Posted on 06/24/2004 12:35:11 AM PDT by Veritas_est
UN Confirms: WMDs Smuggled Out of Iraq
© June 18, 2004, Rod D. Martin
In a report which might alternately be termed “stunning” or “terrifying”, United Nations weapons inspectors confirmed last week not merely that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but that he smuggled them out of his country, before, during and after the war.
Late last week, the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) briefed the Security Council on Saddam's lightning-fast dismantling of missile and WMD sites before and during the war. UNMOVIC executive chairman Demetrius Perricos detailed not only the export of thousands of tons of missile components, nuclear reactor vessels and fermenters for chemical and biological warheads, but also the discovery of many (but not most) of these items - with UN inspection tags still on them -- as far afield as Jordan, Turkey and even Holland.
Notably absent from that list is Iraq's western neighbor Syria, ruled by its own Baath Party just like Saddam's and closed to even the thought of an UNMOVIC inspection. Israeli intelligence has been reporting the large-scale smuggling of Saddam's WMD program across the Syrian border since at least two months before the war. Syria has long been the world's foremost state-sponsor of terrorism.
Perricos highlighted the proliferation danger to the Security Council, as well he should: UNMOVIC has no idea where most of the WMD material is today, just that it exists and it's gone; and anything in Syria is likely to be in Jerusalem or New York tomorrow.
This is the biggest news story of 2004 so far. Yet you haven't heard about it, have you?
You probably haven't heard about Canada's Prime Minister Paul Martin either -- a socialist and no friend of America. Addressing a group of 700 university researchers and business leaders in Montreal last month, Martin stated bluntly that terrorists have acquired WMDs from Saddam. “The fact is that there is now, we know well, a proliferation of nuclear weapons, and that many weapons that Saddam Huseein had, we don't know where they are…. [T]errorists have access to all of them,” the Canadian premier warned.
The tip of this terrorist sword was scarcely deflected on April 26th, when Jordanian intelligence broke up an al Qaeda conspiracy to detonate a large chemical device in the capital city of Amman. Directed by al Qaeda terrorist leader Abu al-Zarqawi -- the same man who personally beheaded American Nicholas Berg in Iraq last month -- the plotters sought to use a massive explosion to spread a “toxic cloud”, meant to wipe out the U.S. embassy, the Jordanian prime minister's office, the Jordanian intelligence headquarters, and at least 20,000 civilians (by contrast, only 3,000 died on 9/11). Over twenty tons of chemical weapons were seized from the conspirators, who were just days away from carrying out their plot.
One wonders where CNN and USA Today think twenty tons of nerve gas and sarin came from: Chemical Weapons-Mart? Yet their coverage, like most major media outlets, mentioned not a word about Saddam's smuggled WMDs, which -- according to liberal dogma -- “don't exist.”
Even though the UN says they do exist, now spread around the world.
It's not just the UN. Bill Clinton says they exist, even after the war: in a July 2003 interview with Larry King, the ex-president uncharacteristically defended George Bush, saying “it is incontestable that on the day I left office, there [was]…a substantial amount of biological and chemical material unaccounted for” in Iraq. Every intelligence agency in the world -- French, British, German, Russian, Czech, you name it -- agreed before the war; Jordanian intelligence can certainly confirm their opinion today.
So what's the deal? Why the relentless pretence that “Bush lied” when even the UN and Bill Clinton say he didn't? Why the absolute silence about “inconvenient” parts of various UN reports, such as the discovery of chemical and biological weapons plans, recipes and equipment; of bio-weapons agents in an Iraqi scientist's house; of a prison lab for testing bio weapons on humans; of complexes for manufacturing fuel for prohibited long-range missiles; of artillery rounds containing enough sarin to kill thousands of people, of similar shells containing mustard gas, two (but far from the only) of which were used in a terrorist attack against U.S. forces just weeks ago?
America cannot afford the answer to this “why”: that many on the left consider George W. Bush's defeat more urgent than al Qaeda's, his political death more essential than the possible physical death of millions of Americans.
The character of our foreign enemies has never been in doubt. The character of the enemy within -- from Dan Rather to Michael Moore -- has never been clearer. And the stakes are the highest they've ever been.
Rod D. Martin is Founder and Chairman of Vanguard PAC. A former policy director to Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Special Counsel to PayPal.com Founder Peter Thiel, he is a member of the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy, a Vice President of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA), and author of the forthcoming Visions of America.
Yes, the Fly-boys missed him -- by maybe ten minutes. If that.
Really? I pay pretty close attention to the news and haven't seen that. And if we couldn't get him with big bombs dropped from airplanes, then how exactly were we supposed to get next to him with small arms?
Kill them [his two sons, numerous cousins and henchmen] too. Facing a Level of Magnitude less security, in each case.
We're dealing with the real world here, not some Hollywood production where everything is wrapped up neatly in a 2-hour stunt-filled spectacular. From the sound of your suggestions, you seem to lack the military and intelligence background to discuss this topic.
All you have to do is create Chaos at the Top. What happens when you create Chaos at the Top of a Totalitarian Dictatorship? (Hint: it's not "Export the WMD's worldwide". Every player in the destabilized Regime is looking for his own Ace Card -- not trying to go out in a "blaze of glory", ala Saddam or Hitler)
No, the domestic destabilization of the Iraqi Regime would've created an incentive for rival claimants to secure control of Iraqi WMD's under their own banner, within Iraq.
It seems pretty obvious to me, but even if you think I'm wrong: what's the worst case scenario? Total Export of All Iraqi WMD's to Terrorist Organizations Worldwide? That's what happened anyway, according to this UN report.
Again, you seem to lack the knowledge of fact to discuss this topic. What kind of "Ace Card" does a laboratory provide? You can't pick it up and carry it around. You can't operate it without scientists.
We're talking about laboratories and manufacturing facilities for the development of chemical and biological weapons. Like the Democrats who drone on about "stockpiles" of WMD, you seem to be unaware that Hussein probably wasn't manufacturing large amounts of WMD because he didn't need to. Less than a suitcase-full of various biological agents could wipe out a city if delivered properly. But, because of problems with shelf-life and stability, let alone the dangers of having such substances around, Hussein seemed to be employing the Japanese method known as "just-in-time" manufacturing.
Also, how can you be so sure what's going to happen after the dictator is toppled in a totalitarian regime? Everyone scatters with their own interests, looking out for themselves. And in a country with as many ethnic, tribal, sectarian, familial, and other factions, coupled with the Iranians perched on the eastern border, you don't know where any of the WMD could have wound up. As it is now, it seems as though they have stayed within Syria (with its scared dentist/dictator, who knows one wrong step could lead to Operation Syrian Freedom) and possibly with elements of the former Iraqi military and Ba'athist remnants. That, though not great, is better than seeing them scattered to al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, etc.
But, if we assassinate Hussein and other top leaders(assuming we could) , the smaller fish get nervous, need money to finance a life on the run, and so they invite in bin Laden or others with the necessary cash for a fire sale of whatever could be pumped out quickly or whatever stock happened to already be available.
The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.
The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program.
The briefing contained satellite photographs that demonstrated the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war. Council members were shown photographs of a ballistic missile site outside Baghdad in May 2003, and then saw a satellite image of the same location in February 2004, in which facilities had disappeared.
UNMOVIC acting executive chairman Demetrius Perricos told the council on June 9 that "the only controls at the borders are for the weight of the scrap metal, and to check whether there are any explosive or radioactive materials within the scrap," Middle East Newsline reported. "It's being exported," Perricos said after the briefing. "It's being traded out. And there is a large variety of scrap metal from very new to very old, and slowly, it seems the country is depleted of metal."
"The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks," Perricos told the council. Perricos also reported that inspectors found Iraqi WMD and missile components shipped abroad that still contained UN inspection tags.
He said the Iraqi facilities were dismantled and sent both to Europe and around the Middle East. at the rate of about 1,000 tons of metal a month. Destionations included Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey.
Tuesday, August 26, 2003 : Report: U.S suspects Iraqi WMD in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley
The Baghdad missile site contained a range of WMD and dual-use components, UN officials said. They included missile components, reactor vessel and fermenters – the latter required for the production of chemical and biological warheads.
"It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for," Ewen Buchanan, Perricos's spokesman, said. "You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter. You can also use it to breed anthrax."
The UNMOVIC report said Iraqi missiles were dismantled and exported to such countries as Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey. In the Dutch city of Rotterdam, an SA-2 surface-to-air missile, one of at least 12, was discovered in a junk yard, replete with UN tags. In Jordan, UN inspectors found 20 SA-2 engines as well as components for solid-fuel for missiles.
"The problem for us is that we don't know what may have passed through these yards and other yards elsewhere," Buchanan said. "We can't really assess the significance and don't know the full extent of activity that could be going on there or with others of Iraq's neighbors."
UN inspectors have assessed that the SA-2 and the short-range Al Samoud surface-to-surface missile were shipped abroad by agents of the Saddam regime. Buchanan said UNMOVIC plans to inspect other sites, including in Turkey.
In April, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohammed El Baradei said material from Iraqi nuclear facilities were being smuggled out of the country.
Copyright © 2004 East West Services
This is the sotry that broke over a week ago (on a Friday, when it would be certain to be buried), and that I haven't heard mentioned anywhere other than online. Not by Rush, not Hannity, not Savage (though I'd be willing to bet that Savage would've been all over it if he'd heard it)...no one. Why are the media burying it? More importantly, whay aren't our Pubbie so-called leaders screaming mad over this? Why isn't Bush calling a "see, I told you so" press conference, and shutting up the freakin' scumbag CommieLibs in Hollyweird, the lamestream mediua, and the UN? Why? The New Tone. I'm sick of it...Bush is a coward.
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I'm too slow again and missed it .. what did she say?
Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!
I reposted this to Extended News, Front Page, Free Republic and Foreign Affairs. This needs to be shouted from the mountaintops.
When will ABC, SeeBS, NBC or CNN ever say that Iraq's WMD's have been discvered? Not until people in New York, D.C., L.A. or in shopping malls all over America start to smell the fumes.
The original article was posted here, quoting the UN
About rour tag line: "ICDC=I can't do crap". = I'm Constipated to most people.
I just had to say it-sorry.
the link has been slammed - probably by the UN techs themselves - does anyone have a saved page of this?
This would make a great novel by Higgins or Clancy.
UN inspectors: Saddam shipped out WMD before war and after
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, June 11, 2004
The United Nations has determined that Saddam Hussein shipped weapons of mass destruction components as well as medium-range ballistic missiles before, during and after the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003.
The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council on new findings that could help trace the whereabouts of Saddam's missile and WMD program.
The briefing contained satellite photographs that demonstrated the speed with which Saddam dismantled his missile and WMD sites before and during the war. Council members were shown photographs of a ballistic missile site outside Baghdad in May 2003, and then saw a satellite image of the same location in February 2004, in which facilities had disappeared.
UNMOVIC acting executive chairman Demetrius Perricos told the council on June 9 that "the only controls at the borders are for the weight of the scrap metal, and to check whether there are any explosive or radioactive materials within the scrap," Middle East Newsline reported.
"It's being exported," Perricos said after the briefing. "It's being traded out. And there is a large variety of scrap metal from very new to very old, and slowly, it seems the country is depleted of metal."
"The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks," Perricos told the council. Perricos also reported that inspectors found Iraqi WMD and missile components shipped abroad that still contained UN inspection tags.
He said the Iraqi facilities were dismantled and sent both to Europe and around the Middle East. at the rate of about 1,000 tons of metal a month. Destionations included Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey.
The Baghdad missile site contained a range of WMD and dual-use components, UN officials said. They included missile components, reactor vessel and fermenters – the latter required for the production of chemical and biological warheads.
"It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for," Ewen Buchanan, Perricos's spokesman, said. "You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter. You can also use it to breed anthrax."
The UNMOVIC report said Iraqi missiles were dismantled and exported to such countries as Jordan, the Netherlands and Turkey. In the Dutch city of Rotterdam, an SA-2 surface-to-air missile, one of at least 12, was discovered in a junk yard, replete with UN tags. In Jordan, UN inspectors found 20 SA-2 engines as well as components for solid-fuel for missiles.
"The problem for us is that we don't know what may have passed through these yards and other yards elsewhere," Buchanan said. "We can't really assess the significance and don't know the full extent of activity that could be going on there or with others of Iraq's neighbors."
UN inspectors have assessed that the SA-2 and the short-range Al Samoud surface-to-surface missile were shipped abroad by agents of the Saddam regime. Buchanan said UNMOVIC plans to inspect other sites, including in Turkey.
In April, International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohammed El Baradei said material from Iraqi nuclear facilities were being smuggled out of the country.
OPPS, I see I didn't scroll far enough. You posted what I just posted too.
The point being, the stories are out there, but the liberal media HATES President Bush so much they would rather see America go down then defend her and our soldiers.
humvee, got it stuck during field med school, good times good times!!
so when will foxnews, cnn, msnbc, cbs, abc and all the rest start reporting about this??
It has been awhile - several months(?) - seems like she was talking to Sean.
I don't have a link - that is what I was asking for.
This is an excellent point. The emphasis shouldn't be on the fact that we didn't find "very many" WMD, but the reason we didn't find them. The liberals of the world working to protect Saddam are the reason.
They are also the reason we will need to go into Syria next chasing after the WMD. Unfortunately it is already too late there also. Even if we find a majority of the WMD, there are already far too many unaccounted for.
Whether we will go into Syria later or not is a point for discussion also.
Thanks for the ping, Chieftain.
God only knows where the WMDs got to -- just hope and pray that they are found before a raghead tries to detonate one of them!
Nonsense regurgitated is still nonsense. Back-handed criticism of Bush is even more nonsensical.
As for the half-assed assassination schemes goes they have been tried many times and were not successful. Since very few knew where the man of many doubles was at any given time and we had no intelligence assets to speak of in Iraq the impossibility of your plan speaks for itself.
Bush did what had to be done and there were no viable alternatives. Fantasies don't count as viable alternatives. We would have been just as successful trying to Pray him away. And what would have been the outcome if, by some miracle, we succeeded? Chemical Ali as a new dictator with the weapons in place?
Fortuately we have a brilliant team in power which has done a marvelous job in destroying our enemies because it avoided bird-brained schemes. Few military efforts in all of history have been as successful, as those who have knowledge of such matters understand. Unfortunately the RATmedia has convinced far too many nitwits that we have lost.
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