Posted on 01/29/2004 6:40:30 AM PST by areafiftyone
(Updates with comments on Saddam's trial, Iraq's unity)
By Anna Mudeva
SOFIA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Iraq's foreign minister said on Thursday Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, which inspectors have failed to find, were carefully hidden but Hoshiyar Zebari said he was confident they could be discovered.
"I have every belief that some of these weapons could be found as we move forward," Zebari, an Iraqi Kurd, told a news conference in Sofia. "They have been hidden in certain areas. The system of hiding was very sophisticated."
The United States and Britain cited Iraq's possession of chemical and biological arms as their main reason for invading the country last March and toppling Saddam. But no such weapons have so far come to light despite intensive searches.
Former chief U.S. weapons hunter David Kay said on Wednesday "we were almost all wrong" about the issue and it was "highly unlikely that there were large stockpiles of deployed militarised chemical and biological weapons" in Iraq.
But Zebari, on a visit to Bulgaria, said: "We as Iraqis have seen Saddam Hussein develop, manufacture and use these weapons of mass destruction against us. He hasn't denied that."
Zebari was apparently referring to the use of chemical weapons by Saddam's forces against Iraqi Kurdish villages in the late 1980s.
He reiterated the position of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council that Saddam, accused of sending thousands of Iraqis to mass graves, should be tried by an Iraqi court.
The former Iraqi president, who was given prisoner of war status, was captured in mid-December near his home town of Tikrit, having evaded U.S. forces since the American military launched its war in Iraq with a March 20 attack targeting him.
Zebari said Saddam's trial should be fair and transparent because it would be a test for Iraq's new rulers to prove their adherence to the supremacy of law.
TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY
Asked to comment on Turkey's fears Iraqi Kurds might seek a breakaway state, Zebari said there were no plans to divide Iraq.
"We have proved over the last nine months that all the Iraqis from the North to the South are committed to the national unity...No group, no party has any plans to undermine Iraq's unity or territorial integrity," he said.
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he was also committed to a "territorially intact" Iraq.
Turkish officials have been concerned Iraqi Kurds might press for an independent state, which could boost independence claims by Turkey's own restive Kurdish minority.
The Kurds, who fought with the United States to topple Saddam, are one of Iraq's best organised ethnic groups after enjoying U.S-protected autonomy since the 1991 Gulf War. They have presented a plan to the Iraqi Governing Council that grants significant autonomy to the Kurdish region.
Zebari did not rule out the federalisation of Iraq as long as it did not violate territorial unity and added only the Iraqi people could choose the country's future political system.
On the contrary, it's been quite an intel success, for the objective among us:
-We would not have taken Baghdad in three weeks had our intel failed.
-We would not have nearly killed Hussein twice had our intel failed.
-We would not have captured Hussein had our intel failed.
-We would not have killed Hussein's sons had our intel failed.
-We would not have captured/killed nearly all in the infamous deck of cards had our intel failed.
-We would not have known who all these WMD scientists were, nor where their equipment and facilities were located had our intel failed.
See, when you lay things out, these general "failure" statements really do appear rather ridiculous.
The only thing we can accurately say is that any presumed WMD storage sites proved empty upon being searched. That does not mean the intel failed. It could simply mean the perishable intel was not acted upon in a timely manner.
And keep in mind, you have no idea what true intelligence (i.e., not publicly released) is still out there. Nor do I.
Exactly. Either that, or the pictures of those dead Kurdish women and children were just "planted" by the media.
I have no idea. I'm as surprised as anybody that we haven't found them or found out what happened to them.
I hope that they were destroyed or hidden somewhere in Iraq so we can find them later. Because its frightening to think that they might have been transferred to some other nutcases.
I think the delay of going to the U.N. before the war gave the Iraqis additional time to conceal whatever the truth is.
Sometimes it's more fun to let 'em scream so long that they get themselves into a lather. THEN let the shoe drop.
PRESIDENT KWASNIEWSKI: May I add one thing?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Sure, please.
PRESIDENT KWASNIEWSKI: Because it might be interesting for American journalists. Many months before Iraqi action, I met predecessor of Hans Blix in Warsaw. I invited him to my palace, and we discussed about mass destruction weapons, Iraq and everything. And he told me very important thing, that Saddam has these weapons or is ready to produce these weapons. Because to have such impression that he has mass destruction weapons is a part of his doctrine to keep own power in Iraq and to be strong in the region.
So I think that it's very difficult today to judge how it was when he had -- when he decided to continue this project of mass destruction weapons. But that was information of predecessor of Mr. Blix in Warsaw, that absolutely Iraq is ready to produce if it's necessary, to keep the power of -- and the dictatorship of Saddam and to play such important role in the region.
You ask very good questions and keep an open mind. I wish more approached this issue as you do. I certainly don't have all the answers. I expected Hussein to gas our troops near Baghdad, for the very reason you gave. In hindsight it appears he really felt his insurgent/terrorist approach, combined with French interference, really would chase us from Iraq and restore him to power. And the speed of the coalition success may have cut Hussein off from his WMDs stash(es). And had he used WMDs, he would have lost all international support and risked his entire country glowing green.
I agree it seems stupid for Syria to take possession of his WMDs, but it also strikes me as quite stupid for Syria to continue facilitating the entry of terrorists into Iraq with our troops just across the line. In short, I dunno.
You are probably right, but also consider that humans have learned of the centuries how to bury things and keep them hidden. We have never found a burial place of any of the Mongol rulers for instance. They used a small number of people to take the body out on the steppes and bury it. Anyone they passed along the way was killed. When they returned from that place, all who were in that procession were then killed. King Tut's tomb, loaded with treasure was hidden in plain sight for 25 centuries and only discovered by accident. Similar methods were used there.
If it was hidden, the number of people who actually know where it is likely to be very very small.
Dave S said it?
Oh.
Well, I'm convinced. There are no WMDs.
Excellent point, and worth repeating!
What I meant to write was the delay caused by going to the U.N.
Now it's time to recognize, at least on some basis that failure occurred and start to remedy the situation.
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