So it has always been my theory that Saddam Hussein shipped most if not all, of his WMD's out of the country, to a friendly state, like, I dunno, Serbia. Well what do you know, maybe I was right. Posted on 09/01/2009 7:27:55 AM PDT by Notoriously Conservative
So it has always been my theory that Saddam Hussein shipped most if not all, of his WMD's out of the country, to a friendly state, like, I dunno, Serbia. Well what do you know, maybe I was right.
Iraq’s missing Air Force jets have been traced to Serbia, where they are mostly in pieces. They have been cannibalized, parted out, or left to deteriorate over he past twenty years.
Iraqi officials said they found the planes in the process of trying to trace what Saddam, the former dictator, did with the country’s military assets. The 19 planes, all Soviet-built, were sent in 1989 to a Yugoslav maintenance plant in Zagreb, in what is now Croatia, but never got the overhauls they needed.In 1991, when the Croatian war for independence broke out, the jets were transported to Serbia in parts. And there they remained.
If Iraq shipped it's planes there, I don't think it is out of the realm of possibility that they shipped WMD's to Syria, or another friendly country. That means, A.) Bush was right, and B.) There are still some dangerous freaking weapons out there.A delegation from Iraq will go to Belgrade to negotiate the return of the jets, but they are unlikely to help Iraq rebuild its air defenses. The Iraqi Air Force currently has no jets. Link - via
http://www.notoriouslyconservative.com/2009/09/saddams-military-planes-found-in-serbia.html
..which begs the question, AWAC or Sat certainly monitored and logged these flights, so who is really on to what?(in relation to this matter)
that is interesting
It is fact a large number of Iraqi planes flew to Iran after the onset of Desert Storm (1991)- but this article implies the ones in Serbia were sent in 1989 for refurbishment and have stayed there since. Probably old Mig21’s
If WMDs are discovered, it will be hidden.
Bingo.
On June 9th [2004], the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council about the export of Iraqi WMD, missile and nuclear components shipped out of Iraq before, during and after the invasion. As reported by MENL news service, UNMOVIC acting executive chairman Demetrius Perricos told the Council, "The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks," and said inspectors found Iraqi WMD and missile components shipped abroad that still contained UN inspection tags.
The World Tribune reported on Perricos's briefing. "He said the Iraqi facilities were dismantled and sent both to Europe and around the Middle East at the rate of about 1,000 tons of metal a month... The Baghdad missile site contained a range of WMD and dual-use components, UN officials said. They included missile components, reactor vessel and fermenters ... required for the production of chemical and biological warheads. 'It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for,' Perricos's spokesman, said. 'You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter. You can also use it to breed anthrax.'"
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said vehicle traffic photographed by U.S. spy satellites indicated that material and documents related to the arms programs were shipped to Syria."
"Last month Moshe Yaalon, who was Israel's top general at the time, said Iraq transported WMD to Syria six weeks before Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
Last March, John A. Shaw, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said Russian Spetsnaz units moved WMD to Syria and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
"While in Iraq I received information from several sources naming the exact Russian units, what they took and where they took both WMD materials and conventional explosives," Mr. Shaw told NewsMax reporter Charles Smith.
Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong was deputy commander of Central Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In September 2004, he told WABC radio that "I do know for a fact that some of those weapons went into Syria, Lebanon and Iran."
In January 2004, David Kay, the first head of the Iraq Survey Group which conducted the search for Saddam's WMD, told a British newspaper there was evidence unspecified materials had been moved to Syria from Iraq shortly before the war.
"We know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD program," Mr. Kay told the Sunday Telegraph.
Also that month, Nizar Nayuf, a Syrian journalist who defected to an undisclosed European country, told a Dutch newspaper he knew of three sites where Iraq's WMD was being kept. They were the town of al Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria; the Syrian air force base near the village of Tal Snan, and the city of Sjinsar on the border with Lebanon.
In an addendum to his final report last April, Charles Duelfer, who succeeded David Kay as head of the Iraq Survey Group, said he couldn't rule out a transfer of WMD from Iraq to Syria.
"There was evidence of a discussion of possible WMD collaboration initiated by a Syrian security officer, and ISG received information about movement of material out of Iraq, including the possibility that WMD was involved. In the judgment of the working group, these reports were sufficiently credible to merit further investigation," Mr. Duelfer said."
"The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went to Syria and Lebanon," former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw told an audience Saturday at a privately sponsored "Intelligence Summit" in Alexandria, Va. (www.intelligencesummit.org).
"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons," he said. "But we know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD programme. Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved."
"Two days before the war, on March 17th, we saw through multiple intelligence channels - both human intelligence and technical (satellite,eavesdrop) intelligence - large caravans of people and things, including some of the top 55 Iraqis, going to Syria."
See also:
U.S. State Department Admits -- Saddam Hussein Was Developing Nuclear Bomb
In Iraq, 44 aircraft, Mig-25s and Su-25s, were found buried in the desert sands after Iraqis revealed to US forces where they were. Gen. Geoges Sada, the former head of Saddam’s Air force, stated in his book that both WMDs and their components were smuggled into Syria disguised as part of a relief convoy being sent to an area where there had been flooding
The information provided by this network substantiated the information provided by the Ukrainians. Ion Pacepa, the former head of Romanian intelligence during the Cold War, has also provided information supporting these allegations, saying he had personal knowledge of a Soviet plan called “Operation Sarindar” where the Russians would cleanse an ally, such as Iraq, of traces of illicit activity if threatened with Western attack. The plan’s purpose was to deny the West of any evidence incriminating the Russian ally, as well as to wipe Russia’s own fingerprints off of the state’s illegal activity.
Larry Elder has interveiwed Sada a few times. The man comes across as very, very credible.
And if they are discovered, you can be sure they will be shown to have belonged to Saddam...by the time it’s all done with.
There’s videos of convoys of trucks going to Syria, who, suddenly and out of nowhere got a nuke plant up and running (before being bombed by the IAF).
I don’t think we need to look too hard.
A bunch of his planes were uncovered buried in the desert west of Baghdad. It was long suspected that he shipped his remaining WMD stocks to Jordan, but Serbia puts a whole new spin on things. IIRC, it is a largely muslim country and wouldn’t be out of the question!!
You're thinking of Bosnia, not Serbia.
Could be. With all the post WWII name changing going on over in Yer Up, today, ya just can't tell the players anymorew without a score card!!
It’s obvious why the media was never interested in this story, since it would have pulled the rug out from under the “Bush lied!” crowd, but I have never understood why the Bush administration had no interest in discovering what happened to Saddam’s WMD’s.
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