Posted on 04/30/2003 3:29:25 PM PDT by veronica
"Originally, Saddam was not a religious fanatic and he didn't like communism; the people of Iraq liked this. Later on I saw his torture chambers underground where people had been irradiated and injected with Ricin ... what I saw still haunts me to this day."
These are just some of the comments of Dr. Gazi George, a former high-ranking Iraqi scientist who spoke at a conference for the Michigan Tactical Officers Association. His speech dealt with the time he worked for Saddam Hussein and his eventual escape with his family from Iraq.
To a standing-room only audience of law-enforcement and the press, the scientist, who has a PhD with expertise in atomic energy and biochemistry, told the group how he once helped develop and conceal weapons for the fallen dictator.
Dr. George hopes that by telling his story and sharing his technical knowledge of biochemical-terrorism and its effects he can help battle terrorism.
"After escaping I wanted to tell of my experiences," he said at the conference held on Friday April 18, at the Macomb Community College Emergency Services Training Center.
The conference drew members of swat-teams, police Special Forces and units of law-enforcement agencies from all over southeast Michigan. Vendors displaying an impressive array of the latest technology in crime-fighting weapons and equipment to combat terrorism were also on hand.
Exercises with simulated assaults on public transportation conducted by swat teams in addition to the lectures rounded out the event.
Dr. George spent 5 years working for Hussein. As a young scientist he and others were lured back from abroad to work in Iraq with offers of tax-free salaries and rich life styles. In 1976, George met Hussein and he was impressed like everyone else by a charismatic man whose true nature was still unknown. By 1978, Dr. George again met Saddam but by this time his opinion of the ruler and his regime had changed.
Dr. George worked for Iraq's Atomic Commission in the radiation protection division. The scientist was given a secret assignment during which he witnessed first-hand evidence of the atrocities being committed.
At one time he was sent to assess a clean-up operation and had no clue what he would eventually find.
"I was sent alone down a very long cement tunnel that brought me to a steel door," he said. "As I approached the door my meter was going off..."
"I saw his torture chambers where anyone who was anti-Saddam or anti-government had been taken. There were syringes on a table where there was blood and restraints. I could tell by the blood and my meter that people had been irradiated and injected here."
"... in the next room there were five-by-five cages that had been quickly welded together. There was vomit and human excrement in them and shackles ... they asked me to clean it up and I told them just implode it."
After this experience Dr. George said he "played the game," to stay alive. What he found had convinced him that he and his family must flee the country or possibly become one of Saddam's next victims. One by one his family got out, as did he but 20 years of narrow escapes from Hussein's long reach has left him and his family looking over their shoulders.
"I was tried in a kangaroo court and sentenced to death," he said.
It was apparent after leaving the country and going to England that he and his wife and two children were being chased. With a price on his head they were all targets of any would-be assassin with sympathetic ties to Hussein.
Before coming to the U.S. the family landed in Scotland where a call from a friend with the inside track at the embassy alerted the family they'd once again been found. Dr. George says since 9/11 the authorities that he tried previously to contact with no success, became very interested in his story.
"I contacted the FBI and they came out to take my statements after 9/11."
Dr. George and his wife and children who are now grown have lived with the fear of reprisal for 20 years and all have permits to carry firearms.
"Our house was like a crazy house with ladders to the windows and I taught my wife how to shoot from a second story ... this is my life," he says.
Dr. George is convinced that the Iraqi government moved many of its weapons across the border into Syria before this last conflict. He says inspectors would never have found what they were looking for and that he fully supports the president`s actions.
"The burden of proof is on Iraq, not the U.S., said Dr. George. "Hans does not know what he is talking about. He was being duped by Saddam ... the inspectors were not experienced in what they were looking for."
Dr. George asserts that chemical weapons are what we are most vulnerable to because, "They are easy to make, are fast acting and can be made from common household items."
Dr. George devoted a portion of his presentation to the physical and psychological threats of bio-chemical terrorism. He hopes that the knowledge he can impart can be taken into the field.
Although the president has not called upon him yet, Dr. George says he hopes he has an opportunity to go back to Iraq to work in rebuilding the country.
"President Bush is assembling a team of 1,000 scientists and I hope I can be a part of that team," says the doctor.
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