The latest line from Secretary of State Colin Powell and others is that the Iraq war was such a just cause that we would have invaded even if we had known beforehand that no weapons of mass destruction existed.
To some, that might sound like a feeble effort to downplay a massive intelligence failure. I think it's more than that. I think it's the truth.
In effect, the Bush administration is now admitting that WMD were never the reason for the war. They chose to invade Iraq not to protect us from anthrax or nuclear attack, but because they hoped that an invasion would inspire new respect for U.S. power and would allow us to use Iraq as a base from which to transform the entire Arab world.
In the fall of 2002, however, administration officials recognized that honesty was not the best policy. Americans would never support an unprovoked war based on some grandiose ambition and dubious strategic benefit. If Bush officials wanted war, they needed to terrorize the American public into supporting it, and they seized upon the CIA's assessment of Iraqi WMD as the perfect tool for achieving that goal.
But first, the intelligence agencies had to be whipped into playing along.
While the CIA believed that Saddam Hussein possessed WMD, it had also concluded that his stockpiles posed little danger to us or the rest of the world. That widely held view was captured perfectly in remarks by Powell on Feb. 24, 2001:
"Frankly, [sanctions] have worked," Powell told an Egyptian press conference. "[Saddam] has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors."
To get its war, the administration had to transform what it knew to be a minor, contained annoyance into a threat big enough to scare the American people. The solution it hit upon was ingenious: They fabricated a link between Saddam and Osama bin Laden.
Once again, though, the "realists" at the CIA posed a problem. They knew that no such link existed, and they naively thought their job was to be honest about what they knew. So, CIA Director George Tenet told Congress that it was highly unlikely that Saddam would ever give WMD to terrorists, and CIA analysts confirmed that Saddam and bin Laden were far from allies and, in fact, hated and distrusted each other.
That was true, but back then, the administration was more interested in fear than truth. It began a campaign to force the CIA to toe the company line, a campaign focused in the Pentagon and Vice President Dick Cheney's office. Pressure was exerted in private, including visits by Cheney to cross-examine analysts at CIA headquarters. It took place in public, as well, as mouthpieces in the conservative press attacked the CIA as Saddam-loving apologists. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld even created a whole new intelligence office to reinterpret evidence "overlooked" by the fools at CIA.
Inevitably, the agency gave in, with surrender coming in the form of a letter from Tenet that grudgingly allowed for the possibility of a bin Laden-Saddam link. That was all the administration needed. "Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam," President Bush said in his 2003 State of the Union address. "It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known."
A similar sequence of events can be traced involving Iraq's nuclear program. The CIA's honest assessment was that "Iraq has probably continued at least low-level theoretical R&D associated with its nuclear program," but little more.
Again, postwar analysis has confirmed the accuracy of that claim, but again, the administration didn't want accuracy. It wanted scary. It cowed the CIA and other agencies into silence, allowing Cheney, Bush and others to warn that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear program, had sought to buy uranium, had tried to acquire ways to enrich that uranium. None of that was true, but it served its purpose.
Looking back, then, the real scandal is not what the CIA got wrong. The real outrage is how much it got right, but was muzzled from telling us.
Despite denials of this by Tenat and also by David Kay based on reports of colleagues he specifically asked this question of, the media spins it on. Feh!
Prairie
NOW....I'm quite sure that Bush is encouraging space exploration and NASA so he can land these idiot reporters on another planet far, far away, someday...............what orbit are these people on?????????????????
Bush is smart. I think he's going to spring something.
Recall the Russian MiGs they dug up in the desert--out satellites missed this. There is a lot that's not generally know about Iraq.
The perfect response to these liberal trash is - ok, tell me, if you were the President and you see the data, the report from CIA, what would you have done? - Do you wait? Do you want to see what Gallup poll will say? What would be your call, Mr. Democrat!
The dems dare not to say they would wait, they would analyze till paralyze, they would go onto the same old BS about the UN, coaliation etc etc. It is 20/20 after the fact, it is easy to argue we should not have gone into Iraq because there were no WMDs whatsoevet. But I recall clearly a yr ago, the dems were spreading fear and doubts on how Saddam will slime our guys, will toss a WMD missile to Israel/Kuwait/Saudi. So what is the real story, the one that Saddam never have the stuff or the one claiming thousands die because we provoke a WMD attack from Saddam?
Bottomline msg in this 2004 election, who would want to have sitting in the Oval Office when America was attacked? A president not afraid of making tough calls or a waffler on issues till Gallup tells him what is most popular? Can we ever trust the democrats for national security?
Daily treason from the RAT lapdog media.
---They chose to invade Iraq not to protect us from anthrax or nuclear attack, but because they hoped that an invasion would inspire new respect for U.S. power and would allow us to use Iraq as a base from which to transform the entire Arab world.---
I assumed from the beginning that was the reason. We need the Arabs to go along with our war on terror. Saddam was giving us the finger, thus stealing the Arabs against us, therefore he had to go.
Besides Iraq is butt-head central. One look at a map should tell us that. We now flank Iran on two sides. We also flank Syria on two sides if you count in the Israelis.
That the Democrats and the media are so completely blind to this completely removes whatever relevance they may have had.
I agree.......but I guess I should just calm down and accept the fact that the liberals WILL STOP AT NOTHING......they'll tell us it's NIGHT when it's the middle of the day......I agree Bush is smart, and believe it or not, I think the announcement he made today about McCain heading the WMD/intelligence investigation commission was BRILLIANT!!!!! I think McCain, for all of the pain in the a** he can be, will be straight and get to the bottom of it, and how can the dims criticize his intentions, his patriotism, his connections, etc????? I think it was a brilliant check-mate today by GWB!!
From:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/762445/posts?page=81#81 (By piasa)
Yes, the UN inspectors did indeed find weapons of mass destruction, even Scott Ritter admits that Iraq has WMD and that Iraq used WMD. UNSCOM actually destroyed some of it and it's in all the records. They forced iRaq to admit to it when UNSCOM presented proof. That Iraq has WMD isn't even in question now.
1979 - 80s : (IRAQ AND BRAZIL MAKE OIL FOR URANIUM DEAL) Kucinsky recounted how in the '70s and '80s, Brazil's military regime forged an agreement with the Iraqi government, based on established relations regarding civilian work contracts granted to Brazilian companies. That agreement, he said, would oblige Brazil to ship uranium to Iraq in exchange for a steady oil supply after the 1979 oil crisis. "There was a strong possibility of oil from Iraq being interrupted," recalled Kucinsky. "In those days, the Brazilian state company (Petrobras) depended largely on Middle East oil Unlike the U.S. policy, Brazil didn't attempt to diversify its sources." Because Brazil relied heavily on Middle Eastern oil (more than 70 percent of its imports came from that region), officials in the regime were "panicked at the time," said Kucinsky. "They said that was the reason (for shipping uranium to Iraq); they wanted an exchange of two forms of energy," he recounted. - "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
1979 - 1990 : (BRAZIL EXPORTS MANY TONS OF URANIUM TO IRAQ) An investigation by Jornal da Tarde and its parent publication, Estado de Sao Paulo, claims that Brazil exported "dozens of tons" of uranium to Iraq between 1979 and 1990 in undocumented deals. - "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
1980s early : (IRAQ INQUIRES ABOUT PURCHASING PLUTONIUM) In the early 1980s, senior Iraqi military figures were interested in buying more than 30 kilograms of plutonium from an Italian arms smuggling ring that claimed to have such material for sale. The deal fell through when the smugglers were unable to produce any plutonium. As the amounts of plutonium in international and national commerce increase, security will need to tighten to prevent these materials from being stolen. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
1980s : (IRAQ) Spying, subverting and murdering are the common currency of many of the Arab world's intelligence services. Iraq's was virtually unique however in establishing an extensive arms and technology procurement network in the 1980s. Set up to bypass international controls on arms imports, the network focused on acquiring technologies, hardware and personnel to supply Iraq's massive nuclear, chemical, biological weapons and missile programs. Although the effort began in the 1970s, in the 1980s it was largely directed by Hussein Kamil who used Amn al Khas to run the operation. Other agencies had limited roles as the effort was kept highly classified and compartmentalised. This acquisition network operated through a host of front companies which have since been identified by Western governments. Not all of this network has however been dismantled. UNSCOM's eighth report, issued on 11 October, demonstrates that the network is still very much alive and, indeed, has to some extent, been rebuilt. UNSCOM discovered that Iraq had restarted its efforts to buy parts for its Ababil surface to surface missile programme. Acquisitions, carried out through middlemen and front companies, included "equipment, technologies, supplies and material." Iraq had initially claimed that these parts had been produced domestically but now admits that they were imported throug its covert network. - "Saddam's Spies," Globalscan International, LLC, 1999
1980-1988 (IRAN-IRAQ WAR, IRAQ USES WMD) Gulf War (Iran-Iraq) Iraq uses chemical weapons and works on biological weapons.
1981 or before : (BRAZIL SHIPMENTS OF URANIUM TO IRAQ) Word of clandestine uranium shipments from Brazil to Iraq first surfaced in a 1981 report by Bernardo Kucinsky, a former correspondent for Britain's Guardian newspaper. Now a professor of journalism at Sao Paulo University, Kucinsky told UPI that Brazil didn't really "smuggle" uranium to Iraq some 20 years ago. Rather, it engaged in "secret shipments without the knowledge of the Americans or international nuclear regulatory authorities." - "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
1981 : (BRAZIL SELLS IRAQ 8 TONS OF URANIUM) The Brazilian military had sold eight tons of uranium to Iraq in 1981, according to a Brazilian congressional investigation later in 1994, which also reported that after Brazil's successful ballistic missile program was ended, the general and 24 of the scientists working on it went to work for Iraq. There are reports that with financing from Iraq, a nuclear weapons capability has been covertly maintained contrary to directives from the civilian democratic leaders.- "Blocking a New Axis of Evil," by Constantine C. Menges, The Washington Times, August 7, 2002
JUNE 7, 1981 : (ISRAEL BOMBS IRAQI NUCLEAR REACTOR, BRAZILIAN SCIENTISTS HELPING IRAQ) What aroused suspicions at the time that Brazil's relationship with Iraq wasn't what it appeared was the June 7, 1981, bombing by Israeli fighter jets of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in Osirak. "This is what attracted attention to the whole issue," he said. Twenty-one years later, a possible new clue to the exact nature of Brazilian-Iraqi ties is adding further credence to the theory that Brazil indeed sold weapons-ready uranium to Iraq in exchange for help in developing its own nuclear program. Jornal da Tarde reported last week that about 40 Brazilian scientists were in the Osirak power plant during the 1981 Israeli bombing. "This brings forth the suspicion that this agreement between Iraq and Brazil was not only in exchange for oil but also there was some sort of nuclear, scientific cooperation between the two countries to develop nuclear weapons," Kucinsky said. - "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
1982 : (IRAN IRAQ WAR, USSR) The war appeared to be entering a new phase in which the superpowers were becoming more involved. For instance, the USSR, which had ended military supplies to both Iran and Iraq in 1980, resumed large-scale arms shipments to Iraq in 1982 after Iran banned the Tudeh and tried and executed most of its leaders. Thus, despite its professed neutrality, the USSR became the major supplier of sophisticated arms to Iraq.
1982 , end of year : (IRAN IRAQ WAR, IRAQ RESUPPLIED BY USSR) By this time, Iraq had been resupplied with new Soviet materiel, and the ground war entered a new phase. Iraq used newly acquired T-55 tanks and T-62 tanks, BM-21 Stalin Organ rocket launchers, and Mi-24 helicopter gunships to prepare a Soviet-type three-line defense, replete with obstacles, minefields, and fortified positions. The Combat Engineer Corps proved efficient in constructing bridges across water obstacles, in laying minefields, and in preparing new defense lines and fortifications.
1984 : (IRAN-IRAQ WAR, USSR, FRANCE SUPPLY ARMS, IRAQ USES WMD AGAINST IRAN) Beginning in 1984, Baghdad's military goal changed from controlling Iranian territory to denying Tehran any major gain inside Iraq. Iraq tried to force Iran to the negotiating table. Saddam Hussein sought to increase the war's manpower and economic cost to Iran. For this purpose, Iraq purchased new weapons, mainly from the USSR and France. Iraq also completed the construction of what came to be known as "killing zones" (which consisted primarily of artificially flooded areas near Basra) to stop Iranian units. In addition, according to Jane's Defence Weekly and other sources, Baghdad used chemical weapons against Iranian troop concentrations and launched attacks on many economic centers.
1984- 1988 : (IRAN-IRAQ WAR, IRAQ ATTACKS IRANIAN NUCLEAR REACTOR ) Iraq launched seven air attacks on the Iranian nuclear reactor at Bushehr between 1984 and 1988 during the war, ultimately destroying the facility.
1984 : (IRAN IRAQ WAR, TANKER WAR) Iraq expanded the so-called tanker war by using French Super-Etendard combat aircraft armed with Exocet missiles.
FEBRUARY 1984 : (IRAN IRAQ WAR, WAR OF ATTRITION) The Iraqi command ordered the use of chemical weapons.
1984 : (IRAN-IRAQ WAR) Iraq returns borrowed French Super Etendard aircraft armed with Exocets to France and purchased approximately 30 Mirage F-1 fighters equipped with Exocet missiles to use against Iranian shipping.
MARCH 1986 (Late) : (IRAN IRAQ WAR, WAR OF ATTRITION, WMD) UN secretary general, Javier Perez de Cuellar, formally accused Iraq of using chemical weapons against Iran. Citing the report of four chemical warfare experts whom the UN had sent to Iran in February and March 1986, the secretary general called on Baghdad to end its violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol on the use of chemical weapons. The UN report concluded that "Iraqi forces have used chemical warfare against Iranian forces"; the weapons used included both mustard gas and nerve gas. The report further stated that "the use of chemical weapons appear[ed] to be more extensive [in 1981] than in 1984." Iraq attempted to deny using chemicals, but the evidence, in the form of many badly burned casualties flown to European hospitals for treatment, was overwhelming.
JULY 1986 : (IRAN IRAQ WAR, WAR OF ATTRITION, UN, WMD) According to a British representative at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva in July 1986, "Iraqi chemical warfare was responsible for about 10,000 casualties."
1987 : (IRAQ, HUSSEIN GETS SERIOUS ABOUT NUKES) Saddam Hussein got serious about acquiring technology and equipment for nuclear weapons in 1987. Two different organizations were involved in the procurement and development tasks for his clandestine nuclear program: The first, Al Qaqaa State Establishment, located in Iskandariya near Baghdad, was thought to be in charge of developing the non-nuclear components for a nuclear weapon, German intelligence documents say. The second, Nassr State Enterprise in Taji, also near Baghdad, was said to be responsible for Iraq's uranium enrichment effort. Independently of these organizations, IPC agents in Europe actively sought weapon and uranium enrichment technology and equipment as well. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
MAY 17, 1987 : (IRAN IRAQ WAR, TANKER WAR, US, IRAQ ATTACKS USS STARK, IRAN FIRES ON KUWAIT) Iraqi missile attack on the USS Stark, in which thirtyseven crew members were killed, draws the US in at Kuwait's side. Baghdad apologized and claimed that the attack was a mistake. Washington sent its own ships to the Gulf to escort eleven Kuwaiti tankers that were "reflagged" with the American flag and had American crews. Iran refrained from attacking the United States naval force directly, but it used various forms of harassment, including mines, hit-and-run attacks by small patrol boats, and periodic stop-and-search operations. On several occasions, Tehran fired its Chinese-made Silkworm missiles on Kuwait from Al Faw Peninsula.
1988 : (GERMAN CENTRIFUGE EXPERT MEETS IRAQIS) Bruno Stemmler, a former centrifuge expert at the German firm MAN Technologien GmbH, met secretly with Iraqi centrifuge design engineers in 1988. Before 1988 the German firm H&H Metalform Ltd. sold Iraq flow forming machines, which could shape the preforms into thin centrifuge rotor tubes or outer missile casings. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
1988 : (IRAN-IRAQ WAR, WAR OF THE CITIES) In response to Iranian missile attacks against Baghdad, some 190 missiles were fired by the Iraqis over a six week period at Iranian cities in 1988, during the 'War of the Cities'. The Iraqi missile attacks caused little destruction, but each warhead had a psychological and political impact -- boosting Iraqi morale while causing almost 30 percent of Tehran's population to flee the city. The threat of rocketing the Iranian capital with missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads is cited as a significant reason why Iran accepted a disadvantageous peace agreement.
MARCH 1988 ?: (IRAN IRAQ WAR, WAR OF ATTRITION, WMD, HALABJA) Iraq was again charged with a major use of chemical warfare while retaking Halabjah, a Kurdish town in northeastern Iraq, near the Iranian border.
MARCH 1998 : (BRAZIL REFUSES TO EXTRADITE GERMAN SCIENTIST KARL-HEINZ SCHAAB FOR SALES TO IRAQ) Brazil's Federal Supreme Court turned down an extradition request for Schaab, saying he was charged with a politically motivated crime, which meant that under Brazilian law, could not be extradited. Schaab had been sought by German authorities since 1990 on charges of selling German uranium enrichment technology to Iraq before the Gulf War.- - "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
MAY 1988 : (IRAQ STARTS AFLATOXIN RESEARCH) Starts research on aflatoxin at a laboratory in al Salman. Its method was to grow fungus aspergilus in 5.3 quart flasks (The Center for Strategic and International Studies, ?If We Fight Iraq: Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction,? revised 28 June 2002) .- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
1988 : (GERMANS BRUNO STEMMLER & WALTER BUSSE GO TO IRAQ & VISIT FACTORY 10 IN IRAQ) - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
1989 : (IRAQ PURCHASES US CAPACITORS) Iraq was able to buy about 150 lower-quality capacitors from Maxwell Electronics, a California-based firm. The head of that company speculated that Iraq may have upgraded these capacitors. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
1989 : (IRAQI SCIENTISTS ATTEND PORTLAND SYMPOSIUM) Three scientists from Al Qaqaa attended a 1989 symposium at Portland, Oregon, on detonation physics, hosted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. According to a U.S. customs agent involved in the capacitor case, these scientists inquired about krytrons at the conference. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
NOVEMBER 1989 : (IRAQ DEVELOPS AFLATOXIN BOMBS, TESTS ROCKETS) Develops 16 R-400 Aflatoxin bombs, and conducts trials in 122mm rockets.ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor - Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT
1990-1991 Gulf War (Desert Storm) Iraq prepares biological weapons for possible use.
1990 : (WMD, SCIENTIST KARL-HEINZ SCHAAB IS SOUGHT BY GERMAN AUTHORITIES FOR SALES TO IRAQ) German scientist Karl-Heinz Schaab is sought by German authorities since 1990 on charges of selling German uranium enrichment technology to Iraq before the Gulf War. . - "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
1990 : (BRAZIL APOLOGIZES FOR TECH TRANSFERS TO IRAQ) Brazilian president Fernando Collor de Mello apologized for the technology transfers, which he called "potentially significant." - "Brazil: Trying to Give Up Missiles" from The Risk Report,Volume 1 Number 3 (April 1995) Page 4.
MARCH 1990 : (IRAQIS ARRESTED TRYING TO SMUGGLE CAPACITORS THROUGH LONDON) Iraq is caught trying to smuggle military-standard and specification detonation capacitors from CSI Technologies of San Marcos, California. The capacitors' many applications include nuclear weapons as well as conventional warheads and military laser systems. An implosion system can use this type of detonation capacitor, which stores large amounts of electrical energy, with a high-speed electronic switch, called a "krytron." This assembly can supply within a fraction of a microsecond a burst of electrical energy to the detonator or blasting cap which sets off the conventional high explosives. Following an 18-month undercover investigation by the U.S. Customs Service in collaboration with the British government, five persons were arrested in London and the capacitors they were carrying?they had been given dummies instead of real ones?were confiscated. Customs officials identified the end-users for the capacitors as the Al Qaqaa State Establishment, the top-secret facility involved in developing missiles and explosives for Iraq's Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization. German intelligence believes that Al Qaqaa, which has experience with modern conventional high explosive and high-speed measurement technologies, was given responsibility to develop the non-nuclear components of a nuclear explosive device. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
JULY 1990 : (IRAQ, SPIN FORMING MACHINES CONFISCATED BEFORE DELIVERY) The U.S. official also said that Iraq ordered spin-forming machines, which can shape centrifuge endcaps, from another Swiss firm, Schaublin. But the machines were confiscated in July 1990, before they could be shipped to Iraq. The same official said that Iraq acquired seven machine tools, which he described as simple computer-controlled lathes. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
AUGUST 1990 : (IRAQ, GERMANY ENDS TRAINING OF IRAQI ENGINEERS) Immediately after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, the German Foreign Office issued an internal memo to its export control officials. The document ordered an end to a training program three German firms had been conducting for Iraqi engineers, "in the light of newest evidence of German involvement in the nuclear weapons field in Iraq, and threatening political complications [arising from] such a suspicion." The training program was part of a concerted Iraqi effort to overcome what Western experts believe was its nuclear Achilles heel, lack of skilled personnel. The three firms?one of which was Interatom GmbH, which supplied staff from its advanced reactor department?had been training the engineers for nearly a year before the export control office was informed of the full scope of the training program. The Iraqis were on the staff of a Baghdad organization known as Industrial Project Company (IPC), which the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, believes is at the pinnacle of Iraq's entire military procurement effort. Although Interatom officials told German export authorities that the transfer of nuclear know-how was forbidden, customs agents emphasized that IPC staff expressed a keen desire to get specific and extensive nuclearrelated information. IPC is also behind a company called Al Fao General Establishment, in Baghdad. According to U.S. and Israeli intelligence reports, Al Fao has been active in procuring missile technology for Iraq. A U.S. government expert said that Al Fao wanted laboratory equipment from Interatom which could be used as a clean room for manufacturing missile guidance systems, or centrifuge components needed to enrich uranium for use in nuclear weapons. A work room, German investigators said, was the first dual-use (civilian-military) export to Iraq which was stopped after Kuwait was overrun. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
1990 : (IRAQ INVASION OF KUWAIT EXPOSES BRAZILIAN TECH TRANSFERS TO IRAQ) The best known is Hugo de Oliveira Piva, who has been called "Brazil's Dr. von Braun." A former head of CTA (Centro Tecnico Aeroespacial) (Aerospace Technical Center), Brazil's premier missile lab, he was caught in Iraq with a team of Brazilian missile experts when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Piva then humiliated his government by taking as long as he could to come home. "Piva's name comes up a lot," the U.S. official says. In a recent interview with the Brazilian newspaper Istoe, Piva said he would view the resumption of Brazilian missile projects with satisfaction. "I regard these projects as my children whom I used to hold on my lap." Piva's "children" may be the MB/EE and SS-series missiles Brazil was working on during the 1980s. A consortium of Brazilian firms known as Orbita was trying to develop a medium-range missile based on the Sonda-IV space rocket with foreign financing. As a missile, the rocket could carry a 500 kilogram payload up to 1,800 kilometers, almost as far as the U.S. Pershing II missile. Avibras, Brazil's largest weapon exporter, was also working on a line of surface-to-surface missiles known as the SS-300 and the SS-1000. - "Brazil: Trying to Give Up Missiles" from The Risk Report,Volume 1 Number 3 (April 1995) Page 4.
1990 : (IRAQ CLAIMS IT CAN MAKE CAPACITORS Soon after the March 1990 London arrests of Iraqi capacitor smugglers, Saddam Hussein asserted that his Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization had succeeded in producing similar capacitors. While this claim cannot be verified, in 1989 Iraq was able to buy about 150 lower-quality capacitors from Maxwell Electronics, a California-based firm. The head of that company speculated that Iraq may have upgraded these capacitors. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
SEPTEMBER 1990 : (WMD, IRAQ EFFORT TO DEVELOP NUCLEAR BOMB) After the invasion of Kuwait, Iraq launches a ?dash for the bomb?, hoping to complete construction within a year.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
NOVEMBER 1990 : (IRAQ ENRICHED URANIUM CHECKED BY IAEA- STILL THERE) The biggest immediate concern was that Iraq would construct one nuclear explosive out of a small amount of highly enriched uranium which remained in its civilian nuclear program. This material was committed to peaceful uses and inspected every six months by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which last checked in November and found the material intact. But the possibility existed that Iraq would snatch the material between inspections and use it in a bomb. Even now it is impossible to say where this material might be. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
DECEMBER 16, 1990 : (IRAQ CASCADE SYSTEM OPERATING?) On the 16th, the London Sunday Times claimed that Iraq had a cascade operating at Tuwaitha the location of Iraq's known nuclear facilities, which are inspected by the IAEA. The German scientist who had secretly worked with Iraq, Bruno Stemmler, called this assertion ridiculous. He said that developing a cascade would be "far, far more difficult" than balancing a rotor in a single centrifuge. Iraq would need large quantities of uranium hexafluoride, computerized control equipment to maintain precise pressures and temperatures throughout the cascade, autoclaves for inserting uranium hexafluoride into the cascade, and desublimers for withdrawing it. Although Stemmler thought that Iraq would have little trouble obtaining a power supply (frequency inverter) for a single rotor assembly, getting the power supply for an entire cascade would prove "extraordinarily difficult." The Sunday Times also claimed that Iraq was mass-producing centrifuge components at a facility code-named Factory 10, located northwest of Baghdad. Stemmler and a colleague, Walter Busse, visited the factory in 1988. Both said that they saw no evidence that Iraq was manufacturing centrifuge components at the facility, although Stemmler said he saw what might have been a single outer casing of a centrifuge. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
JANUARY 1991 : (GULF WAR, IRAQ TESTS CROP SPRAYING HELICOPTERS) Tests run on crop spraying helicopters, to test their suitability for spraying biological weapons. - Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
FEBRUARY 1, 1991 : (GULF WAR, US WARNS IRAQ ABOUT WMD) SecDef Cheney warns U.S. will retaliate if Iraq uses chemical or unconventional weapons.
1991 : (POST GULF WAR, IRAQ, UNSCOM BEGINS OPERATIONS) UNSCOM began operations in Iraq - "Saddam's Spies," Globalscan International, LLC, 1999
1991 - present : (IRAQI OIL REVENUES DEPOSITED IN NY FOR THE PURCHASE OF FOOD , ETC, ARE MANIPULATED BY IRAQ TO OBTAIN CASH) Saddam's thuggish older son, Uday, controls the first of two Iraqi procurement networks. Its primary purpose is to flood the U.N. sanctions committee with export requests to trigger the release of funds from the escrow account with the BNP in NY City where since 1991 the proceeds from Iraq's oil revenues have been deposited. In some cases, the former Iraqi officer (AL-HAIDER?) said, Uday uses cutouts and middlemen to sign fictitious contracts with European companies for goods such as food and medicine that routinely are approved by the United Nations. "Once the contracts are approved, the money is released from the escrow account," he says. "Iraq then pays the company up to 40 percent for the paperwork, and lets them keep the goods. Saddam desperately needs the 60 percent in cash for forbidden goods and could care less about food or medicine." French exporters, interviewed by Insight, explained yet another finesse of Saddam's commercial network. They said they had been approached by an Iraqi front company known as ALIA, based in the Garden district of Amman, Jordan. "Uday uses ALIA to squeeze a 10 percent commission from exporters that gets kicked back to the regime," an exporter tells Insight. Large companies such as Renault Vehicules Industriels, Schneider Electric SA and Dow Agrosciences have used ALIA to sell several hundred million dollars worth of U.N.- approved goods to Iraq, according to export documents obtained by Insight. The Iraqi purchases included off-road vehicles, large quantities of specialized pumps and chillers that could be used for uranium enrichment, 2,000-liter and 5,000-liter reactor vessels needed to produce chemical weapons and chemicals for pesticides. All ostensibly were sold for civilian purposes and approved by the U.N. sanctions committee in New York. In France, ALIA also is known as SOFRAG ALIA Development France, according to the documents. It applied to the United Nations for permission to export $1 million worth of oil-well logging equipment to Iraq under an approved program to rebuild Iraqi oil fields. Such equipment is particularly sensitive because it includes neutron generators which U.N. weapons inspectors discovered were key components in the crude gun-implosion nuclear device Iraq had designed and tested before the 1991 gulf war - "How Saddam Got Weapons of Mass Destruction" By Kenneth R. Timmerman, Insight Magazine via WorldNetDaily.com , Tuesday, October 1, 2002 ,
1991-1997 : (UNSCOM FOUND 27 TONS OF BRAZILIAN URANIUM IN IRAQ) An International Atomic Energy Agency report says that U.N. weapons inspectors, during a 1991-97 investigation into Iraq's nuclear capabilities, found some 27 tons of uranium originating from Brazil. However, according to Brazil's Jornal da Tarde newspaper, which recently reprinted a 1990 expose entitled "The dark history of the relationship between Brazil and Iraq," Brazil sold three large shipments of uranium to Iraq in clandestine transactions- "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
MARCH 1991 : (IRAQ STOCKPILE OF URANIUM) Iraq has only 12.3 kilograms of 93 percent enriched uranium, some of which might fuel the Tammuz II research reactor at Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center near Baghdad. The material was intended for the 40-megawatt Osiraq reactor, destroyed by Israel in 1981 just before it was scheduled to begin operating. Iraq also has about 10 kilograms of 80 percent enriched uranium at the 5-megawatt IRT-5000 reactor supplied by the Soviet Union. Up to two-thirds of the enriched uranium has been irradiated in the reactor and would require remotely operated chemical processing to extract the highly enriched uranium, a step that would have been difficult for Iraq to accomplish quickly, even before the bombing of Tuwaitha. The unirradiated highly enriched uranium, however, could be added to the 93 percent material, possibly providing Iraq with just enough material for a crude bomb. - "Iraq and the Bomb: Were They Even Close?", By David Albright and Mark Hibbs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1991, Volume 47, No. 2, pp. 16-25
APRIL ? 1991 : (IRAQ LIES TO UN ABOUT BIOWEAPONS) Iraq tells UN that it has never had any biological materials, weapons, research or facilities.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 1991 : (IRAQ FINALLY ADMITS TO BIOWEAPONS PROGRAM) Iraq admits to a biological weapons research programme- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
1993 : (IRAQ DRAINS SWAMPLANDS) The Iraqi government began draining the swamplands, where the Shiites lived. This made it so they could not grow rice, which was an important source of food.
1993 : (SOUTH AFRICA, AL QAEDA, WMD, NUKES) Bin Laden operatives reportedly also tried to buy enriched uranium in South Africa in 1993.(Could this also be related to the Iraqi atttempt to obtain enriched uranium in Africa referred to by the UK Prime Minister, Tony Blaire?)
1994 : (IRAQI SCIENTIST KHIDIR HAMZA) Iraqi scientist Khidir Hamza defects from Iraq- "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
1995 : (IRAQ BIOWARFARE TESTS) "Unscom inspectors also came up with evidence suggesting that Iraq carried out biological weapons tests on human beings in 1995." - "Ritter: Baghdad 'possesses three nuclear bombs,'" by Christopher Walker, Times of London, 9/10/98
JULY 1995 : (IRAQ ADMITS ITS PROGRESS IN BIOWEAPONS DEVELOPMENT) Iraq admits to have made substantial progress in its biological weapons programme, making just under 30,000 litres of biological agents and filled munitions. This included 19,000 litres of Botulinium, 8,400 liters of antrax and 2,000 liters of aflatoxin and clostridium- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 1995 : (IRAQ ADMITS IT HAS PRODUCED BIOLOGICAL BOMBS) Iraq admits to having produced 191 biological bombs, of which 25 were missile warheads which had been loaded with anthrax, botulinum and aflatoxin for use in the Gulf war.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 1995 : (SADDAM HUSSEIN'S SON-IN-LAW DEFECTS TO US) Saddam?s son-in-law, Lt General Hussain Kamil, defected to the US from Iraq. He had been placed in charge of the WMD programme and provided substantial evidence.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
AUGUST 1995 : (IRAQ ADMITS TO DIVERTING NUCLEAR FUEL TO WEAPONS LABS) Faced with Lt. General Kamil's defection to the US, Iraq then admitted to starting its attempts at a fast-track nuclear programme, which involved diverting nuclear fuel from power stations to the weapons laboratories- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
SEPTEMBER ?, 1995 : (IRAQ ADMITS AIRCRAFT TESTING OF BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS) Iraq admits two projects to testing the delivery of biological weapons through Mirage F-1 and MiG-21 aircraft.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
JANUARY 2, 1998 : (IRAQ, ATTACK ON UNSCOM INSPECTORS) Rocket attack on the headquarters of the UNSCOM inspectors in Baghdad; it did not cause damage because the rocket did not explode.
MAY 1998 : (IRAQ OBTAINS KIDNEY MACHINES TO GET PRECISION SWITCHES) Iraq ordered six ?lithotripter? machines, saying they would be used to treat kidney stones. Each machine contains a high-precision electronic switch which triggers atomic bombs. It ordered six extra switches.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 1998 : (IRAQ, CYNTHIA MCKINNEY, KHALED ELGINDY, AAI, IRAQ TRIP) Khaled Elgindy joins a delegation of Arab-American activists on a humanitarian mission to Iraq and to observe the effects of sanctions first hand. Khaled previously served as Press Secretary to Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), who at the time became the first member of Congress to oppose military action against Iraq and has since called for the lifting of sanctions against the Iraqi people. Khaled Elgindy is in 2002, the National Coordinator for Political Action at the Arab American Institute in Washington, DC. Khaled represents AAI on a number of national coalitions, including the National Iraq Network, and is responsible for mobilizing Arab-American action on various legislative issues.e has a master's degree from Georgetown University's school of foreign service and a bachelor's degree in Poli-Sci from Indiana U. May be relative of Amr I. ``Tony'' Elgindy, arrested on charges related to stock dealing around 9/11/2002
JUNE 1998 : (AAADC, AAI, KHALED ELGINDY, CONYERS) The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee sponsors a congressional briefing to publicize the letter. Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit spoke at the briefing and described the deplorable health conditions he found during his recent visit to Iraq. In July, the Arab American Institute (AAI) sponsored a similar congressional briefing, at which Khaled Elgindy of the AAI showed slides of his visit to Iraq and Carl LeVan of Representative Conyers? office described the letter in detail and urged the staff members in attendance to encourage their congressmen to sign on. LeVan said that the letter will probably not be sent until October, so as to get as many signatures as possible.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/695883/posts?page=70 AUGUST 26, 1998 : (UNSCOM INSPECTOR RITTER RESIGNS) According to Mr Schiff's report on the claims by Mr Ritter, the longest-serving American weapons inspector, Unscom knows where the three nearly complete nuclear bombs are hidden. The UN team is also said by Mr Ritter to have information on the method used to conceal the bombs, the units and officers responsible for guarding them, and the types of vehicle employed to transport them in the game of cat and mouse between Saddam and the UN experts. Mr Ritter claimed that, despite the information available, no order was given to the team to conduct a surprise inspection of the site. He claimed that the Security Council and the Clinton Administration had blocked the work of the inspectors just as they were "on the doorstep" of uncovering Iraq's hidden non-conventional weapons of mass destruction. His revelation about the existence of the three bombs has again heightened tensions in the Middle East and raised the stakes in any new confrontation between Iraq and the West. Israel has long believed that it would be the first target of any Iraqi nuclear strike. - "Ritter: Baghdad 'possesses three nuclear bombs,'" by Christopher Walker, Times of London, 9/10/98
SEPTEMBER 3, 1998 : (IRAQ, SCOTT RITTER COMMITTEE TESTIMONY) Ritter was invited to testify at a joint hearing of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees on September 3, 1998. Strom Thurmond, the South Carolina Republican, introduced Ritter as "a tough and demanding inspector" and a "dedicated American." Ritter wasted no time in offering his assessment of the continuing threat: "Iraq has not been disarmed." The United States, he claimed, had deliberately thwarted the U.N. inspections for fear of a confrontation with Iraq. He ripped the administration for its refusal to back up the inspections process with a legitimate use of force, including, but not limited to, removing Saddam Hussein's regime.
http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/524dplvk.asp SEPTEMBER 10, 1998 : (UNSCOM INSPECTOR RITTER, IRAQ, NUKES) Iraq is hiding three technologically complete nuclear bombs and is lacking only fissionable materials to make them operational. This is the view of Scott Ritter, the United Nations arms inspector who resigned on August 26. Mr Ritter made his claim at a recent meeting of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. It was published for the first time yesterday by Zeev Schiff, military editor of Haaretz, the Tel Aviv daily. Haaretz quoted Mr Ritter as revealing that proof also existed that Iraq had been manufacturing chemical weapons outside its borders since the Gulf War. He said that Unscom wanted to pursue this lead in Sudan, but its mandate limited its activities to Iraq. - "Ritter: Baghdad 'possesses three nuclear bombs,'" by Christopher Walker, Times of London, 9/10/98
DECEMBER 1998 : (IRAQ, UNSCOM DISMANTLES GERMAN CENTRIFUGE INSTALLATION) The Times of London interview with Hamza notes another possible clue tog the nature of Brazil-Iraq relations in the early 1980s. Before leaving Iraq in 1998 -- just days before U.S.-led air strikes -- U.N. weapons inspectors had dismantled an illegally imported German centrifuge installation that had been used to refine progressively natural or low-enriched uranium until it became suitable for weapons, the Times reported. - "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
DECEMBER 20, 1998 : (OPERATION DESERT FOX ENDS) End of Desert Fox, a 72-hour operation. Clinton says more may follow.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor It was during Desert Fox, when a corner of a building's roof was blown off, that the CIA discovered Iraq had fitted aircraft with crop-dusting equipment.
1999 : (GERMANY, SCIENTIST KARL-HEINZ SCHAAB CONVICTED OF TREASON FOR SALES TO IRAQ) Schaab had spent time in Rio de Janeiro while eluding German authorities. He was captured returning to Germany and convicted of treason in 1999. He had been sought by German authorities since 1990 on charges of selling German uranium enrichment technology to Iraq before the Gulf War.- "Brazil uranium sales to Iraq stir debate ," by Carmen Gentile, United Press International 9/25/02
1999 to present : (NO MONITORING OF TRADE ACROSS INTERNATIONAL LAND BORDERS WITH IRAQ) After 1999 there has been no monitoring of trade across the international land borders with Iraq. "King Abdallah [of Jordan] threw Lloyds of London out of the port of Aqaba, where they were supposed to monitor Iraqi imports," the former Iraqi intelligence officer says. "There are regular convoys of trucks to Baghdad from Jordan, and now a direct rail link from Syria carrying military spare parts and production gear, including equipment needed in Iraq's nuclear- weapons plants." - "How Saddam Got Weapons of Mass Destruction" By Kenneth R. Timmerman, Insight Magazine via WorldNetDaily.com , Tuesday, October 1, 2002
JULY 1999 : (CUBA, IRAQ, TERRORISM) As recently as July 1999 Domingo Muchaustegui, a former Cuban government official said to have exceptional information about the Cuban government, wrote: "For U.S. interests, the closeness of the [Cuban] relationship with Iraq and some of the more militant terrorist groups in the Middle East is troublesome. Can Cuba be used to carry out terrorist acts against U.S. targets? Is there any cooperation between Sadam Hussein and Castro in the development of chemical and bacteriological weapons? What remains from the close cooperation between Castro and the more militant terrorist groups in the region?" (University of Miami Middle East Studies Institute, July 1999).
MAY 2000 : (IAEA DISCOVERS IRAQI CENTRIFUGE) The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency, which also carried out inspections on Iraq until Dec 1998) discovered and destroyed an Iraqi nuclear centrifuge which had been stored in Jordan.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
JULY 2000 : (SCOTT RITTER, IRAQ, AL KHAFAJI) Ritter was welcomed back to Baghdad in July 2000, with the blessing of Saddam Hussein. The reason for his trip? To produce a documentary film, "In Shifting Sands," that would chronicle the weapons-inspection process and, he says, "de-demonize" Iraq. The 90-minute film, which he says he is close to selling to a broadcast outlet, was produced with the approval of the Iraqi government and features interviews with numerous high-level Iraqi officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. U.S. intelligence officials and arms control advocates say Ritter has been played--perhaps unwittingly--by Saddam Hussein. "If you're Scott Ritter," says one arms expert, "the former 'cowboy' weapons inspector, kicked out by Saddam Hussein, you're not going to get back into Iraq unless Saddam Hussein invites you and wants you there." He acknowledges, as well, that the U.S. government doesn't like how the film was financed. Shakir al-Khafaji, an Iraqi-American real estate developer living in Michigan, kicked in $400,000-
http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/000/524dplvk.asp AUGUST 2000 : (CIA REPORTS IRAQ ON IRAQI BIOCHEM DRONE DEVELOPMENT) The CIA reports to US Congress that Iraq is converting an L-29 trainer jet into an unmanned aircraft which could spread chemical and biological weapons. Work was suspected to be carried out at the Al-Faris factory, where Iraq built drop tanks to deliver weapons before the Gulf War.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
OCTOBER 2000 : (IT'S NOT JUST IRAQ....CUBA & IRAN OPEN BIOTECH PLANT) Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage and the Iranian vice minister of health inaugurated a biotechnological research and development plant outside Tehran. Experts expressed doubts about the supposed medical objectives of the installation, because Iran already produces 97 percent of the medicines its population consumes.
JANUARY 2001 : (IRAQ REBUILDS BIOCHEMICAL PLANTS) Iraq is reported to have rebuilt two factories in the Falluja complex, which produced chemical and biological weapons before the Gulf War.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MARCH 2001 : (IRAQ WRITES TI UN CLAIMING IT WANTS TO REBUILD A FACTORY TO PRODUCE 'FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE VACCINE') Iraq writes to the UN giving notice of its plans to asking to reopen the Daura factory, which had been shut down by UNSCOM in 1996 after it was found to make biological weapons. Iraq said it needed to reopen Daura to produce vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease. - Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
APRIL 2001 : (ATTA & IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER AL-ANI MEET IN CZECHOSLAVAKIA) When the conspiracy's planning must have been nearing its final stages, Atta was back in Prague for a further brief visit - a journey of considerable inconvenience. Mohamed Atta visited Prague, Czechoslavakia at least twice, and perhaps four times during 2000-2001. Czech officials say that a meeting took place with an Iraqi intelligence agent, Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir Al-Ani on his second trip in April 2001, several weeks before Al-Ani was expelled from the country.
The CIA has evidence that two more hijackers, besides terror leader Mohamed Atta, met with Iraqi intelligence officials earlier this year - bolstering arguments for a Baghdad role in the attacks, it was reported yesterday. The two other skyjackers were Atta's friends and co-conspirators, Marwan al-Shehhi and Ziad Samir Jarrah, who were believed to have been at the controls of two of the pirated jets on Sept. 11. The Observer newspaper of London reported yesterday that senior U.S. intelligence sources said they have "credible information" al-Shehhi and Jarrah met with an Iraqi agent last spring. (Not in Prague but in the UAE) The secret meetings took place in the UAE, the paper reported. - New York Post, "2 (3) More September 11 Hijackers Tied To Iraq" November 12, 2001, by WILLIAM NEUMAN
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/587611/posts APRIL 2001 : (GERMAN COMPANIES CAUGHT TRYING TO DELIVER COMPONENTS TO IRAQ) August Hanning, head of the BND (German?s Federal Intelligence service), gives an interview to a German Sunday newspaper. ?New chemical weapons are being developed in Iraq. German companies apparently tried to deliver important components for the production of poison gas to Iraq?s Samara plant.? (Interview published by Welt am Sonntag, a German Sunday newspaper, on 22 April 2001, entitled: ?The spy who came in from Westphalia?) This is compatible with Mr Saeed?s evidence.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 2001 : (IRAQ, OVER US PROTESTS, TAKES OVER UN CROP-DUSTING HELICOPTERS) Iraq takes over several crop-dusting helicopters from the UN, against US protest that they may be used for a biological weapons attack.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
MAY 10, 2001: (CUBA, SYRIA, LIBYA, IRAN, VENEZUELA) Castro undertook a round of visits to Syria, Libya and Iran. Speaking at Tehran University, he insisted that "people must be informed and awakened; they must not allow themselves to be pillaged by the West.? During that same trip, the Iranian Press Service quoted Castro as saying, "Iran and Cuba reached the conclusion that together they can tear down the United States." Castro, in an apocalyptic speech, told his Muslim audience in Iran: "America is weak. I have studied its weaknesses from very close by. I tell you, the imperialist king will finally fall." - Agence France-Presse "Tours through radical Islamic states by Castro and his close Venezuelan ally, President Hugo Chavez, in the months prior to the September attacks indicate some level of complicity or knowledge of what was going to happen," says Lisette Bustamante, a former aide to Castro who currently works on the Spanish daily newspaper La Razon. Not only were statements by both leaders in their Middle Eastern trips laced with violent anti-American rhetoric, Bustamante points out, but Chavez quite candidly told reporters that his talks with Saddam Hussein and heads of other oil-producing states involved the creation of a "new anti-imperialist axis" against Western industrialized economies.
SEPTEMBER 2001 : (REPORTS OF IRAQI CHEMICAL WEAPONS EXERCISE) Iranian reports say 20 Iraqi soldiers based in Zaafarniyah region had died and 200 suffered severe breathing problems after taking part in chemical weapons exercise around June.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
DECEMBER 2001 : (IRAQI SCIENTIST SAYS IRAQ HAS REACTIVATED LABS, HIDDEN FACILITIES IN CIVILIAN AREAS, WMD STORAGE IN APPARENT WELLS, MADE PORTABLE, GERMAN MATERIALS MADE THEIR WAY INTO WEAPONS PROGRAM) A former Iraqi nuclear scientist, Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, who has defected to the US, gives an interview to the New York Times from a safe destination in Bangkok (An interview with Mr Saeed was arranged by the Iraqi National Congress, an exiled opposition group to Saddam, whom had helped him escape. It appeared on p1 of the New York Times on 20 December 2001, entitled: ?A nation challenged: Secret sites.?). His evidence is described as ?plausible? by Richard Butler, an Australian former head of UN Iraq inspections. Mr Saeed said that:- ? Iraq has reactivated 300 secret weapons laboratories since the withdrawal of UN weapons inspectors ? Nuclear production and storage facilities are being hidden to the rear of government companies and private villas in residential areas. ? Weapons are being stored underground in what are made to look like water wells, lined with lead-filled concrete. ? Several empty facilities have been prepared, so projects can be on the move and withstand the bombing of one facility. ? Material from Leycochem, a German construction company, had arrived for under UN-approved schemes, but then redirected to nuclear development.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
DECEMBER 2001 : (IRAQI DEFECTOR SAYS IRAQ USED A HOSPITAL AS COVER FOR BIOWEAPONS AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT, BIOCHEM WEAPONS WERE TESTED ON KURDISH ANS HSIITE PRISONERS) Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri, an Iraqi defector, gives evidence saying that:- ? Biological weapons were being developed at the back of the Saddam Hussein hospital in Baghdad. (This was later corroborated by Khidhir Hamza, another defector, who told US congress that ?the computer we used for nuclear weapon design is now located in a hospital at the outskirts of Baghdad.?) ? Biological and chemical weapons were tested on Kurdish and Shiite prisoners in 1989 and 1992.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
JULY 31, 2002 : (WASHINGTON POST REPORTS CIA FOUND IRAQI BIOWEAPONS LAB) The Washington Post runs a detailed report (?Reality is uncertainty,? by Joby Warrick, Washington Post, 31 July 2002) suggesting that the CIA has found a laboratory called Tahhaddy, or ?Challenge?, on the west bank of the Tigris river, employing a team of 85 scientists working on a viral strain code-named Blue Nile. Details sound similar to Ebola Virus, a lethal hemorrhagic disease.
AUGUST 2002 : (US SATELLITES DETECT ACTIVITY AT IRAQI BIOWEAPONS FACILITY) US satellites detect a convoy of 60 trucks at a one of main suspected biological weapons factories, called the Taji Cell Protection Plant.- Iraq - Scotsman says Saddam has weapons to wipe out world's population, nuclear bomb within 3 years "The Scotsman dossier - SPECIAL REPORT ON IRAQ" by Fraser Nelson, Westminster Editor
81 posted on 10/04/2002 2:50:47 AM CDT by piasa
(Sorry about 'spamming the thread' - but I think this needed posting again.)
I think it has become obvious what the Democratic talking points are on the Iraq war, what I call the 5 P's.
Premeditated, Prevaricated, Premature, and Poorly Planned.
I have little doubt that Cheney/Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz/Perle/Bolton/... were predisposed to putting the regime change on Saddam. I scoff at those that push the O'Neil theory.
I do think Bush, et al. beat the drums of war and they have a problem today that the facts on the ground do not back up the level of concern on WMD internationally shared.
Premature is a joke and they know it. 12 years. Bush had to lead the internationally community by the nose, putting 250,000 troops in the Gulf and getting a "use of force" resolution through Congress, to get inspectors back in a year after 9/11. 5 months without a "a genuine acceptance, not even today, of the disarmament that was demanded of it."
I do think Bush can be fairly criticized on the occupation. I think any operation can be fairly criticized, and the difficulties in Iraq should not be overlooked. Yes, it should be balanced with what progress has been made and the truth lies between claims by Cheney that Iraqis would greet us as liberators and claims by peaceniks that millions would die and the Middle East would go to h*ll in a handbasket.
Anyway, Bush needs to decide how and when he wants to start campaigning on this. Looks like they are just starting to defend themselves. I think they have a lot of catching up to do, or as Ricky would say, "You've got some 'splaining to do."