Iraq Gave Up WMD After '91, Says Scientist

Saddam Hussein gave up all of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, the scientist who headed his nuclear program, Jaffar Dhia Jaffar, said in a BBC interview on Wednesday.

"There was no capability. There was no chemical or biological or any what are called weapons of mass destruction," said Jaffar in what BBC television called his first-ever broadcast interview.

Speaking in Paris, where he now lives, Jaffar - who ran Saddam's nuclear program for 25 years - said there was "no development" of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons "at any time after 1991".

He said he knew that for a fact "because I am in touch with the people concerned".

Saddam's quest for weapons of mass destruction - and the fear that they might fall into the hands of global terrorists - was one of the prime reasons given for the US and British invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Nearly 18 months on, no such weapons have been uncovered - a fact that both US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have been forced to concede.

Jaffar told the BBC he remained loyal to Saddam's regime until he slipped out of Iraq via Syria two days before the fall of Baghdad which signalled the collapse of the longtime Iraqi dictator.

Flip floppin' like John Kerry here:

NOVEMBER 1995 : (IRAQ ISSUES A SECOND "FULL, FINAL & COMPLETE DISCLOSURE" - SINCE IT HAD BEEN CAUGHT FIBBING AND LEAVING THINGS OUT OF THE FIRST ONE WHEN SADDAM HUSSEIN'S SON-IN-LAW GENERAL KAMEL DEFECTED) In November 1995, he [Saddam Hussein] issued a second "Full, Final and Complete Disclosure" as to his supposedly non-existent missile programs. That very same month, Jordan intercepted a large shipment of high-grade missile components destined for Iraq. - "Russian Collusion in Iraq," By Ion Mihai Pacepa, Washington Times , August 22, 2003

Let's not even ask Dr. Kay:

1996 : (IRAQ'S BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS PROGRAM SHIFTS FROM AL HAKIM TO TUWAITHA AFTER DEFECTION OF HUSSEIN KAMIL; PUTTING THE BIOOWARFARE PROGRAM AT TUWAITHA FOOLS THE UN BECAUSE TUWAITHA WAS THOUGHT TO BE A NUCLEAR SITE AND SO, UNSCOM BIOWEAPONS EXPERTS NEVER SEARCHED IT; KAY FINDS IT AFTER US INVASION OF IRAQ IN 2003) The CSIS website carries notes by Anthony Cordesman from a recent trip to Iraq.Those covering an interview with David Kay on Iraq's weapons programs (pps 6 & 7, lower left #'s ) are at: http://www.csis.org/features/031114current.pdf The notes underline the importance to Saddam of Iraq's biological weapons program: "Situation is complicated by shift of bio program from Al Hakim to Tuwaitha in 96 [ie after Hussein Kamil defected], which fooled the UN because Tuwaitha was seen as a nuclear site at [sic] looked at by IAEA and not UNSCOM." --"Latest on Iraq's Weapons ," by Laurie Mylroie, IRAQ NEWS, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2003

They were being retrained to flip burgers. That's the ticket...

AUGUST 1998 : (IRAQ : WEAPONS SCIENTISTS ARE ORDERED TO RETURN TO DUTY) Scientists who had previously worked on the weapons programme were made to return to their duties in August 1998, four months before Saddam expelled the inspectors, ...according to Salman Yassin Zweir, a design engineer who was employed by the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission for 13 years, the instruction came in a document marked "top secret" which identified a research centre on Al-Jadriya Street, Baghdad, as the headqarters of the new operation. .....Zweir was arrested and tortured after refusing to go back to the programme. He later escaped to Jordan where he would be reunited with his wife who was also tortured and their children. - Source : Times of London 12/23/00

Uh... we ordered this ten years ago and the guy from al-Fedex has been stuck in Jordanian traffic ever since. Really.

MAY 2000 : (IAEA FINDS IN JORDAN A MACHINE ORDERED BY IRAQ WHICH IS RELATED TO URANIUM ENRICHMENT ) The IAEA said that in May the agency found a filament-winding machine ordered by Iraq that had arrived in Jordan. The agency said the system was part of Baghdad's clandestine uranium enrichment program. The machine and its spare parts were destroyed, the agency said..” - Source : Middle East Newsline 10/18/00

OK, so this is Iran. Iran uses these aluminum tubes in their program and the US has found out Libya bought some for theirs, too. But Iraq is different. It uses them for rockets, and only rockets. Very expensive single-use small rockets which by the way we haven't found, but they were never bought with the intent of using them for uranium enrichment. Really. Nevermind Iran and Libya and that whole Qadeer Khan thing.

2001 not sure which month : (US & ISRAEL ALERT RUSSIA TO A SUSPICIOUS SHIPMENT OF ALUMINUM TUBING ON A RUSSIAN-FLAGGED SHIP HEADED FOR IRAN)...The officials said the two countries exchanged a series of diplomatic messages after the United States and Israel alerted Russia to a suspicious aluminum shipment on a Russian boat that was headed for Iran via the Black Sea soon after President Bush took office Jan. 21. [2001] According to the American version, Russian inspectors boarded the vessel and reported that the aluminum was intended for aircraft manufacture, an explanation not accepted by the United States. The shipment was allowed to proceed to Iran. The precise origin of the aluminum is not known, but U.S. officials said the deal was arranged by a Russian metals trader. The officials said that the United States and Israel have evidence that the aluminum was delivered to Iranian institutions connected with what they suspect is Iran's nuclear weapons project. The aluminum shipment is the latest in a series of nuclear proliferation disputes that have clouded U.S.-Russian relations in recent years. U.S. officials said Bush is expected to raise proliferation concerns with Russian President Vladimir Putin during their first face-to-face meeting Saturday in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana without going into detail about specific cases. "It's a big deal," said one well-placed administration official, referring to fears that Iran is experimenting with different ways of enriching uranium to produce bomb-grade material that would serve as the basis for a crude nuclear weapon. U.S. officials said they suspected that the aluminum alloy delivered to Iran was intended for the manufacture of rotor blades used in gas centrifuges that separate out the enriched uranium that can produce a chain reaction for a nuclear explosion. U.S. experts say that Iran has been attempting to acquire centrifuge technology, as well as other technology for enriching uranium, for much of the last decade as part of a larger effort to build an atomic bomb. (/snip) -- "U.S., Russia At Odds on Iranian Deal ; Bush to Raise Atomic Issues at Summit ," By Michael Dobbs, Washington Post Staff Writer via 14 posted on 03/10/2003 1:54:47 AM PST by piasa

He added: "Saddam took a decision in July 1991 to abandon the (nuclear) program and destroy what remained of its equipment." "We had orders to hand over the equipment to the Republican Guards, to the special Republican Guards, and they had orders to destroy the equipment that we handed over to them." "Everything was destroyed, such that the program couldn't be restarted at the time at all, and it never restarted," Jaffar said, adding that there was also no request to do more research.

There is just no good reason given for this. Saddam just decided to destroy them, OUT OF THE GOODNESS OF HIS HEART? It seems so unlikely.

Oh, and that Iraqi-UN Oil for Food scandal couldn't possibly have anything to do with this... so don't go there.

2001 late : (REPORT : SCIENTIST RIHAB TAHA, WHOSE HUSBAND IS IRAQI OIL MINISTER AMIR RASHID UBAYDI, BELIEVED TO TEST HER POISONS ON HUMAN BEINGS) Military officials in Washington recently identified Rihab Taha as "the leading official in charge of Iraq's biological weapons program." She is also politically well-connected. Her husband is Iraqi oil minister Amir Rashid Ubaydi, who helps direct the country's relations with the U.N. weapons-inspection teams. U.N. inspectors believe Rihab Taha, who has a 5-year- old daughter, tests her poisons on human guinea pigs. Dr. John Turner, who once taught Rihab Taha biology, told London's Sunday Mirror: "It's a great shock, like finding your daughter has gone and done something dreadful." - "SECRETS OF 'DR. GERM'," by BILL HOFFMANN, New York Post , 10/22/01

This wasn't a UAV. It was swampgas you saw.

JUNE 27, 2002 : (US DISCOVERS IRAQ'S UAV PROGRAM HAS GONE WELL BEYOND THE RANGE THE UN PERMITS) "And in the little that Saddam Hussein told us about UAVs, he has not told the truth. One of these lies is graphically and indisputably demonstrated by intelligence we collected on June 27th last year. According to Iraq's December 7th declaration, its UAVs have a range of only 80 kilometers. But we detected one of Iraq's newest UAVs in a test flight that went 500 kilometers, nonstop, on autopilot in the racetrack pattern depicted here. Not only is this test well in excess of the 150 kilometers that the United Nations permits, the test was left out of Iraq's December 7th declaration. The UAV was flown around and around and around in this circle, and so that its 80-kilometer limit really was 500 kilometers, unrefueled and on autopilot, violative of all of its obligations under 1441. The linkages over the past 10 years between Iraq's UAV program and biological and chemical warfare agents are of deep concern to us. Iraq could use these small UAVs, which have a wingspan of only a few meters, to deliver biological agents to its neighbors or, if transported, to other countries, including the United States. " -- later comments by Colin Powell, "Exposed: Saddam's Prohibited Missiles and Support of al-Qaeda Terrorism," Colin Powell address to the UN Security Council on Wednesday, via Newsmax.com, Feb. 5, 200

NOVEMBER 16, 2002 : (IRAQ : THE DAY BEFORE UN INSPECTIONS TEAMS RETURN, AN IRAQI COLONEL AND AN IRAQI REPUBLICAN GUARD BRIGADIER GENERAL DISCUSS HOW TO HIDE TELL-TALE ITEMS - SPECIFICALLY, A MODIFIED VEHICLE FROM THE AL-KINDI COMPANY- FROM UN INSPECTORS; THE US SECRETLY TAPES THE CONVERSATION, AND US SEC OF STATE POWELL WOULD PLAY PORTIONS BEFORE THE UN IN FEBRUARY 2003)
...
COLONEL : We have this modified vehicle. What do we say if one of them sees it?
GENERAL : "You didn't get it modified. You don't have one of those, do you?"
COLONEL : "I have one."
GENERAL : "Which? From where?"
COLONEL : "From the workshop. From the Al-Kindi Company."
GENERAL : "What?"
COLONEL : "From Al-Kindi." [A company known to have been involved in prohibited weapons systems activity.]
GENERAL : "I'll come to see you in the morning. I'm worried you all have something left."
COLONEL : "We evacuated everything. We don't have anything left."
...
-- Source: "Remarks to the United Nations Security Council," by Secretary Colin L. Powell, New York City
February 5, 2003

These are not missile engines, They are engines intended for use as silly-string dispensers for our New Years celebration. You know, the tradition Baathist party where we hoist a political prisoner up a minaret and then let him drop at midnight.

DECEMBER 2002 : (IRAQ IMPORTS SA-2 ROCKET ENGINES, VIOLATING UN RESOLUTION 682, EVEN AFTER THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL PASSED RESOLUTION 1441) "UNMOVIC has also reported that Iraq has illegally imported 380 SA-2 rocket engines. These are likely for use in the Al-Samoud 2. Their import was illegal on three counts. Resolution 687 prohibited all military shipments into Iraq. UNSCOM specifically prohibited use of these engines in surface-to-surface missiles. And finally, as we have just noted, they are for a system that exceeds the 150-kilometer range limit. Worst of all, some of these engines were acquired as late as December [2002], after this council passed Resolution 1441. " - Colin Powell, see "Exposed: Saddam's Prohibited Missiles and Support of al-Qaeda Terrorism," Colin Powell spech, via Newsmax.com, Feb. 5, 2003

*cough*

DECEMBER 7, 2002 : (UN : IRAQ SUBMITS YET ANOTHER "FULL, FINAL AND COMPLETE DISCLOSURE" TO THE UN SINCE ITS OTHER "FULL FINAL AND COMPLETE DISCLOSURES" THROUGH THE YEARS ALL TURNED OUT TO BE NEITHER "FULL, FINAL OR COMPLETE") Iraq submitted a statement to provide a "currently accurate, full and complete declaration of all aspects of its programmes to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and other delivery systems."- "Statements to the UN Security Council by two Inspectors and Members of the SC, 7 Mar 2003 ," UN Press Release SC/7682, 07/03/2003, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/859554/posts

JANUARY 2003 mid : (IRAQ, UN, ONE SCIENTIST SEARCHED HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS PAPERS, ANOTHER WAS CAUGHT BY IRAQ TRYING TO ESCAPE, WAS PROBABLY EXECUTED) UNITED NATIONS weapons inspectors in Iraq revealed last night that they had discovered 3,000 documents linked to nuclear arms technology while searching a scientist's house. The documents were recovered from the home of Faleh Hassan, an Iraqi physicist and director of a military installation west of Baghdad. Mohamed El Baradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Hassan's papers related to a laser technique for enriching uranium, a component of nuclear weapons. ...* This weekend American intelligence officers were investigating a report that a senior official in Iraq's ministry of industry and military industrialisation, which oversees weapons production, had been killed. He had been trying to flee the country for Jordan with his wife and two children a week ago, but had been stopped. "He was trying to leave with information, but the Mukhabarat [intelligence service] are watching him and all people like him," said an Iraqi source opposed to the regime. "They brought him back to Baghdad. We think he [was] executed." There has been no confirmation of the claim.

"That's OK, we are perfectly willing to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate ourselves. Please wait until we are done inquiring and can confirm to the United Nations Security Council that we don't recall anything before you ask France for permission to bomb us."

JANUARY 16, 2003 : (IRAQ : UNMOVIC DISCOVERS EMPTY CHEMICAL MUNITIONS - IRAQ ACTS INNOCENT AND APPOINTS A "COMMISSION OF INQUIRY" ) Among other developments, the report [ the twelfth quarterly report of the Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) in accordance with paragraph 12 of Security Council resolution 1284 (1999), covering UNMOVIC's activities from 1 December 2002 to 28 February 2003.] notes that, on 16 January, UNMOVIC inspectors discovered a number of empty 122-mm chemical munitions. Following that discovery, Iraq appointed a commission of inquiry. - "Statements to the UN Security Council by two Inspectors and Members of the SC, 7 Mar 2003 ," UN Press Release SC/7682, 07/03/2003, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/859554/posts

Still unconvinced? Wait a moment longer while we form a commission of inquiry to inquire into our previous comission of inquiry to look into why we told you we destroyed the delivery systems we originally told you in our full, final and cokmplete disclosure that we didn't have ... but didn't destroy because we mistook these shells for dual-use waterpipe bases.

JANUARY 2003 : (IRAQ EXPANDS ITS "COMMISSION OF INQUIRY," FORMS A SECOND COMMISSION TO SEARCH FOR "LEFTOVERS" & DOCUMENTS) Later in January [after empty chemical munition shells were discovered and Iraq formed a "commission of inquiry"] , Iraq expanded the mandate of the commission to search for any remaining proscribed items on Iraqi territory. A second commission was appointed with the task of searching for any documents relevant to the proscribed items and programmes. - "Statements to the UN Security Council by two Inspectors and Members of the SC, 7 Mar 2003 ," UN Press Release SC/7682, 07/03/2003, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/859554/posts

OK, so we MEANT to do this ten years ago instead of after several full final disclosures and at least twelve UN resolutions. Really.

JANUARY 30, 2003 : (IRAQ : RIGHT UNDER THE NOSES OF THE UN INSPECTORS IN IRAQ, IRAQI MILITARY STILL CONCERNED ABOUT HIDING EVIDENCE OF WMD : OFFICER FROM THE REPUBLICAN GUARD HQ ISSUES INSTRUCTIONS TO AN OFFICER IN THE FIELD: THE US SECRETLY TAPES THE CONVERSATION AND POWELL WOULD PLAY PART OF IT BEFORE THE UN IN FEBRUARY 2003)
...

HQ : "They are inspecting the ammunition you have, yes?"
FIELD OFFICER : "Yes. For the possibility there are forbidden ammo."
HQ : "For the possibility there is, by chance, forbidden ammo?"
FIELD OFFICER : "Yes.
HQ : "And we sent you a message yesterday to clean out all the areas, the scrap areas, the abandoned areas. Make sure there is nothing there.”
...
HQ : "After you have carried out what is contained in this message, destroy the message because I don't want anyone to see this message."
FIELD OFFICER : "Okay."
... -- Source: "Remarks to the United Nations Security Council," by Secretary Colin L. Powell, New York City February 5, 2003

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