country's programme to destroy our nuclear, chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction, as well as the missiles for the delivery of these weapons in conditions of combat." The work they had done had resulted in South Africa becoming an international example of best practice in disarmament, he said.
South Africa voluntarily disarmed its weapons of mass destruction in the 1990s. Pretoria had proposed to Iraq and to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General that these experts share South Africa's experience with Baghdad, Mbeki said.
"I am pleased to inform the Honourable Members that Iraq has accepted our offer, which we have already discussed with the leadership of the weapons inspectors. "We trust that this intervention will help to ensure the necessary proper co-operation between the United Nations' inspectors and Iraq, so that the issue of weapons of mass destruction is addressed satisfactorily, without resort to war."
Mbeki thanked the Iraqi government for its positive response, as well as its recent decisions to allow U2 and other aerial surveillance flights, to encourage its citizens to co-operate with inspectors without the presence of officials, and to adopt legislation prohibiting the production of weapons of mass destruction. - "SA to send its nuclear experts to Iraq: Mbeki," http://www.sabcnews.com/politics/government/0,1009,52970,00.html., February 14, 2003, 11:15
FEBRUARY 24 +/- , 2003 : (SOUTH AFRICAN "DISARMAMENT EXPERTS" ARRIVE IN IRAQ) A group of South African disarmament experts has arrived in Baghdad to help Iraq destroy any weapons of mass destruction it may have. The team of seven includes nuclear and chemical-biological weapons specialists who helped destroy South African weapons during the 1990s. Both President Thabo Mbeki and his predecessor Nelson Mandela have criticised United States-led plans to attack Iraq. Correspondents say that South Africa is the only country to voluntarily dismantle its programme of weapons of mass destruction. The United Nations chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, was involved in South Africa's disarmament. He has praised it as a model of co-operation, and has urged Iraq to adopt it. Iraq's General Hosam Mohamad Amin, head of the National Monitoring Directorate which liaises with the UN inspectors, said he would start his meetings with the South African experts on Monday. "We will exchange technical viewpoints... and they will share with us their expertise in their declarations about their programmes of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
The South Africans are led by Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad. South Africa's nuclear, chemical and biological arsenal was established during the apartheid regime. South Africa's nuclear programme began in the 1970s as a deterrent against neighbouring states opposed to apartheid and against the Cold War instability that was fuelling the war in nearby Angola. Mr Mbeki announced that the team would leave for Iraq in his state of the nation address earlier this month. "Hopefully, what they will do, freely to share their invaluable knowledge and experience, to facilitate the work both of the UN weapons inspectors and the government of Iraq, will bring us back from the brink of war, while helping to ensure that Iraq is truly free of weapons of mass destruction," he said.
Mr Mandela's former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has offered to go to Iraq as a human shield.
- "SA experts start work in Iraq," BBC News, Monday, February 24, 2003