Saddam's WMD hidden in Syria, says Iraq survey chief

The Sunday Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1/25/04 | Con Coughlin

[saquin]

David Kay, the former head of the coalition's hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, yesterday claimed that part of Saddam Hussein's secret weapons programme was hidden in Syria.

In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Dr Kay, who last week resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group, said that he had uncovered evidence that unspecified materials had been moved to Syria shortly before last year's war to overthrow Saddam.

"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."

Dr Kay's comments will intensify pressure on President Bashar Assad to clarify the extent of his co-operation with Saddam's regime and details of Syria's WMD programme. Mr Assad has said that Syria was entitled to defend itself by acquiring its own biological and chemical weapons arsenal.

Syria was one of Iraq's main allies in the run-up to the war and hundreds of Iraqi officials - including members of Saddam's family - were given refuge in Damascus after the collapse of the Iraqi dictator's regime. Many of the foreign fighters responsible for conducting terrorist attacks against the coalition are believed to have entered Iraq through Syria.

A Syrian official last night said: "These allegations have been raised many times in the past by Israeli officials, which proves that they are false."

[Samwise]

Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction to hide in Syria. I know this because the media tells me he didn't. Bush is a bully who went into office aiming to pick a fight with a defenseless dictator. I know this because Teddy Mt. Rushmore Kennedy rolled his bloodshot eyes during the Sate of the Union address.

[MJY1288]

Works for me :-)

[Mo1]

This is good news. The media has intentionally misrepresented what Mr. Kay said about STOCKPILES of weapons of mass destruction. They changed his statment to read.......Iraq has NO weapons of mass desruction.

BINGO ...

and Gee why would that be???

The Dem primaries ????

[JohnnyZ]

A Syrian official last night said: "These allegations have been raised many times in the past by Israeli officials, which proves that they are false."

ROFLMAO!

[cyncooper]

But, why doesn't Dr.Kay come forward and give his statement directly to the public via TV.

When Kay issued the first portion of his stunning report last fall it was totally downplayed and misrepresented.

Kay did just what you suggest, to little avail. It got some coverage, but the dem spin was devised and obligingly passed along by sympathetic media and we now arrive at a stage that when the president references exactly what is in the Kay report (in his SOTU Address he referred to it), the media hints he's exaggerating.

We are up against those who will outright deny facts and misinform the public in order to bring this administration down.

[oceanview]

likely true, but politically, its working for them. and we are not countering it, just floating vague soundbites from Powell. as other have said, why isn't Kay holding a press conference?

[Dave S]

this issue is hurting Bush, it amazing that they cannot get everyone on the same page, get the CIA to release the intel they have (including spy sat photos), and just tell the truth about what they know. instead its a circular ring of denials, peppered with stories like this.

You're also making a big assumption ... that there were in fact WMD in Iraq prior to the start of the latest war. Saddam may have thought there were but seems that most of the evidence shows that they probably didnt exist. That doesnt mean that Bush was deceiving anyone. Even the UN folks thought Saddam was hiding something.

[Mo1]

I'm sure that is wrong. UNSCOM was about to quit when Saddam's sons-in-law defected in 1995. After they spilled the beans, UNSCOM found a bunch more stuff until the Iraqis threw them out in 1998.

You forgot the part where Saddam had his son inlaw killed for spilling the beans

Kind of amazing how the Media/press seems to forget this story

[Mo1]

When the time is right .. there will be one

[Mr. Mojo]

this issue is hurting Bush

Indeed it is. .....And so is the "where's bin Laden" issue. ....And so was the "where's Saddam" issue (before we dragged him out of his rathole).

I predict that both the bin Laden and WMD issues will soon cease to be issues (before mid-summer). .....and the Dems will be stuck issueless.

[Major_Risktaker]

Prediction:

Assad pulls a Kaddaffi and hands the WMD over, in exchange for the Golan Heights/overall peace deal with Israel... in October...

My Prediction:

Assad pulls a Kaddaffi and hands the WMD over, in exchange for his life because the Golan Heights is not on the table.

Assad's life is....Yes, in October...

[ambrose]

definitely prefer your prediction to mine

[JohnnyZ]

Definitely Gray.

[Chu Gary]

"The invisible, divisible man and the Easter Bunny did something with the WMD's. Where are those satellites that can take a picture of a liscense plate as the car rolls down the highway? We have had a satellite over Iraq constantly and aerial reconnaisence since the First Iraq War. The propaganda mill is busy justifying another adventure in Syria."

As early as 1965, the U.S. was able to take pictures from 100,000 feet and, from the angle of deflection, not just read the letters but also give the nearly precise dimensions of the item in question. There's no propaganda involved. The mountains of intelligence everyday is very difficult to wade thru and piece together - keep this, toss that, connect this to something I saw two hours earlier, etc.

[Loc123]

Good citation.

[Loc123]

You are correct. Except we should give them the chance to peacefully crumble before we move in.

[Go Gordon]

My choice is July 25 -- the day before the RAT convention.

Better yet, make it the day after the convention picks the nominee. You know its gonna be an anti war freakazoid. But by then, its too late (except if your name is Toricelli and you live in NJ).

[marron]

There is truck traffic going up and down the interstate all day. You could have a satelite, or a videocam on the side of the road filming the traffic and all you will know is that there is a lot of traffic.

A truck enters a warehouse in one town, goes 6 hours down the road and unloads inside another warehouse in another town. Unless you have some kind of inside knowledge what is in those warehouses, you have no idea what is in the truck, just from a photograph.

What we can tell is that there was a lot of truck traffic heading out of Iraq for Syria right before the war. If the caravans came from military bases, we can assume they were hauling weapons. But the photograph itself won't tell you that.

[Loc123]

So if the WMDs did go to Syria, then we would have seen it?

Also, if an un-identified helicopter was seen leaving Tora Bora, Afghanistan, we could track it?

[marron]

But you wouldn't necessarily know what was in it.