Al-Jazeera airs Iraq most wanted footage

Agence France-Presse (excerpt) ^ | April 8, 2007

[HAL9000]

Excerpt -

DUBAI (AFP) - Al-Jazeera satellite news channel broadcast a video recording Sunday of what it said was one of the most wanted members of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime still on the run.

The Qatar-based network gave no date for the purported footage of elite Republican Guards chief Saifeddin Fulayh Hassan Taha al-Rawi, who was number 14 on the most wanted list drawn up by the US military for the 2003 invasion.

Rawi, who carries a one million dollar US bounty on his head, was also jack of spades on the "deck of cards" of 55 most wanted suspects distributed by the Pentagon at the outset of the invasion.

In the footage shown, Rawi accuses US forces of using neutron and phosphorus bombs during their assault on Baghdad airport ahead of the April 9 capture of the Iraqi capital.

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[SolidWood]

We used Neutron bombs!? Holy shiite! The Iraqis are obviously an immortal bunch!

[james500]

“”We had not expected the enemy to launch its land offensive from the very first or second day” of the onslaught. “We expected the air raids to last at least a month,” the former officer said.”

Hmm. You think you can get your money back from the French? They didn’t advise you guys very well.

[etcb]

We had not expected the enemy to launch its land offensive from the very first or second day” of the onslaught. “We expected the air raids to last at least a month,” the former officer said.

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The expectation of a month long bombing campaign before a land invasion offers a logical explanation for failure to use the existing chemical and biological weapons against invading forces as well as the failure to find them following initial fighting. Those weapons would have likely been dispersed to remote, safe, and secrete areas to prevent destruction by bombing with the intention of retrieving them for use when the land invasion started. The Iraq high command was thrown off balance and lost control making retrieval and use of the weapons impossible during the short period of fighting. After fighting ended the few officials with knowledge were either not available or had no incentive to reveal the existence or whereabouts of the material. So many people on both sides are now heavily invested in the idea that the weapons never existed therefore there is no reason to believe that they would be acknowledged if someone stumbled across them tomorrow.