Free Republic

Chinese military advisers played a key role in helping Saddam's air defences withstand coalition air strikes in the months preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the Iraqi colonel who last week revealed details of Saddam's programme of weapons of mass destruction. Lieutenant-Colonel al-Dabbagh, whose revelations about Saddam's battlefield WMD capability were revealed exclusively last week in the Telegraph, said he worked with a number of Chinese air-defence specialists during 2002 and the early part of this year to devise methods to stop coalition air strikes destroying Iraq's air defences. "They arrived in the spring of 2002," said al-Dabbagh, who commanded...

<p>LONDON — Chinese military advisers played a key role in helping Iraqi air defenses withstand coalition air strikes in the months preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom, an Iraqi colonel says.</p> <p>Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh, whose revelations about Saddam Hussein's battlefield weapons of mass destruction capabilities were revealed exclusively last week in the Sunday Telegraph, said he worked with a number of Chinese air-defense specialists during 2002 and the early part of this year to devise methods to stop coalition air strikes from destroying Iraq's air defenses.</p>

<p>Saddam Hussein (search) had weapons of mass destruction and his army was capable of firing them off in less than 45 minutes, according to statements from an Iraqi colonel.</p> <p>Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh told the London Telegraph that cases of WMD warheads were shipped under cover of darkness to front-line units, including his own, near the end of 2002, in a report published in Sunday editions.</p>

Saddam Hussein's front-line units were provided with rocket-propelled grenades armed with chemical or biological weapons for use against allied troops, a former Iraqi colonel claims. Lt-Col al-Dabbagh's description of the "secret weapon" issued on the Iraqi dictator's orders appeared to back Tony Blair's claim that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed an imminent threat to British interests. He told The Sunday Telegraph he commanded an air-defence unit in the western desert and claimed to be the source of the intelligence used by MI6 and the Prime Minister to bolster the case for war. He insisted that the weapons of mass...

<p>December 8, 2003 -- An Iraqi colonel has confirmed that Saddam Hussein had secret weapons of mass destruction - and revealed that front-line commanders were given warheads that could be launched against coalition forces within 45 minutes. Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh told London's Telegraph he was the source of the British government's claim - later repeated by President Bush - that Saddam could launch a biological or chemical attack in 45 minutes after the order was given.</p>

Saddam Hussein (search) had weapons of mass destruction and his army was capable of firing them off in less than 45 minutes, according to an Iraqi colonel's statements in the London Telegraph.

LONDON (AP) -- An Iraqi officer has identified himself as the source for a British claim about Saddam Hussein's weapons that sparked a controversy marked by the death of a British government arms expert, a newspaper reported Sunday. The Sunday Telegraph said Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh identified himself as the source for the British government's assertion that Iraq could have deployed chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of a decision to do so. The paper gave the officer's surname only, citing fears for his safety if he was fully identified. Prime Minister Tony Blair's office declined to...

<p>BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi colonel has revealed how he passed top-secret information to British intelligence warning that Saddam Hussein had deployed weapons of mass destruction that could be used on the battlefield against coalition troops in less than 45 minutes.</p>

An Iraqi army officer has claimed it was he who told UK intelligence that weapons of mass destruction could be used within 45 minutes of an order from Saddam Hussein. The officer, identified as Lt Col al-Dabbagh, told the London-based Sunday Telegraph newspaper he had provided several reports on the president's WMD plans from early 2002. These included details of how frontline units were supplied with cases of WMD warheads towards the end of last year. Downing Street has so far refused to comment on the report. However, a spokesman said anyone with relevant information should contact the Iraq Survey...

The truth, at last (Filed: 07/12/2003) "The West should thank God that the Iraqi army decided not to fight," Lt Col Dabbagh tells the Telegraph's intrepid Con Coughlin in today's newspaper. "If the army had used these weapons there would have been terrible consequences." The weapons Col Dabbagh was referring to are Saddam Hussein's stocks of chemical and biological warheads. A senior officer at the heart of Saddam's armed forces, the colonel was the conduit of the now-infamous claim in the intelligence dossier which Tony Blair presented to Parliament and to the country: the claim that Saddam had the capacity...

Iraqi army chief backs WMD claim From correspondents in London December 7, 2003 AN Iraqi officer has identified himself as the source for a British claim about Saddam Hussein's weapons that sparked a controversy marked by the death of a British government arms expert. The Sunday Telegraph said Lt Col al-Dabbagh identified himself as the source for the British government's assertion that Iraq could have deployed chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of a decision to do so. The paper gave the officer's surname only, citing fears for his safety if he was fully identified. Prime...

The truth, at last(Filed: 07/12/2003) "The West should thank God that the Iraqi army decided not to fight," Lt Col Dabbagh tells the Telegraph's intrepid Con Coughlin in today's newspaper. "If the army had used these weapons there would have been terrible consequences." The weapons Col Dabbagh was referring to are Saddam Hussein's stocks of chemical and biological warheads. A senior officer at the heart of Saddam's armed forces, the colonel was the conduit of the now-infamous claim in the intelligence dossier which Tony Blair presented to Parliament and to the country: the claim that Saddam had the capacity to...

An Iraqi colonel who commanded a front-line unit during the build-up to the war in Iraq has revealed how he passed top secret information to British intelligence warning that Saddam Hussein had deployed weapons of mass destruction that could be used on the battlefield against coalition troops in less than 45 minutes. Lt-Col al-Dabbagh, 40, who was the head of an Iraqi air defence unit in the western desert, said that cases containing WMD warheads were delivered to front-line units, including his own, towards the end of last year. He said they were to be used by Saddam's Fedayeen paramilitaries...

AN Iraqi officer has identified himself as the source for a British claim about Saddam Hussein's weapons that sparked a controversy marked by the death of a British government arms expert. The Sunday Telegraph said Lt Col al-Dabbagh identified himself as the source for the British government's assertion that Iraq could have deployed chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of a decision to do so. The paper gave the officer's surname only, citing fears for his safety if he was fully identified. Prime Minister Tony Blair's office declined comment on the newspaper report, which featured in...

It was the claim Tony Blair used to justify war, but who was the source? Con Coughlin, in Baghdad, tracked him downLieutenant-Colonel al-Dabbagh is not a man who is easily frightened. Having spied on Saddam's regime for British and American intelligence for more than seven years, the 40-year-old former Iraqi air defence commander lived with the constant fear that he might be caught, tortured and executed.So when last week, shortly after I had interviewed him in Baghdad about his involvement in the infamous 45-minute claim, he received two death threats from Saddam's loyalists, his determination to describe his involvement in...