Free Republic

Last week, Syria test fired two Scud type ballistic missiles. The guidance systems on both of them were not working properly. One of the missiles landed in the market place of a village near the Turkish border, killing twenty people and injuring at least sixty. At first, the government said it was a natural gas explosion, but the truth soon came out (it's kind of hard to hide the missile debris, and a Scud impact is quite different from a natural gas explosion.)

20 Killed in Failed Syrian Scud Missile Test by Hana Levi Julian (IsraelNN.com) At least 20 Syrian civilians were killed and 60 were wounded in a failed missile test in May, Japan's Kyodo News reported Friday. The test involved two updated Scud missiles developed together by Syria, North Korea and Iran. Both exhibited defective guidance systems, according to a Middle Eastern military source quoted in the report. One of the short-range ballistic missiles hit a market near the Syrian-Turkish border, causing dozens of civilian casualties. Syrian forces attributed the blast to a gas explosion and blocked off the site to...

Twenty Syrians were killed and over 60 injured in a failed Scud missile test carried out by Syria, Iran and North Korea in May One of two missiles had apparently strayed off its course due to a technical malfunction, landing in a civilian populated area.

SDI: If you missed the news, which isn't hard given how poorly these things are covered, our "unproven" missile defense proved itself again last week, when a U.S. warship downed a simulated North Korean missile in flight.The test, conducted in Hawaiian waters by the Navy and the Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA), was the 23rd firing by ships equipped with the Aegis ballistic missile defense system. It was the 19th success, including the shoot-down of a dead U.S. spy satellite last year. A short-range ballistic missile simulating a missile like North Korea's Nodongs or Scuds was fired from...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, a violation of U.N. resolutions and an apparent message of defiance to the United States on its Independence Day. The launches, which came two days after North Korea fired what were believed to be four short-range cruise missiles, will likely further escalate tensions in the region as the U.S. tries to muster support for tough enforcement of the latest U.N. Security Council resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said three missiles...

North Korea already has the capacity to launch a nuclear missile strike against Seoul and Tokyo, even before the long-range rocket test that it is promising in the next few days, an international think-tank has reported.

The four trucks moved under the cover of darkness, each hauling the block-like shape of a mobile Scud missile-launcher into the western deserts of Iraq, from where they could target Israel. As the Herald drove from Baghdad to Amman on Friday night, the convoy of Saddam Hussein's most feared missiles loomed out of the night as another piece of his defence plan being set up in the face of an imminent United States attack. At the end of the 1991 Gulf War international forces set about destroying all of the Iraqi President's long-range Scud missiles, but he is thought to...

Since the story broke yesterday about finding 500 Shells of Chemical Weapons in Iraq, shells that contain Sulfur Mustard Gas or Sarin Gas, the Left and their media were quick to dismiss this extremely important find by using the lame excuse that these Chemical weapons Shells were produced before 1991 and hence its not effective anymore because it has much lower quality”. However in March 2003 UN report about Iraq Weapons of Mass Destruction there is the following on page 77 (Page 79 of the pdf file), paragraph 1 of the report http://www.un.org/Depts/unmovic/documents/6mar.pdf : “ The Sulfur Mustard contained in...

Document ISGP-2003-00300134 contains Top Secret And Personal letters that carry Saddam orders to do radiation and biological testing on the Presidential sites that were attacked by the US in December 1998. Beginning of translation of the first top secret and personal memo In the Name of God the Most Merciful The Most Compassionate Top Secret And Personal The Republic of Iraq The Presidential Secretariat Number: 537304/1 18/12/1998 ORDER Mr. President The Leader (God Protects Him) Order: Form committees from the Ministry of Health and the Military Industrialization Commission and The Atomic Energy Organization and The Special Security Service with its...

WRITTEN ON THE WIND – WMD USE IN IRAQ (Part One) Dedicated to the “Bush-Lied-People-Died “ Crowd : Greg Palast, Michael Moore ,Gerald Pressler, Mark Yannone,ANSWER,and MoveON. Before the dust of battle settled in Baghdad ; while lovable Baghdad Bob was still telling rapt BBC reporters Saddam was in control of the situation,a chant began to rise-here and abroad. Where are the Weapons of Mass Destruction ? Show us the WMDs ! For all your self-proclaimed intelligence, you were asking the wrong question: the right one being “Where is the rest of Saddam Hussein’s ammunition ?” (The answer – “...

Syria fires Scuds over Turkey 'to taunt US' By Tim Butcher, Middle East Correspondent (Filed: 04/06/2005) Syria has staged a defiant display of strategic firepower by test-firing Scud missiles for the first time in four years, Israeli security sources said yesterday. The officials, citing intelligence data, said the missiles, using North Korean technology and designed to carry chemical warheads, were launched last week from northern Syria. One missile was fired towards the Mediterranean, the Israeli officials said, and broke up over the Turkish province of Hatay, shedding debris over two villages. Israeli security sources said Syria's attempt to fire a...

Israel And Freedom For Jonathan Pollard By Caroline Glick The Jerusalem Post - With INA Publisher's Note Below Jerusalem ---- April 28......Jonathan Pollard is one of the most polarizing figures of our times. Pollard, a former intelligence analyst in US naval intelligence, has now served 20 years of a life imprisonment sentence following his conviction for transferring classified US intelligence materials relating to Arab ballistic missile and nonconventional weapons programs to Israel from May 1984 until his arrest in November 1985. For his contribution to Israel's security and for his long suffering in prison, Israel considers Pollard a national hero....

BAGHDAD, Iraq, March 12 - In the weeks after Baghdad fell in April 2003, looters systematically dismantled and removed tons of machinery from Saddam Hussein's most important weapons installations, including some with high-precision equipment capable of making parts for nuclear arms, a senior Iraqi official said this week in the government's first extensive comments on the looting. The Iraqi official, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants in search of valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and carted the machinery...

Israel and the United States are set to conduct a crucial test on a jointly developed anti-ballistic missile system, with the results of the test possibly determining the system's future. A battery of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system has been shipped to a U.S. naval base and will attempt to shoot down a Scud missile launched from the Pacific Ocean. The point of impact would be at an altitude of several dozen kilometers. Israel and the U.S. decided to carry out the experiment some two years ago. The U.S. has specially purchased a Scu missile for the purpose of the...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel is looking into whether Saddam Hussein committed war crimes when he fired Scud missiles at Israeli population centers in 1991, and whether it should seek compensation, an Israeli official said Tuesday. Israeli legal experts discussed possible action at a meeting following Saddam's weekend capture. Saddam fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf war, causing damage but few casualties. Alan Baker, the Foreign Ministry's legal adviser, said Saddam's Scud barrages apparently violated international law, because during a war, parties are forbidden from firing missiles at civilian targets and population centers. "This is what...

SEOUL (AFP) Oct 23, 2003 North Korea has exported some 400 Scud missiles to Middle East countries since the mid-1980s, South Korea's defense ministry said Thursday. Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen were the best customers for North Korean Scuds in the region, the ministry said in a parliamentary report. "Since the middle of the 1980s, North Korea has exported 400-odd Scud missiles along with missile-related parts to the Middle East region," the report said, according to ministry spokesman Kim Ki-Beom. The report did not say how much the communist state earned from the missile exports, but Yonhap news agency put...

The United States views with "serious concern" Syria's expanding weapons of mass destruction (WMD) capabilities and its continued state sponsorship of terrorism, the State Department's top arms control official says.Testifying September 16 before a House International Relations subcommittee, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said Syria also has taken "a series of hostile actions" toward Coalition forces in Iraq.He said Syria allowed military equipment to flow into Iraq on the eve of and during the war, and has "permitted volunteers to pass into Iraq to attack and kill our service members during the...

Channel 4 News diplomatic correspondent Lindsey Hilsum has admitted that she "self-censored" her reports from Baghdad and did not tell viewers that Saddam Hussein's regime was hiding Scud missile launchers in residential areas, because she did not want to be thrown out of the city. Hilsum saw a missile launcher in a back street of Baghdad after losing her way when driving to the scene of the first marketplace bombing in the city, in which 14 people were killed. Although Channel 4 News was not censored by Saddam's secret police, the Mukhabarat, Hilsum decided not to report on what she...

'Iraqis did have Scuds' Ciar Byrne Wednesday June 11, 2003 Channel 4 News diplomatic correspondent Lindsey Hilsum has admitted that she "self-censored" her reports from Baghdad and did not tell viewers that Saddam Hussein's regime was hiding Scud missile launchers in residential areas, because she did not want to be thrown out of the city. Hilsum saw a missile launcher in a back street of Baghdad after losing her way when driving to the scene of the first marketplace bombing in the city, in which 14 people were killed. Although Channel 4 News was not censored by Saddam's secret police,...

CANBERRA, Australia, May 09, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Elite Australian special forces charged with knocking out Scud missile bases entered deep into Iraq two days before the opening salvo of the war, defense officials said Friday. Releasing details on the role of Australia's 150 Special Air Services troops in Iraq for the first time, defense officials said a large contingent of Australian special forces went into Iraq the night of March 18. The commandos were mainly charged with reconnaissance and "shoot and scoot" missions tracking key military targets and destroying them, either with their own weapons or...

The biggest threat posed by Saddam Hussein is his continued ability to generate biological and chemical weapons - and to conceal this in a giant web of deception. There is a real threat from chemical weapons, and a longer term one from nuclear bombs and missiles, but these are not the prime worry for London and Washington. Iraq's forces still have potent weapons for delivering biological and chemical warheads such as the Scud B missiles used against Saudi Arabia and Israel during Desert Storm in 1991 and the longer range Al Hussain missile fired against Iran in the Gulf war...

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,...

Pentagon-AP -- There's a suggestion that some Scud missiles might have been found in Iraq. That would be a first -- and a key goal for the coalition -- since Scud missiles were one of the banned weapons for the Saddam Hussein regime. The word came from the the commander of all naval forces in the Iraq war. Admiral Timothy Keating says that "some Scuds" have been spotted on the ground by U-S and British troops. Later, his spokesman tried to change that by saying Keating should have said "surface-to-surface missiles" had been discovered. However, Keating was clear in discussing...

Scuds hidden at site in Al Qa'im? By Douglas Jehl The New York Times WASHINGTON -- Out of sight of television cameras, some of the heaviest and most prolonged fighting in Iraq has been raging for nearly three weeks near the town of Al Qa'im on the Syrian border. There, British commandos and U.S. special forces have been attacking units of Iraq's Special Republican Guards and Special Security Services, according to senior military and defense officials. The Iraqi forces in the area, along the Euphrates River, have been defending a large compound that includes phosphate fertilizer and water treatment plants....

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea shipped about 10 Scud-B ballistic missiles to Pakistan in February in what could have been part of a deal to pay for nuclear technology from Islamabad, a Japanese daily reported on Wednesday. Quoting unidentified U.S. security sources, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper said a Pakistani freighter with about 10 Scud-B missile on board returned home in late February after loading them at a North Korean port earlier the same month. The shipment of the ballistic missiles, which have a range of 190 miles, was spotted by U.S. satellites as well as the Central Intelligence Agency, it...

Brig.-Gen. Yosef Kupperwasser, head of the Intelligence Corps research and assessment branch, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Monday that Iraq might have hidden its long-range surface-to-surface missiles in Syria. Kupperwasser added that Iraq may have done the same with some of its weapons of mass destruction, reports Army Radio. In December, Prime Minster Ariel Sharon referred to the possibility that Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, ordered his regime's chemical and biological weapons to be smuggled to neighboring Syria to hide them from UN weapons inspectors. Sharon said that Israel had intelligence pointing to this possibility, however the intelligence...

HAIFA, Israel - The Pentagon's clandestine efforts to persuade senior Iraqi officials to turn on Saddam Hussein may be the last hope of avoiding a bloody urban battle in Baghdad. While the reward is so great that the strategy is worth pursing, nobody should hold out much hope for success. The Iraqi dictator constructed his military and political system precisely for this kind of worst-case scenario. Consider the Republican Guard. Since 1988 it has been under the direct command of the presidential palace rather than the army. Because of this, its soldiers have received the best equipment and training, and...

The ongoing search by U.S. and allied forces for Saddam Hussein's remaining arsenal of Scud missiles is not limited to western Iraq, a hotbed of missile firings during the 1991 Gulf War, according to a senior U.S. Central Command official. No Scud firings have been reported in this conflict, but the United States and its allies remain vigilant.In 1991, Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles against Israel from its western desert -- launches that bedeviled U.S. commanders because a large amount of air and special operations assets had to be diverted to hunt them, in part to assure Israel the United...

Just in on sky news! They believe that Iraq just fired a scud, the closest yet to Kuwait City. The Kuwait defense system is thought to have intercepted the missile!

Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalon has paid tribute to the role Australian Special Air Services (SAS) troops are playing in eliminating the risk of an Iraqi Scud missile attack on his country. Mr Shalom has phoned Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to personally express his gratitude. A statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the action of Australian Defence Forces was aimed at eliminating the risk of Scuds from western Iraq. During the last Gulf War in 1991, 39 missiles were fired at Israel leaving two people dead and hundreds injured. Since the current attack on Iraq has begun, the...

Iraq fires 3 missiles into Kuwait, Patriots hit 2 KUWAIT, March 24 (Reuters) - Iraq launched three missiles into Kuwait on Monday, two of which were destroyed by a U.S. Patriot battery and one left to land in a northern desert area. A Kuwaiti defence ministry spokesman said a fourth missile was launched from north Iraq southwards but did not enter Kuwaiti airspace. "Two bright orange flashes were seen over Kuwait as the engaging Patriot missile destroyed the Iraqi tactical ballistic missile. It is unknown at this time what type of munitions the Iraqi missile was carrying," said a U.S....

With Iraq throwing Israel into the mix of the US-led war on Iraq, and American soldiers unable to fully control the "Scud box" in western Iraq, the threat to the country could actually be rising, military sources said Sunday. After the discovery that American missiles were made in Israel, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri on Sunday fingered Israel for joining the fray, calling it "aggression against Iraq." Israel is "sending missiles, we found a missile, an Israeli missile, in Baghdad," he told reporters. "We are now set in the middle of the war picture, and with Iraq under pressure, and...

<p>March 21, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix yesterday said Iraq violated its agreement with the United Nations if the missiles it fired at American troops were Scuds.</p> <p>"I'm very interested to know whether they used Scuds," Blix said in an interview with the Fox News Channel. "If they're firing [Scuds], of course that shows that there's a violation," he said.</p>

In an interview with FoxNews Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn, Hans Blix expressed surprise that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had any functioning Scud missiles. When asked if he thought Saddam might use chemical or biological weapons, he said "We don't speculate -- we were engaged to inspect."

Two Iraqi missiles hit Kuwait desert KUWAIT, March 20 (Reuters) - Two Iraqi missiles hit the northern Kuwait desert on Thursday, prompting U.S. and British military units to don chemical protection suits and gas masks, Kuwaiti defence ministry and other sources said. An interior ministry official told Reuters that investigations so far had shown the missiles were not carrying chemical or biological materials. Kuwait state television said the missiles were three-tonne, medium-range rockets. There were no immediate reports of injuries. "It looks like a Chinese-made surface-to-surface missile, porobably fired from (Iraq's) al-Faw peninsula," one of the Kuwaiti officials told Reuters....

The Air Force is readying the first airborne laser weapon, which could be used to intercept Scud missiles. Mark Farmer takes you inside the project. by Mark Farmer March 2003 In a starkly sanitized clean room, a stocky Lockheed Martin engineer wearing a shower cap and laboratory smock scuttles in and about black plastic curtains, talking with near-manic intensity and flashing his bright eyes and wry smile. "Want to see something really cool?" asks Paul Shattuck as he yanks back the curtains, revealing a maze of psychedelically colored optics and black anodized metal hardware. "This," he says, "is what they...

West seeks to verify murder of waverer By David Wastell, Julian Coman Washington March 3 2003 Western intelligence agencies are investigating claims that Saddam Hussein ordered the murder of a senior Iraqi missile engineer to prevent him from passing vital information to United Nations weapons inspectors. General Muhammad Sa'id al-Darraj, in charge of Iraq's mobile Scud missiles until three months ago, died 24 hours after talks with President Saddam's officials, according to Arab newspaper reports. The officials wanted to discuss how the general would conceal his knowledge if he were called for interview by the UN. The London-based Al-Zaman newspaper...

SADDAM Hussein’s top missile expert has been murdered to stop him blabbing to the UN. General Muhammad Sa’id al Darraj died on Thursday after Saddam’s men poisoned his drink. Relatives say he was ordered to hide details of Iraqi Scuds from the UN — but devious Saddam did not trust him. The revelation came as President Bush warned war was imminent. He said Saddam would be forced to give up his weapons — whatever the UN decided. He added: “If he had any intention of disarming, he would have disarmed. We will disarm him now.” Bush called war the “last...

Feb. 11, 2003 US hits ballistic missile system in southern Iraq By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS US planes attaked a ballistic missile system in southern Iraq Tuesday, the Pentagon announced, marking the first attack on Iraqi missiles meant to attack ground targets instead of aircraft or ships at sea. The American pilots attacked the Iraqi missile system near the southern city of Basra at about 1700GMT Tuesday, according to a statement from the US Central Command. The statement said the Iraqis had moved the missile system into the southern no-fly zone. US warplanes also attacked a mobile surface-to-air missile system near...

Summary/quick translation by AIT in Tokyo (from original Japanese language for Free Republic):From Yomiuri Shimbun Daily News (25 January 2003) Japan's Minister of Defense has made comments today in Parliament to the effect that Japan should study and be prepared to launch a pre-emptive defensive attack upon North Korea if they observe any evidence of North Korea loading their long range missiles with fuel in advance of an anticipated launch toward Japan.He stated in the Diet committee today under testimony that "North Korea has threatened us and promised to turn Tokyo into a so-called "sea of fire". Therefore, if...

From Japan (based on Kyodo News reports in Japanese from Beijing, China), report on statement by North Korean Ambassador to China regarding additional threats toward the United States, this time on resumption of missile testing and launch (photo, above, of DPRK Ambassador to China Che Jin Su, making provocative threat on Saturday at press conference).Synopsis from Japanese text by AIT:DPRK Ambassador to China Mr. Che Jin Su States: "We Will Now Resume Missile Launches, and Further, We Will Take Nuclear Measures On Our Own to Protect Against US Nuclear Threats"Ambassador to China from North Korea Che Jin Su gave...

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under its new chairman, Richard Lugar, should make its first order of business an inquiry into President Bush's maladroit and shortsighted decision-making in the So San affair. Our National Security Agency, to its credit, spotted the movement of 15 Scud missiles and 85 drums of chemicals from a factory in North Korea to its secret loading aboard the freighter So San, and tracked the unflagged ship around the world to the Arabian Sea. The C.I.A. was unable to determine the customer of these offensive weapons, unreliable in military combat but useful in striking terror into...

TOKYO: Japan said Thursday it might consider freezing economic aid to Yemen to protest North Korea's shipment of Scud missiles to the Middle Eastern country. "As a matter of course, our country for its part believes that such things as weapons of mass destruction, which could become the cause of conflicts, should not proliferate," top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said. Fukuda told reporters the Japanese foreign ministry was preparing to convey to the Yemeni government "what may be something close to a protest" over the missile shipment. "I don't know what it contains or how it will be expressed," Fukuda...

<p>Calls plan to hide scuds under bags of cement 'boneheaded'</p> <p>North Korea, still smarting from having one of its vessels interdicted in the Arabian Sea with several poorly hidden Scud missiles on board, today fired its Minister of Weapon-Hiding, the North Korean government announced.</p>

First, a question. What makes the news? As of Wednesday morning, the top story pretty much everywhere was the interception by Spanish warships and American inspectors of a North Korean vessel, 600 miles east of the Horn of Africa. It was carrying a dozen or so Scud missiles, apparently bound for Yemen. But what is the story here, exactly? After all (and I quote), "this is not exactly a development that is new". Whom do I quote? None other than US Deputy Secretary of State Dick Armitage, as he arrived for talks in Beijing - which will doubtless include how...

A ship operated by a North Korean crew carrying 12 disassembled Scud missiles bound for Yemen has been boarded and seized by Spanish and U.S. military forces in the Arabian Sea, Pentagon and administration officials said yesterday. U.S. intelligence satellites and Navy ships had been tracking the ship, the So San, since it left North Korea in the middle of last month, the officials said. It was boarded early Monday about 600 miles southeast of Yemen -- far out to sea and so unquestionably in international waters, a U.S. official said. The decision to take over the ship was approved...

The U.S. plans to station special forces in Jordan in case of a war with Iraq, in order to hunt down missile launchers aimed at Israel in the western Iraqi desert, American sources said this week. These sources, who are familiar with the operational plans being developed for the war, added that Jordan wants to help the U.S. war effort, but prefers to maintain a low profile. Thus, instead of posting regular troops in the kingdom, which would require massive logistical support, the U.S. has decided on special forces. Their job will be to move into the Iraqi desert to...

War Diary: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2002Nov 19, 2002 Monday, Nov. 18, was the day that U.N. inspectors returned to Iraq to begin Security Council-mandated weapons inspections. It was also a day in which extraordinarily different understandings of the inspections process and timeline were expressed by some key parties. Mohamed el Baradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and one of the senior inspectors, said, "It will take at least six months to one year before we finish our work on Iraq. I therefore ask the international community to be patient and wait until we finish our work comprehensively."...

RIJEKA, Croatia (Reuters) - A ship seized at sea by Croatia this week was bound for Iraq from Yugoslavia carrying what appeared to be material used in the ignition of Scud missiles, according to sources in Croatia on Thursday. "There is evidence that the military equipment on the seized ship was headed for Iraq," a police source told Reuters after 14 containers were unloaded from the freighter Boka Star in the port of Rijeka on Croatia's Adriatic coast. Another source close to the investigation said there were "four containers opened so far containing a powdered substance we believe is used...

Early this month, Major-General Amos Yaron, director-general of Israel's Defence Ministry, flew in secretly twice to meet his counterparts in New Delhi. Yaron's visits were in response to urgent Indian requests for a spy satellite and an anti-missile system. Yaron, says a recent issue of Jane's Foreign Report, had to turn down both requests. Jane's reported that India wanted to "buy or borrow" Israel's newly-launched Ofek-5 spy satellite. Yaron said Israel needed to keep it on an Iran-Syria-Iraq orbit, that it could not, even temporarily, be sent over Kashmir at the present time — as New Delhi wanted. Yaron also...