U.S. ENDS SEARCH FOR WMD IN IRAQ

CNN ^ | 1/12/05

[bozot]

"What will Iran do to retaliate?"

Taking more active part in the Iraq war would not be helpful... It can cause a lot of harm... Its army not like the starved, crippled Iraqi army. By interfering in Iraq and Afghanistan it can do serious damage.

[PaulaB]

Sir.
When you reply to me...reply with facts not with emotion. I could care a less if you think I am embarrassing myself. I know the truth and am here on FR to read the truth. You can keep you nasty little comments to yourself...I'm not interested.

[ravingnutter]

unnamed sources ... speculation ... no subsequent verification.

Oh please...

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, now director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, told reporters that U.S. surveillance satellites captured images of vehicle traffic dispersing WMD materiel to urban locations in Iraq and moving large quantities into Syria as well.

FOR THOSE STILL IN DENIAL, SADDAM'S WMD WENT TO SYRIA

SYDNEY (AFP) - Former chief UN weapons inspector Richard Butler backed US claims Tuesday that Syria helped conceal Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, saying he saw evidence of it. The former Australian diplomat said he had seen intelligence when he headed the UN team in Iraq from 1997 until 1999 which seemed to indicate Syria had helped keep Iraq's weapons of mass destruction hidden. "I was shown some intelligence information, from overhead imagery and so on, that the Iraqis had moved some containers of stuff across the border into Syria," Butler told ABC Radio.

Former UN weapons chief backs US claims Syria concealed weapons

David Kay, the former head of the coalition's hunt for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, yesterday claimed that part of Saddam Hussein's secret weapons programme was hidden in Syria. In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Dr Kay, who last week resigned as head of the Iraq Survey Group, said that he had uncovered evidence that unspecified materials had been moved to Syria shortly before last year's war to overthrow Saddam.

Saddam's WMD hidden in Syria, says Iraq survey chief

Just two months before al-Qaida terrorists were caught by Jordanian police transporting chemical bombs across the Jordanian-Syrian border, U.S. weapons inspector David Kay identified Syria as a likely hiding place for Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. "We know from some of the interrogations of former Iraqi officials that a lot of material went to Syria before the war, including some components of Saddam's WMD programs," Kay told the London Telegraph.

Chem Bomb Plot Flashback: Kay Warned Iraq's WMDs in Syria

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. 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.

UN Confirms: WMDs Smuggled Out of Iraq

Nizar Nayuf (Nayyouf-Nayyuf), a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe and is known for bravely challenging the Syrian regime, said in a letter Monday, January 5, to Dutch newspaper “De Telegraaf,” that he knows the three sites where Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) are kept.

IRAQ'S WEAPONS IN SYRIA: SENIOR SYRIAN JOURNALIST

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks for posting those quotes again. I never tire of reading them. Should we add:

"It's a slam-dunk, Mr. President." ~ George Tenent, CIA Director

[PaulaB]

Bravo.......

good post

[ravingnutter]

More:

Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong, who until last September was the number two in command of the Iraq war under Gen. Tommy Franks, revealed Sunday that U.S. military intelligence had determined that weapons of mass destruction were being smuggled out of the country as the U.S. prepared to invade.

"I do know for a fact that some of those weapons went into Syria, Lebanon and Iran," Gen. DeLong told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, while discussing his new book, "Inside CENTCOM: The Unvarnished Truth About the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

"Two days before the war, on March 17 [2003], we saw through multiple intelligence channels - both human intelligence and technical intelligence - large caravans of people and things, including some of the top 55 [most wanted] Iraqis going to Syria," Gen. DeLong explained. "We also know that before then, they buried some of the weapons of mass destruction," he added. "There are also some in Lebanon and probably a small amount in Iran."

Ex-CENTCOM No. 2: Intel Showed Iraq Smuggled Out WMDs

They also harbored WMD scientists until Powell called them on it:

A group of about 12 middle-ranking Iraqi nuclear technicians and their families were transported to Syria before the collapse of Saddam's regime. The transfer was arranged under a combined operation by Saddam's now defunct Special Security Organisation and Syrian Military Security, which is headed by Arif Shawqat, the Syrian president's brother-in-law. The Iraqis, who brought with them CDs crammed with research data on Saddam's nuclear programme, were given new identities, including Syrian citizenship papers and falsified birth, education and health certificates. Since then they have been hidden away at a secret Syrian military installation where they have been conducting research on behalf of their hosts.

UK Telegraph

[null and void]

Liberals do the wrong things for the right reasons,
Conservatives to the right things for the wrong reasons...

[iconoclast]

U.S. surveillance satellites captured images of vehicle traffic dispersing WMD materiel to urban locations in Iraq and moving large quantities into Syria as well.

Uh huh ... so why haven't we just cruised over and had a big picture taken with the WMD's surrounded by a group of happy officers?
Oh, General Clapper neglected to jot down the locations?
JUST DAMN!

The former Australian diplomat said he had seen intelligence when he headed the UN team in Iraq from 1997 until 1999 which seemed to indicate Syria ....

Gosh, how have we all managed to sleep nights since 1997. Wow, imminent threat! Awesomely courageous American civilians!

And so it goes.

Folks, folks, folks don't you know that if one damned WMD had been found, GWB, Rumsfeld, and both houses of Congress would have gathered on the steps of the Capitol for the biggest hootenanny since the aircraft carrier show?

Do you think lil ole Syria's got us so awed that we wouldn't have had a look at that mystery stash by now?

Did you get everything you asked Santa for this year?

Well sorry, there is no Santa, and any WMD crap, such as it was, most probably ceased with the Gulf War.

[Non-Sequitur]

bump

[HenryLeeII]

U.S. ENDS SEARCH FOR WMD IN IRAQ

Well, given the fact that we didn't go to war over possession of WMD combined with the fact that we've found WMD and WMD-related programs in Iraq, I'd say it was very successful. Of course I'm more honest and knowledgeable than any left-wing media puke or Dem'o'Rat, so they'll have a slightly different take on it than me...

[ravingnutter]

"The Russians brought in, just before the war got started, a whole series of military units," Mr. Shaw said. "Their main job was to shred all evidence of any of the contractual arrangements they had with the Iraqis. The others were transportation units."

Mr. Shaw, who was in charge of cataloging the tons of conventional arms provided to Iraq by foreign suppliers, said he recently obtained reliable information on the arms-dispersal program from two European intelligence services that have detailed knowledge of the Russian-Iraqi weapons collaboration.

A second defense official said documents on the Russian support to Iraq reveal that Saddam's government paid the Kremlin for the special forces to provide security for Iraq's Russian arms and to conduct counterintelligence activities designed to prevent U.S. and Western intelligence services from learning about the arms pipeline through Syria.

The Russian arms-removal program was initiated after Yevgeny Primakov, the former Russian intelligence chief, could not persuade Saddam to give in to U.S. and Western demands, this official said. "Whatever was not buried was put on lorries and sent to the Syrian border," the defense official said.

Documents reviewed by the official included itineraries of military units involved in the truck shipments to Syria. The materials outlined in the documents included missile components, MiG jet parts, tank parts and chemicals used to make chemical weapons, the official said.

Washington Times

Sure hope you left some milk and cookies out for Santa this last year...you might just get a lump of coal this year.

[HenryLeeII]

Folks, folks, folks don't you know that if one damned WMD had been found, GWB, Rumsfeld, and both houses of Congress would have gathered on the steps of the Capitol for the biggest hootenanny since the aircraft carrier show?

No, because Bush & Co. are mature adults, unlike the psychopaths in the Clinton regime. According to the report issued by Iraq Survey Group chairman Charles Duelfer last fall, we have found 41 rockets filled with sarin and/or cyclosarin, along with biological weapon seed stocks and various other WMD-related material and programs.

Now, combine that with the facts that we did not go to war over Hussein possessing WMD and that President Bush never referred to Iraq as an imminent threat (unlike former senator John Edwards), and you'll see a more accurate picture of the situation.

The biggest weakness of the Bush administration is that it has allowed the Democrats and the left-wing media to frame the public discourse on this issue, instead of staying out front on it and reminding the American public of basic facts such as WMD possession not being a reason for us going to war.

And BTW, how does President Bush giving a speech on an aircraft carrier, thanking the sailors for a job well-done during its extended tour, translate to being a "hootenanny?"

[Greenback_dollar]

DUELFER REPORT SUMMARY

Saddam wanted to recreate Iraq’s WMD capability—which was essentially destroyed in 1991—after sanctions were removed and Iraq’s economy stabilized, but probably with a different mix of capabilities to that which previously existed.


Iran was the pre-eminent motivator of this policy. All senior level Iraqi officials considered Iran to be Iraq’s principal enemy in the region. The wish to balance Israel and acquire status and influence in the Arab world
were also considerations, but secondary.

ISG uncovered Iraqi plans or designs for three long-range ballistic missiles with ranges from 400 to 1,000 km and for a 1,000-km-range cruise missile, although none of these systems progressed to production and only one reportedly passed the design phase.

Iraq Survey Group (ISG) discovered further evidence of the maturity and significance of the pre-1991 Iraqi Nuclear Program but found that Iraq’s ability to reconstitute a nuclear weapons program progressively decayed after that date.

While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991.

In practical terms, with the destruction of the Al Hakam facility, Iraq abandoned its ambition to obtain advanced BW weapons quickly. ISG found no direct evidence that Iraq, after 1996, had plans for a new BW program or was conducting BW-specific work for military purposes. Indeed, from the mid-1990s, despite evidence of continuing interest in nuclear and chemical weapons, there appears to be a complete absence of discussion or even interest in BW at the Presidential level.

[HenryLeeII]

When you read through the report, you'll see Duelfer's statements that Hussein was working to end sanctions in order to reconstitute his WMD programs. You'll also see reference to the 41 rockets recovered in Summer 04, and in his report and in David Kay's, there are references to WMD-related programs and material being recovered. Combined with the fact that we didn't go to war over WMD (read the Congressional War Resolution), this has been a fairly successful WMD search.

[iconoclast]

Folks like you three, and God knows your name is legion on here, are not just mind boggling ... you are absolutely frightening!

Wolfowitz said, in so many words, that the the WMD was the fabrication most easy to sell to the American Sheeple.

Can you say Baaaa!

[SevenMinusOne]

IMHO we got a HUGE WMD with the capture of Saddam Hussein.

A very good point that is continually over looked by the MSM - Along with the fact that WMD alone was not the sole reason we went into Iraq -

The MSM keep forgetting to mention that after 9-11 we could no long sit back and wait and see "if" Saddam had WMD - We could no longer afford to allow Saddam who certainly had the CAPABILITIES to produce WMD.....to do exactly that -

The World is safer because Saddam is no longer in power - No one being intellectually honest can deny this (this is why the MSM never talk about his removal when bringing up the war in Iraq.....which is really just an extension of the WOT) -

[SevenMinusOne]

Folks have been saying this for a long time now. They're either in Syria or the Beka'a Valley in Lebanon. Do you think we're ready to kick some Syrian booty while Iraq is still unstable?

The fact is Iraq did no posses the WMD we thought they did (however, removing Saddam from power has made the World safer....and has allowed us to verify what WMD Iraq did or did not have.....After 9-11 that was are only choice) -

But the fact is, Iraq did not have the WMD we thought they did - That is the bottom line - GWB, Cheney and Rumsfeld are serious men....they do not play word games....These men have all said Iraq did not have the WMD's we thought would be there -

There is no way that a viable WMD program could be completely removed from a Country with no trace - While WMD's themselves could theoretically be shipped to Syria...the fact is that no WMD program itself has been uncovered (thus, making the theoretical shipments to Syria seem a little off) - Personnel, equipment, containers, storage facilities, etc, etc, could not all disappear from Iraq prior to our invasion.

GWB, Cheney and Rumsfeld are all aware of this - That is why they don't play word games - They are serious men, doing serious jobs -

The fact is the CIA got it wrong with regard to WMD in Iraq - But the CIA has in retrospect got much wrong over the past 10 years - (the fact is the CIA became political while at the same time risk adverse!! - This made them useless and to a point dangerous).

[SevenMinusOne]

In my view it's more a problem of diplomacy than intelligence. If we could barge right into Syria, or have obtained immediate access to the Iraqi sites and records, we'd have found the weapons. No doubt in my mind.

See my post 78 -

[BillF]

There were WMDs found in Iraq and referred to in the Duelfer (Iraq Survey Group) Report issued last September.

Below is a map of Iraqi locations where WMDs were found. This is a map from the Duelfer Report as published on the CIA web site.

I understand that the Dems and their willing accomplices of the liberal media want to ignore these findings.

It is beyond me why President Bush and the administration have let themselves be put on the defensive over false assertions that no WMDs were found in Iraq.

President Bush, with his administration backing this line, should say, pointing to the below map:

The WMDs found in Iraq at the locations on this map were direct threats to America and all civilized countries. These weapons, kept in Iraq as Saddam continued to violate its ceasefire with us and 17 UN resolutions, required strong action by us.

The brave American and coalition forces took that strong action, liberating Iraq from a ruthless, mass-murdering dictator who had kept that country in bondage for decades.

Although it's true that the chemical WMDs found in Iraq were apparently made prior to 1991 and there were not as many WMDs as we, our allies, and our intelligence agencies believed, these weapons could easily have been used to murder innocent Americans in a terrorist attack.

Five (5) Americans were murdered, 13 others were infected, and major disruptions of our Congress and Postal Service resulted from a relatively small amount of anthrax mailed by an as-yet-unknown person or persons.

I don't think that the American people wanted Saddam to get away with flouting the ceasefire and the UN resolutions, keeping his WMDs, and continuing to pose a threat. We've found more WMDs in Iraq than were involved in the anthrax attacks. I wasn't about to trust that Saddam would not use the WMDs and would not transfer the WMDs to his terrorist allies.

Below is Figure 5, on page 30 of volume 3 (click here to go directly to map on CIA web site). You can click here to go to the index of the report.