IRAQ MINISTER SAYS SADDAM WMD CAREFULLY HIDDEN

Reuters ^ | 1/29/04

[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.

[Coop]

they were trying to develop "?????? water" (somebody help me here)

Hard water (H3O).

[Cooter]

From the Wikipedia entry on Heavy Water:

In 1934, Norsk Hydro built the first commercial heavy water plant with a capacity of 12 tonnes per year at Vemork. During World War II, the allies decided to destroy the plant and its heavy water in order to inhibit the German development of nuclear weapons. In late 1942, a raid by British paratroopers failed when the gliders crashed. All the raiders were killed in the crash or shot by the Germans. In February 1943, a group of 12 Norwegian infiltrators, trained in Britain and dropped by parachute into Norway, managed to disrupt production for two months by dynamiting the facilities. On November 16, 1943, the allied air forces dropped over 400 bombs on the site.

The allied air raid prompted the German government to move all available heavy water to Germany for safekeeping. However, on February 20, 1944, a Norwegian partisan was able to sink the ferry carrying the heavy water across Lake Tinnsjoe at the cost of 14 Norwegian civilians.

The story was used for a 1966 Hollywood movie, The Heroes of Telemark, starring Kirk Douglas.

[Coop]

D'oh! Heavy water, not hard water.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I was getting ready to post almost the same thing as you did. Most likely the workers who hid the stuff are still at the site for good.

[HankReardon]

Hitler's scientist were developing "heavy water", a step toward the atomic bomb.

[Atlantic Friend]

I agree the Iraqi Army had to hide them real good. But they had ample warning of the storm that was to hit them.IMHO, the minute the USA had more than 150,000 troops on the ground, his commanders should have kept the WMDs at hand, ready to use, because anybody who moves 150,000 soldiers was serious about invading and not stopping before Tikrit this time.

And yet, nothing. No suspect Iraqi warplane downed in a solitary mission, no SCUD fired at troop concentrations, no chem artillery shells found near the Iraqi guns.

[Ben Hecks]

"I have a chilling feeling that the next time we see Iraq's WMDS will be in the form of a mass mailing."

Sounds like someone else is not satisfied with the anthrax explanation. Interesting that no one is touching that story with a ten foot pole.

[Twinkie]

So, the Weapons of Mass Destruction which were used by
Hussein to kill the Kurds were VOILA! just PULLED OUT
OF HUSSEIN'S NOSE ONE DAY WHEN HE WAS PICKING IT?????!!!

[Coop]

Iraq's WMD programs would have required hundreds of people and big facilities, none of which we can locate.

That's not accurate. We've located many facilities and personnel involved with the WMD programs.

[End Times Sentinel]

You admit that Saddam had WMD's, my next question is, Where are they now?

 

Personally, I believe the unaccounted for VX and botumilin (SP!) are still hidden and buried somewhere.  In fact, they could fit into a two car garage.  However, I don't think S/H was capable of quickly manufacturing any new WMDs, not for lack of trying though.

 

Either way, rock solid proof of massive stockpiles of WMDs was never one of the stated reasons for going to war.  It's only after months and months of the media pounding away at that lie has it become part of the landscape.

Owl_Eagle

" WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
DIVERSITY IS STRENGTH"

[Polybius]

It would have happened by now unless only a few dozen people knew where stuff was buried,.......

Unless a "few dozen" knew?

You're pretty generous in handing out membership invitations to the "Need to Know Club". :-)

[Dave S]

I think that Saddam was sooo paranoid that he didn't have Iraqi scientists working on it.

I agree he had scientists working on WMD but there is no evidence that he had any stockpiles of WMD weapons since shortly after the end of the first Gulf War. Is there a vial of Antrax or something buried somewhere in Iraq? Probably but do you think anyone that can do anything with it knows where any more? I dont think so. Pity the poor archiologist some thousand years from now...

[Coop]

And you know this how? You psychic or something?

The same way you know we destroyed all his WMDs after Desert Storm.

[sphinx]

Anyone, who believes he never had them and Bush lied, is an idiot.

Actually, what the idiots believe is that the UN, Russians, Germans, British, French, and Israelis, as well as Clinton, Gore, Madeleine Albright, Bill Cohen, Tom Daschle, Dick Gephardt, John Kerry, et.al. were honestly confused when they thought Iraq had WMDs, but that Bush knew better and lied. The lefties' faith in Bush's omniscience is touching to behold.

If I had to bet the mortgage money today, I would still wager Saddam had most of what we thought he had. The tough question is whether the stuff was moved, is still buried, or was mostly destroyed in the immediate runup to or early phases of the war. Since concealment, transportability and, presumably, a destruct option if necessary would all be obvious parts of a clandestine WMD program, none of these possibilities requires a stretch. I just find it difficult to believe the whole world was wrong about this, inasmuch as the subject was a matter of intensive scrutiny by all concerned. Occam's razor.

[wizardoz]

I still think that a bio-chem stash small enough to hide in the back of ONE semi-truck -- which is what they are looking for -- could still be hidden in the country the size of California.

David Kay had two choices: Admit "I can't find them," or claim, "They must not be there." He's covering his butt.

[Toespi]

Just a question, in the early days of the war we found caches of gas masks and haz-mat suits in various facilities and even buried in the ground. What were they for if not to protect the users?

[Coop]

And yet, nothing. No suspect Iraqi warplane downed in a solitary mission, no SCUD fired at troop concentrations, no chem artillery shells found near the Iraqi guns.

They also weren't foolish enough to use WMDs during Desert Storm, when they without a doubt possessed them. Do you remember why?

[Dave S]

Hey there is evidence for my theory. People actually saw these weapons being destroyed. There is the fact that everything Kay has found indicates to him that they didnt exist. That is based on research and interviews with hundreds if not thousands of individuals and translation of piles of records. The parcelling out theory is nothing but BS.

[wizardoz]

But then one of history's biggest mysteries will be why didn't Saddam use them.

Not really... he didn't dare use them against the US for fear of just what we might do. He did indeed use them against the Kurds and Iran. I think that up till the bitter end he was hoping that the international community (in other words, France) would pressure us to pull out prematurely, and he could resume power. Different measures for different enemies.

[Solson]

I would like to know the physical size and dimensions of all the WMD stockpiles missing. I mean, Anthrax can be housed in very small containers. Missiles loaded with chem or bio obviously cannot.