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."

[joesbucks]

They will in June.

Last summer it was September of 2003.

[Loc123]

True. With the Tora Bora helicopter, though, it would be safe to assume it was OBL.

[freedom4me]

I keep asking: Why didn't our special ops guys (who were working in western Iraq long before the war started) intercept the convoys at the Syrian border?

[marron]

It was safe to say it was the bad guys. It would be interesting to know why we didn't shoot it down. We didn't need to know who was in a particular cave to bomb it, we would logically have shot down any helicopter that lifted off.

Its odd. Of course its right on the border I guess, maybe we weren't shooting down helicopters headed for Pakistan... I'm sure I don't understand why. Maybe the ISI had permission to evacuate some of its personnel? Which just happened to include the Bin Ladin clan?

[Indie]

Why didn't our special ops guys (who were working in western Iraq long before the war started) intercept the convoys at the Syrian border?

Can you say FUBAR Rules of Engagement?

[Spunky]

"About three months before the start of the war there was a news story of a 60 truck caravan driving from Iraq to Syria. Unless I dreamt it."

I guess we had the same dream. ;-)

[MJY1288]

Something happened to those weapons, whether they are buried somewhere in Iraq or have been moved into Syria, who knows, but I seriously doubt Saddam celebrated the inspectors leaving in 1998 by destroying what he was hiding from us. When we left in 1998 there was no doubt that we had not destroyed all of their stockpiles and programs. So they're somewhere.

I personally believe they're in Syria and much like the quiet diplomacy that resulted in Libya's capitulation, maybe the same thing is going in with Syria's Assad. If you've noticed, we haven't heard much from the DOD or State Dept. about Syria for a few months now. One thing is for sure, those weapons are somewhere and all the naysayers on the left can cry foul and claim Bush lied all they want, but those weapons existed, and I believe they will be found

[Loc123]

There can be 3 plausible explanations for the helicopter.

1) It was Bin Laden or high-ranking Al Qaeda. Only they would have the money for a helicopter.

2) It was the ISI. But why would they would be in a war zone flying a helicopter is unapparent.

3) It was a US Specops mission, but I don't see why our troops wouldn't be able to know that. The report I read said that the soldiers wanted to shoot the copter down. I also don't remember if the report mentioned the copter's build.

[GOP-Pat]

Let Bush underscore the point that had they not been held back from acting, the time might not have been allowed for Iraq to move those weapons.

This is exactly what I've been wishing one of the talking heads would say on TV. They insisted that he go to the UN, Congress bickered back and forth and all the while, Saddam had plenty of time, to move anything he wanted to.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Thanks for this post.

Of course the Leftist US media made a big deal about Kay's resignation, but mentioned nothing about this.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

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

Prediction:

Assad pulls a Kaddaffi and hands the WMD over, in exchange for not being obliterated ... in October...

[Cosmo]

I woke uyp to these Fox Reports and could only think to myself that this was so contradictoray of everything kay had said previously that it couldn't possibly be true.

Shoddy journalism on Fox's part. CNN had nothing on their website when I went to check this morning after hearing these reportsmon Fox

[TheDon]

Didn't know David Kay had made this claim before. Now that he has resigned, he can speak more freely about what he knows. Well, at least about some of it.

Syria is next on the target list. It is not hard to believe that they are involved in "Libya like" discussions with the US and GB.

The Age of Monarchies, or the modern version, dictators, is over. Now is the Age of Democracies.

[TheDon]

I remember that story too. I wonder what was in the truck however...

[PersonalLiberties]

The propaganda is just to convince the public that another war is needed. Why don't we get the problems in Iraq and Afghanistan taken care of before propaganizing the necessity of going into Syria? I never did believe in doing a half-assed job before starting on another.

True

[TheDon]

LOL! Yea, fighting Japan and Germany and Italy. What were we thinking! I thought we had gotten over such craziness!

[highlander_UW]

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."

Claiming they are false by invoking "Israel" may play to the Islam street, but it don't cut it in the US Assad!

[over3Owithabrain]

FoxNews is slowly getting closer to being indistinguishable from the bigmedia liberal networks. They used to look at things a little differently and do their own research - now they just parrot what all the other networks are saying. They're in love with John Kerry now also.

[zarf]

Sharon will never go for that deal. Not a chance.

[TheDon]

I find it amazing that people can't even remember the history of the last 5 years, let alone the last 15 years.

Thanks for the review for those who were too young to pay attention to such things as they were happening.