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IRAQ MINISTER SAYS SADDAM WMD CAREFULLY HIDDEN
Reuters ^
| 1/29/04
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.
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TOPICS: Breaking News
KEYWORDS: hoshiyarzebari; iraq; wmd; zebari
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To: Solson
and the available evidence points to these stockpiles not existing. No, it doesn't. Make your case, if it does. (Some of you just really have trouble grasping the fact that you can't prove a negative.)
241
posted on
01/29/2004 9:38:37 AM PST
by
Coop
(God bless our troops!)
To: Coop
O.K. I see what you are getting at, and I agree, the weapons were there, the problem is we don't know what happened to them. I looked at your profile and realised I was preaching to the choir. Sorry about that. I only wanted to point out to others on this thread that there is a difference between the intel tactical units use, develop, and impliment. I think the President did the right thing, WMD or no WMD. I just love the debate. By the way I became a Jarhead in 1984 also. Fox Co Plt 2101 MCRD San Diego. Graduated 14 Dec 84. Senior Drill Instructor Sgt Graves, DI's Sgt Walter, Sgt Petti, and Cpl Simmons. These men's names and faces will forever be burned into my soul. Semper Fi!
242
posted on
01/29/2004 9:40:02 AM PST
by
sean327
(9-1-1: Government Sponsored Dial-A-Prayer.)
To: sean327
Plt 1009, A Co., 1st Bn., Parris Island, Feb 85 graduation
Semper Fidelis, Sean!
243
posted on
01/29/2004 9:42:28 AM PST
by
Coop
(God bless our troops!)
To: Atlantic Friend
The really interesting question is why would he not come clean and allow the UN to do its job when defiance cost him 20 billion a yr in lost oil revenues? This has totalled over 200 billion during the period of sanctions.
If he had no weapons why on earth would he have foregone such wealth? This, to me, is the strongest proof that he did, indeed, have these weapons.
244
posted on
01/29/2004 9:43:55 AM PST
by
justshutupandtakeit
(America's Enemies foreign and domestic agree: Bush must be destroyed.)
To: Solson
Based upon the evidence we have right now.The point is that we don't have evidence right now. Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.
We know that the stockpiles did exist. We don't know what became of them. If they were destroyed, fine, but it's not enough to say that we didn't find them. We need to be able to say (and prove) "this amount of anthrax was destroyed by this method at this location using this equipment on this date; this amount of mustard gas was destroyed by this..." and so on, until the entire stockpile is accounted for. Short of that, we need to act as if those weapons still exist. That was true a year ago and it's true now.
I suppose it's possible that Saddam had all that stuff destroyed when we weren't looking, and failed to keep any record of it, thereby causing a war. He should have been more careful in his bookkeeping. But that's his bad, not ours.
245
posted on
01/29/2004 9:45:50 AM PST
by
Physicist
(Sophie Rhiannon Sterner, born 1/19/2004: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1061267/posts)
To: Atlantic Friend
Maybe she took one look at his new 'underground palace' and took half of what he owned (WMD's) and boogied outta there. Who really knows. It's all supposition and conjecture. I think they're hidden somewhere but what do I know? Not any more than any of the rest of us, I guess.
246
posted on
01/29/2004 9:48:21 AM PST
by
Marysecretary
(GOD is STILL in control, even if Bush loses in 2004!)
To: rhombus
I'm going with Cheney on this one. If Cheney says there's WMD in Iraq...then I believe him.
And I would dealy love for it to be revealed in late September, along with pulling Bin Laden out of the closet for Ms. Albright. That would be so sweet!
To: dogbyte12
Face it. A janitor in a WMD facility could become a very wealthy man right now by telling us where the stuff was buried. Some scientist who drank too much, could have told his wife where they are. To have a very active program, there are way too many people who know things. One person would have blabbed right now, either out of greed, out of spite, or out of fear of a very mean looking CIA field agent. And just how many people involved in the actual concealment do you think Saddam allowed to live? Do you remember the story about the one scientist that tried to jump in the UN white Branco for the inspectors ? He's dead Jim. He had them, they'll show up sooner or later. Remember last week when they found buried munitions from the Iraq/Iran war?
248
posted on
01/29/2004 9:56:12 AM PST
by
Go Gordon
(A Dean Presidency would be as effective as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest)
To: Atlantic Friend
But then one of history's biggest mysteries will be why didn't Saddam use them. Because it would have meant the US was right (that he had them illegally) and the rest of the world would have had to support REGIME CHANGE! Saddam thought he could buy off the security counsel into not allowing the US to attack. He probably thought Bush II would limit himself to UN mandates only, just like Bush I. In addition, bad field intel and lack of communication during the sprint to Baghdad (and that first night bomb that apparently almost took him out, but left him injured/groggy), meant Saddam got caught short on time to implement any of his pre-war plans.
249
posted on
01/29/2004 10:01:45 AM PST
by
Go Gordon
(A Dean Presidency would be as effective as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest)
To: cookcounty
Oh, is the trash fire how bio-weapons are disposed of in Chicago? If not, how would we know this?
To: ozdragon
Now let's keep im mind, the liberal socialist Democrats and the liberal socialist elements of the media will not be over reporting anything less then tons of WMD's found. Afterall, they have been hoping for encouaging failure for U.S. forces all throughout this war.
To: gatex
We cannot find Jimmy Hoffa, he must have never existed!
To: Solson
The burden of proof was on Saddam. It was up to him to prove that he did not have them, it was not up to us to prove that he did! TA DA!
To: HankReardon
You're absolutely right. But that doesn't diminish the fact that this was an intelligence failure on the part of two-three administrations, multiple countries, and the UN.
254
posted on
01/29/2004 10:19:44 AM PST
by
Solson
(Our work is the presentation of our capabilities. - Von Goethe)
To: Coop
It does make the case that this was an intelligence failure. Kay saw that, Condi Rice sees that. Most rational people agree.
255
posted on
01/29/2004 10:20:55 AM PST
by
Solson
(Our work is the presentation of our capabilities. - Von Goethe)
To: Solson
No, this was an intelligence failure on the part of Saddam Hussein.
To: GalaxieFiveHundred
Loved the "Absolut" ad! I've got a collection of them.
257
posted on
01/29/2004 10:22:30 AM PST
by
Maria S
("I will do whatever the Americans want…I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid." Gaddafi, 9/03)
To: areafiftyone
When theses WMD are found, I want to see the press relentlessly hammer 'Rats everyday, for months and months on end, about how they lied to America.
258
posted on
01/29/2004 10:23:04 AM PST
by
LibWhacker
(<a href="http://www.michaelmoore.com/">Miserable Failure</a>)
To: LibWhacker
Because of the Iraq War WMD's have been found and being dismantled and destroyed, in Libyia. What a great success this war has been! Has their ever been a more succesful war in U.S. history?
To: areafiftyone
It's truly amazing. .......Enough bio/chem weapons to kill millions of people can be stored in a very small space (an average-sized basement), but yet there are people who think that because we haven't found any yet, they must not exist. And Iraq is a good-sized country -- California-sized.
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