"An Iraqi officer (L) [only identified by initial] tells us that one day a Land Cruiser belonging to the Personal Security Force (Al-Amn Al-Khass, responsible for the protection of Saddam Hussein) arrived and a senior officer from the Presidential Palace stepped out of it. He was one of those officers who used to stand behind Saddam, which means that he was one of [his] personal bodyguards. After a two-hour meeting with a select group of officers at the Special Forces School, we were informed that we would have dear guests, and that we should train them very well in a high level of secrecy - not to allow anyone to approach them or to talk to them in any way, shape, or form.
"A few days later, about 100 trainees arrived. They were a mixture of Arabs, Arabs from the Peninsula [Saudi Arabia], Muslim Afghans, and other Muslims from various parts of the world. They were divided into two groups, the first one went to Al-Nahrawan and the second to Salman Pak, and this was the group that was trained to hijack airplanes. The training was under the direct supervision of major general (M. DH. L) [only identified by initials] who now serves as a police commander in one of the provinces. Upon the completion of the training most of them left Iraq, while the others stayed in the country through the last battle in Baghdad against the coalition forces."
not to be negative but. If I were a resently liberated person and wanted to be sure that the old guard or any new tyrant did not move in, i would make up just such a story to keep the liberators interested.
Can any of this be verified.
Here is some of what I have in my archives on Bill Tierney. I videotaped him on Fox in June. You could be right that he is the guy you are talking about because "...In addition to his knowledge of Iraq, Mr. Tierney worked as interpreter/interrogator at Camp X-Ray Guantanamo Bay January, February 2002", per an item I posted below my comments here about what I videotaped:
On Sat. 6-7-03 @9:20 AM I saw and taped Bill Tierney on Fox News Channel. Per my notes, he said this [pharaphrased & abreviated]:
"There ARE WMD's. The DIA's report ("no conclusive evidence because don't know EXACTLY where they are") was a conservative one as a result of consensus of the analysts' after looking at all available intelligence.
The DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) is now doing a CYA because they are not up to the task now that they have to stand on their own two feet. They have been too "risk averse" and haven't been agressive in intelligence gathering. They have relied too much on foreign intelligence."
Tierney's advice to those who are looking for WMD is to also go to the Ministry of Trade and look for certain names, and find who Saddam's trading partners were. Tierney said that those who are looking are just taking a pre-packaged list of possible sites and then just running those down one after the other. He said, "DIA is blowing it."
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6-14-03 Saturday night I saw Bill Tierney on John Kasich's "The Heartland". Dr. Imad Khadduri (former Iraq nuclear scientist?) was also on at the same time.
Khadduri is an anti-war, America basher who blames the Americans and the Brits for, "in effect raping Iraq for oil", etc.
His writings can be found all over the web at anti-war sites, of which "the yellow times" is one:
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1411&mode=thread&order=0 Tierney barely got a word in edgewise, but after denying what Khadduri was saying, said that he does however, have a big problem with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the entrenched, risk averse bureaucrats there. He said that they were caught flat-footed at the speed with which the war was over. He said that they need to round up every single Baath Party member and make them talk, put them on trial, etc. He named a few names, but I didn't get them in my notes,. I have his and Khadduri's comments on videotape, though if I need to transcribe them.
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This was written before Gulf War II and while Hans Blix was still pretending to be "inspecting" in Iraq:
Former UNSCOM inspector believes Iraq already has nuclear weapons
Are there weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Did they get smuggled out of Iraq or are they hidden, and if so, where?
In the late 1990s, weapons inspector Bill Tierney was held at gunpoint and not allowed to inspect one particular facility he believes could be the motherlode of WMD.
Yet, that very site is still not even on the list of sites visited by the Hans Blix inspectors. Why? Tierney also has Arabic documents showing that Saddam Hussein smuggled Weapons of Mass Destruction out of Iraq.
[Tierney says]: "I have seen enough to convince me that the Iraqis do have nukes, and I know exactly where they enriched the uranium to do so. For some time now, experts have said Iraq is moving towards a nuclear weapon. Secretary of State Powell emphasized Saddam's intense desire to obtain a nuclear weapon in his presentation before the Security Council.
Just how much time must pass before people are willing to say the Iraqis have arrived? Even the skeptics admit that the lingering obstacle has been accumulating enough enriched uranium for a weapon.
Without unambiguous evidence, most commentators are unwilling to make the call that the Iraqis have nukes.
As a former inspector and intelligence analyst involved with nominating inspection targets, allow me to lay out my case that the Iraqis have succeeded.
As groundwork, the Iraqis successfully ran a nuclear weapons development program during the eighties and hid it not only from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but Western intelligence agencies as well. We know and appreciate how skilled they are at concealment.
Shortly after the start of weapons inspections in 1991, the Iraqis went to extraordinary efforts to move uranium enrichment equipment, specifically electro-magnetic isotope separation (EMIS) using calutrons, away from inspectors.
I will refer to this as the Kay Inspection, after David Kay, the chief inspector on the ground.
The Iraqis claimed to have unilaterally destroyed this equipment, but Khidr Hamza, formerly a nuclear weapons designer, stated in his book "Saddam's Bombmaker," that Iraq has the machine tools to easily rebuild this uranium enrichment equipment.
In 1996, during an inspection of Tuwaitha Nuclear Weapon Research Facility, the Iraqis attempted to drive a vehicle past a checkpoint with a document from the Iraqi Revolutionary Command Council.
This document referred to mysterious coded projects. After we found the document, the Iraqis first tried to wrest it away in a tug of war, then managed to regain the document through another counter-inspection tactic.
This is an incredible amount of effort to hide information from UNSCOM. Tuwaitha is the workshop for constructing the bomb.
In September 1997, I took part in an interview inspection regarding the movement and concealment of uranium enrichment equipment from the Kay Inspection.
Scott Ritter had identified units and personnel involved with the concealment. Instead of providing these personnel, the Iraqis sent senior officers of the Special Republican Guards (SRG), along with intelligence officers and Jaffar Dhia Jaffar, head of the "atomic energy" program.
These officers attempted to pass off a pathetic cover story, which was promptly shredded. Scott then explained what actually happened, and that he believed the Iraqis still had the nuclear enrichment equipment. The Iraqis attempted to hide their panic.
The 4th Special Republican Guard Battalion was the unit that moved the nuclear enrichment equipment away from the Kay Inspection. I inspected this unit with Scott Ritter in June of 1997. The Iraqis held us up for a long period before allowing entry, while their minder in the UNSCOM helicopter caused a diversion by lunging for the flight controls.
Amir Al-Saadi, our high level escort, removed any mention of the unit commander during the time of the Kay Inspection, knowing that we would request to interview him. After the inspection, I learned that the Iraqis were extremely concerned that we would attempt to inspect a nearby, unnamed, location. They would not allow us in under any circumstances.
From having been on the inspection, I knew this information was referring to Jabal Makhul Presidential Site.
This is an extremely large site that takes up a swath of the Hamrin Mountain range. Its location makes it perfect for drilling deep tunnels into the side of the mountain. We inspected this site in September 1997.
General Muhammad Amir Rashid, a senior advisor to Saddam, drove 140 miles from Baghdad to the site, got out of his car, stated "there will be no inspection of this facility," got back in his car and drove off - completely against protocol.
In 2001, the London Sunday Times published an article by Gwynne Roberts on an Iraqi defector who claimed the Iraqis had several nuclear weapons in a heavily guarded bunker under the Hamrin Mountains. Jabal Makhul Presidential Site is the most heavily guarded location in the Hamrin Mountains.
From the additional detail provided by this source, I knew in my gut that this information was true. This explains why the Iraqis almost crashed the helicopter during the inspection at the 4th SRG Battalion - to keep it from going over the mountain to inspect the inside of Jabal Makhul Presidential Site.
The Iraqis may still store the weapons there, although any sensitive items were probably moved out before the presidential site "inspection" of March 1998, then again before the latest round of inspections.
So if the Iraqis do have nukes, where did they enrich the uranium? I believe the answer lies beneath what appears to the World as a power generation station for a water treatment plant in the vicinity of 3337North04420East.
A number of indicators point to this facility as a uranium enrichment processing plant. I do not have authority to discuss these indicators.
Further investigation of this facility with technical intelligence means revealed inconsistencies with a normal power generation plant.
High-tension power lines lead to the plant, but if it is not producing electricity, then the wires could provide electricity needed for the uranium enrichment.
Electro-magnetic isotope separation's major disadvantage is the large amount of electricity required.
A foreign contractor started to build this water treatment plant after the Gulf War, but halted half way through on the Iraqis' request. This allowed the Iraqis to document the "benign" intent of the facility, only later to finish it to the specifications required for a uranium enrichment plant.
In addition, this water treatment plant is only a few miles south and on the same side of the river at Tarmiya nuclear weapons research facility. Tarmiya was discovered to be the center for EMIS after the war. Workers could drive their cars to Tarmiya and then take a shuttle bus to where they really worked.
U.S. satellites would see activity at Tarmiya, with only a car or two at the water treatment plant. In addition, it is in a very pro-Saddam and secure area of Iraq.
After the hue and cry of civilian suffering from damage to water treatment plants after the Gulf War, what better place than a water treatment plant to hide a nuclear weapons facility?
This facility was installed in approximately 1996. Did it run, or was it just being prepared for operations after the sanctions?
I believe the Iraqis' steadfast refusal to allow random airborne radiation monitoring indicates that the facility has been active.
The water treatment plant was inspected three times in the early nineties, but never to check on an underground chamber under the power generation plant.
On one inspection, the team examined a liquid nitrogen plant near the water treatment plant because they suspected a connection to Tarmiya Nuclear Research Facility.
Nitrogen is used as an EMIS diffusion pump coolant. The inspectors' concern was a connection to Tarmiya, but the nitrogen was really intended for the nearby under-ground EMIS plant.
I brought this to the attention of WMD analysts within the U.S. government, but they were not interested, based on the no findings from the previous UNSCOM/IAEA inspections. I disagree with their assessment.
Why make this public? Won't the Iraqis just scramble and move everything before the inspectors arrive? They may get some or all of the machined parts out, but there is no way they can fit an underground chamber on the back of a truck. They probably won't be able to mask radiation either.
Furthermore, it is possible that if the inspections run their course without investigating these sites, and Saddam faces a military attack, he could announce then that he has nuclear weapons as a means to deter our invasion of Iraq.
Mr. Blix, Mr. Baradei, please inspect within the area circled on the accompanying map. Look for a chimney or the remnants thereof, follow the power lines, and check for a ramped entrance. The ramp will be concealed against overhead detection.
Your ground-penetrating radar teams should be able to find it. If I am wrong, then it will only mean three hours and a few gallons of gasoline lost. Please inspect this site.
--Bill Tierney
Mr. Tierney is a former UNSCOM inspector and intelligence analyst at Central Command HQ. He currently works as an international background investigator for Owens OnLine, Inc.
...In addition to his knowledge of Iraq, Mr. Tierney worked as interpreter/interrogator at Camp X-Ray Guantanamo Bay January, February 2002
...Trained in Arabic language and Iraqi dialect (honor graduate) and interrogation
Became warrant officer in 1990.
Participated in Gulf War as liaison officer to Saudis, Kuwaitis, and Egyptians. Was interrogator during ground offensive phase.
Obtained Master Degree in Middle East Studies - Arabic in 1993.
Led counterintelligence team at Haitian Refugee Camp, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba 1994.
Stationed at Central Command HQ 1995 as command interpreter, intelligence analyst, and targeting specialist.
Participated in nine UNSCOM inspections 1996 - 1998, most focused on the Iraqi concealment mechanism.
Left the Army in July 2000 .
Worked as linguist at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia August 2000 to Sept., 2001.
Worked as interpreter/interrogator at Camp X-Ray Guantanamo Bay January, Feb., 2002
Hired as international background investigator, compliance officer, sales and marketing, project officer with Owens Online, Inc. Tampa FL August 2002. ...
Source: Globe-Intel.net
Wow! Thanks very much. So, it was Bill Tierney. ['Need more Ovaltine, mom.' Sadly, at my age it doesn't help. I need that hightest, leaded, from the coffee bean machine!]
It seems blatantly obvious that he (Hussein) would have sought out Al Qaeda. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," is an axiom as old as warfare itself.
For $400,000 plus, Scott will say whatever you want him to say. Throw in an underaged girl to play with and he'll do anything you want him to do.
Ya know--I do remember that. I had forgotten! Why did the interpretor lose his job?
As I recall, the story was that he was caught praying with someone he was to interrogate, or was it he was reading or sharing a passage of Judeo-Christian scripture ... it was one or the other.
I do recall a Baptist usher shooting a rabbit from his Blazer once.
It wuz in his strawberry patch.
The Blazer was almost stopped too.
NC Rednecks.
Tasted good.
The Prayer That Ended A Career - Former intel officer says method aided interrogation
Army Times | March 10, 2003 | Vince Crawley
Posted on 03/04/2003 6:42 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
Former intel officer says method aided interrogation
By Vince Crawley, Times staff writer
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Bill Tierney's military career began in 1983 when, he says, God told him that his mission in life was to join the Army.
His career ended 16 years, 9 months and 27 days later because of a prayer.
The Defense Intelligence Agency said Tierney, an Arabic-speaking analyst and former U.N. arms inspector, overstepped his bounds when he prayed with an Iraqi Christian defector shortly before the 1998 Desert Fox air strikes against Iraq. At the time, Tierney was assigned to the U.S. Central Command.
Such actions "could have resulted in the loss of a valuable intelligence source," Vice Adm. Thomas Wilson, then head of DIA, wrote to a member of the U.S. Congress.
Thank you for the clarification! Interesting that a prayer would jeapordize intel ...
Have you read any of Oliver North's books? He writeds fictionalized true stories of America's battle for national security. He book Mission Compromised discusses some of the history of the Saddam/Al Quaeda link. I have been looking for someone here to discuss this book, but so far I have received no responses.
What? All these links to such hubbub. Until Teddy, Katie, and CNN says it's true then it's not.
/s
