Free Republic

China illegally supplied Saddam Hussein's regime with missile technology and other weaponry and was a major beneficiary of the U.N. oil-for-food program, according to a CIA report. The report by the Iraq Survey Group also stated that China, along with France and Russia, was bribed by Saddam with oil sales and weapons deals into working to end U.N. sanctions. One sale took place in 2001 and involved an intelligence officer in Beijing, Abd al-Wahab, who bought 10 to 20 gyroscopes and 20 accelerometers from a Chinese firm that was not identified by name. The equipment was to be used in...

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. weapons inspectors are planning for possible monitoring of Iraq's biological, chemical and missile programs despite being barred from the country by the United States, according to a report to the U.N. Security Council. The quarterly report released Wednesday by the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, known as UNMOVIC, outlines a range of activities undertaken by the U.N. inspectors to seek new information about Iraq's weapons programs and to prepare for a possible future role. U.N. inspectors were pulled out of Iraq in March, just before the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime. After the...

The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program. The briefing contained satellite photographs that demonstrated the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war. Council members were shown photographs of a ballistic missile site outside Baghdad in May 2003, and then saw a satellite...

Taken alone, the discovery of these rocket motors doesn't really prove anything. Just like the SA-2 motor found in a scrapyard in Rotterdam. Just like the other scrapped dual-use equipment discovered in junkyards around the world. Just like the sarin-filled artillery round discovered recently. And the other chemical rounds uncovered just before that. And the murder of many Iraqi scientists who were cooperating with US investigators after the invasion. And the burned up computers in a locked weapons research lab. And the rumors of those semi-trucks headed to Syria in the months before the invasion. I mean, this is just...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. weapons experts have found 20 engines used in banned Iraqi missiles in a Jordan scrapyard along with other equipment that could be used to make weapons of mass destruction, an official said Wednesday. The discoveries were revealed to the U.N. Security Council by acting chief U.N. inspector Demetrius Perricos during in a closed-door briefing. The text was obtained by The Associated Press. The U.N. team was following up on an earlier discovery of a similar Al Samoud 2 engine in a scrapyard in the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Perricos said inspectors also want to check...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - More than a decade of suspicions about Iraq (news - web sites)'s missile industry and its capabilities for delivering weapons of mass destruction could be investigated quickly now that American forces control the country. But no U.S. weapons hunters or intelligence officials have visited the heart of Iraq's missile programs — the state-owned al-Fatah (news - web sites) company in Baghdad, which designed all the rockets Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s troops fired in 1991 and again this year. Not only that, it's not even on their agenda. "We have the most sensitive documents here," said...

CAMP DOHA, KUWAIT -- All but two of nine U.S. and Kuwaiti Patriot intercepts of Iraqi missiles over a 13-day period beginning March 20 were performed by Guidance Enhanced Missiles, or GEMs, introduced into the fleet seven years ago, according to Army Brig. Gen. Howard Bromberg, commanding general of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command. Just two rockets Iraq launched were shot down by brand new Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles. Most engaged missiles were Al-Samoud and Ababil-100 surface-to-surface rockets fired from southern Iraq towards Kuwait, often operating on the outer limits of their approximately 90-mile maximum range,...

April 2, 2003 Battle for Baghdad Begins in Area Surrounding Iraqi CapitalBy MICHAEL R. GORDON AMP DOHA, Kuwait, Wednesday, April 2 — The battle for Baghdad got under way today as American ground forces entered the "red zone." United States Army and Marine ground forces advanced on separate axes into the swath of territory around Baghdad that is defended by the Republican Guard and has been characterized by American commanders as the most strategically vital and treacherous of the war. Although still 50 miles or more from the capital, the attack brought the American military one step closer to its...

Rick Leventhal on FNC reports Al-Samoud missiles have been found on a flatbed truck.

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 03/14/03 - Iraqi Rockets, al-Qaqa, Rafah, Ababil-100, Al Rahad, Youssifiya, Al Samoud, Rasheed, Aziziyah, Ibn Firna, drones, WMD, Al Taje, al-Slam, Tikrit, Al Islaha, Taji, Doura, Kuwaitis, missing children,Terrorist Perp, Valencia, MOAB,Predators BREAKING: Iraqi Rockets BREAKING: al-Qaqa missiles site, Rafah military facility, BREAKING: Ababil-100 missile, Al Rahad missiles BREAKING: Youssifiya - Old retrofitted single stage missiles, Al Samoud missile factory BREAKING: Rasheed - A little welding goes far to fool the UN BREAKING: Aziziyah - missile heads with proven WMD BREAKING: Ibn Firnas military industrial compound - drones for WMD-release, BREAKING: Al...

United States Intelligence has concluded that Iraq decieved the United Nations by destroying stockpiled Al Samoud missiles with old engines.United States officials said the regieme of Saddam Hussein has not destroyed any Al Samoud missiles deployed in forward bases in Southern Iraq.Instead they said Iraq brought out missiles from military warehouses and replaced the engines with those from Soviet-origin SA-2 surface to air missiles, developed in the 1950's.On Friday the Kuwait daily Al Rai Al Aam quoted senior military sources as saying that Iraq has beefed up forces in the south around the city of Basra.The newspaper said that the...

It was supposed to be the day when Iraq demonstrated it was disarming, but it soon degenerated into the confusion, with touches of farce, that has characterised much of the United Nations weapons inspectors' mission in Iraq since they returned four months ago.Last night Demetrius Perricos, the head of Unmovic, the UN monitoring and verification commission, announced that the destruction of Iraq's al-Samoud 2 missiles had begun – but instead of four, the inspectors had succeeded in wrecking only one. Apparently the casing was too thick, and a heavier bulldozer had to be brought in. The UN has agreed a...

<p>March 1, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - The White House said yesterday it's not enough for Iraq to pledge to destroy its Al Samoud 2 missiles and that full disarmament is still the only way for Saddam Hussein to avoid war.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States dismissed Iraq's destruction of some of its banned missiles on Saturday as part of a "game of deception," edging closer to war while promising a brighter future for Iraqis once President Saddam Hussein is gone. The State Department said it was seeking "clarification" of a Turkish Parliament vote first accepting and then rejecting deployment of 62,000 American troops for possible war with Iraq. Rejection would be a major blow to U.S. war planners, who hope to mount a "northern front" against Iraq from Turkish bases. Although the White House insists President Bush has yet...

France Hails Iraq Missile Pledge, Counts U.N. Votes By Paul Carrel PARIS (Reuters) - France hailed Iraq's agreement to scrap its al-Samoud 2 missiles as a sign of progress in its disarmament and said on Friday there was no majority in the U.N. Security Council for a resolution paving the way for war. Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking after British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) dismissed the Iraqi statement by remarking "this is not a time for games," said he saw no reason to cut short the peaceful disarmament of Iraq. "A second resolution today would...

Britain and the United States today swiftly and scornfully rejected a suggestion from Iraq that it might yield to UN demands and destroy its medium-range missiles. The regime said it was ready "in principle" to give up its Al-Samoud missiles, which the UN has ruled to be in breach of the 90-mile limit set on their range. But the offer gave no date for action, despite the deadline set for tomorrow. Downing Street said it had been predicting just such a manoeuvre since Tuesday. A spokesman said: "This is how Saddam plays the game." US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was...

NEW YORK: Iraq has admitted to testing a missile with a range that violates international weapons regulations. Thirteen test flights of the Al-Samoud ground-to-air missile, which uses imported components, had exceeded the UN-set limit of 150km (90 miles), the chief UN weapons inspector, Hans Blix, told the Security Council. The greatest range achieved in the tests was 183km. Mr Blix said the inspectors had ordered Iraq to suspend development of the missile. Iraq was barred from developing missiles with a range of more than 150km after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Mr Blix told the 15-member council that Iraq’s 12,000-page...