(a must read from July 2004) UN Admits Saddam Had WMD

alphapatriot dot com ^ | July 2004

[doug from upland]

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Tuesday, 13 July 2004

UN Admits Saddam Had WMD

Yet another under-reported story that masks reality: last week the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) -- that group of Inspector Clouseaus who were stumbling around Iraq before the war while losing the game of hide-and-seek with Saddam's henchmen -- gave a briefing to the U.N. Security Council about the movement of Iraqi WMD out of the country before, during and after the war.

Demetrius Perricos told the Council, "The removal of these materials from Iraq raises concerns with regard to proliferation risks," and said inspectors found Iraqi WMD and missile components shipped abroad that still contained UN inspection tags.

The World Tribune reported on Perricos's briefing. "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... The Baghdad missile site contained a range of WMD and dual-use components, UN officials said. They included missile components, reactor vessel and fermenters ... 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,' 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.'"

Finally, the U.N. admits what the rest of the world (minus the loony left) has known for a year. Prohibited missiles, equipment that would make a bio-terrorist's heart leap, and yellow cake. Tons of yellowcake.

Summing up:

• We know that the infamous "16 words" were true, verified by both British and French intelligence.
• The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's report declared that the administration did not seek to "coerce, influence or pressure analysts to change their judgments related to Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities."

• We know that Iraq had at least 1.77 metric tons of low-enriched uranium and roughly 1,000 highly radioactive sources -- because we now have them stored in Tennessee! Materials that could have been used to manufacture a ”dirty” radiological bomb or even support a nuclear weapons program.

• Way back in January, another U.N. entity, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), discovered 5 pounds of radioactive uranium oxide in a shipment of scrap metal at Rotterdam harbor. The metal came from Iraq via a dealer in Jordan.

• Last month, an IAEA spokesman said the IAEA had work to do in Iraq “because we know they still have the know-how” to make weapons of mass destruction.

• In May, Candian Prime Minister Paul Martin told a crowd of about 700 university researchers and business leaders in Montreal, "The fact is that there is now, we know well, a proliferation of nuclear weapons, and that many weapons that Saddam Hussein had, we don't know where they are. That means terrorists have access to all of that."

• The UNMOVIC report admits that there were "a number of sites in Iraq containing equipment and materials that could be used to produce illicit weapons. Further, “recent satellite imagery” from commercial sources (i.e., it doesn't take super-secret high-tech CIA spy satellites to see the obvious) shows that some of these sites “have been either cleaned out or destroyed”; and that there has been “extensive removal of equipment and, in some instances…entire buildings” from Iraqi nuclear facilities.

• We know that missile engines used in both Iraq’s SA-2 surface-to-air missiles and its prohibited surface-to-surface al Samoud missiles have been discovered in Europe.

• Inspectors believe at least some of these engines have also reached Turkey and hope to search Turkish ports in the near future.

• Twenty engines from banned Iraqi missiles [SA-2] were found in a Jordanian scrap yard with other equipment ["dual use"] that could be used for weapons of mass destruction.

• The report said the U.N. inspectors also found papers showing illegal contracts by Iraq for a missile guidance system, laser ring gyroscopes and a variety of production and testing equipment not previously disclosed (there's a shocker).

• Additionally, Iraq acquired “a variety of dual-use” items and materials for possible use in biological or chemical weapons programs, but there is “no evidence” that Iraq actually used the materials for weapons purposes. Although some of these items were acquired through illicit channels, Iraq eventually declared most of them to UNMOVIC. Some of these declarations, however, were “misleading,” the report says. [Please remember that Resolution 1441 gave Iraq a "final opportunity" to produce "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".]

• The U.N. team also discovered some processing equipment with U.N. tags — which show that it was being monitored — including heat exchangers, and a solid propellant mixer bowl to make missile fuel, he said. It also discovered "a large number of other processing equipment without tags, in very good condition." [Without tags, i.e., hidden from inspectors, secreted about the country, undeclared, undisclosed, and in violation of 1441!]

• The New York Times admits that while many of the items "bear tags placed by United Nations inspectors as suspect dual-use materials having capabilities for creating harmless consumer products as well as unconventional weapons" [unconventional weapons is the new PC way of not saying chemical and bio weapons], some items were not known to the U.N. (i.e., undisclosed, in violation of 1441).

  This equipment included fermenters, a freeze drier, distillation columns, parts of missiles and a reactor vessel - all tools suitable for making biological or chemical weapons.

  "It raises the question of what happened to the dual-use equipment, where is it now and what is it being used for," Mr. Buchanan said. He said that a fermenter was a good example of a dual-use item that was potentially dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. "You can make all kinds of pharmaceutical and medicinal products with a fermenter," he said. "You can also use it to breed anthrax." [That's right -- undisclosed, hidden equipment capable of breeding anthrax!]

• We know that 20 tons of chemicals that were to be used in an attack on Jordan, and that although they were coming across the Syria-Jordan border, Syria does not have the capability to produce chemical weapons on that kind of scale. But they took money from Saddam to hide WMD.

• And of course, everyone knows about the ammo cannisters that contain mustard and sarin gas. You know, the cannisters they couldn't account for destroying -- because they didn't destroy them!

If Saddam was still in power and this information were released today, it would be a solid case for going to war, liberating Iraq, and removing these materials from the control of an America-hating madman.

Once again, although the mainstream media is reporting this story in bits and pieces, it refuses to connect the dots.

Too busy connecting dots to show that Kerry's foul-mouthed Hollywood friends are "the heart and soul of America". Or that polls show a nation more divided than ever (which is bull -- study up on Rosevelt. Or the Civil War.).

Just like they are too busy showing the bad in Iraq and ignoring the many successes.

And strangely enough, this briefing is not on the UNMOVIC web site. Huh! I wonder why? Afraid it will be one more proof that America was right and that the U.N. was protecting the largest corruption ring in history?

One last point. Many on the left are no doubt lambasting the U.S. for not protecting this geographically dispersed nuclear compounds, missile sites and ammo dumps. Yet no one seems to be lambasting the U.N. for not stepping up and helping us out by providing troops that didn't have to do anything except sit on their butts protecting these sites [the one duty they seem to do well] while coalition solders were off quelling hot-spots and hunting foreign terrorists.

Posted by AlphaPatriot on Tuesday, 13 July 2004 at 07:35 PM in category War, Terrorism,& the Military

 

Truely superior bloggers that reference UN Admits Saddam Had WMD:

» Submitted for Your Approval from Watcher of Weasels:

First off...  any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here.  Die spambots, die!  And now...  here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher's Council for this week's vote. Council links:Los ... [Read More]

Tracked on July 13, 2004 11:21 PM

» New info on WMD from Parableman:

Now this is a little out of character. I discovered an unexpected source declaring more strongly than anything I've seen in a while that Saddam Hussein did have WMD and ongoing programs for producing more. The source? The United Nations.... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2004 08:36 PM

» The Council Has Spoken! from Watcher of Weasels:

First off...  any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here.  Die spambots, die!  And now...  the winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are UN Admits Saddam Had WMD by Alpha Patriot... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2004 11:25 PM

» The Council Has Spoken! from Watcher of Weasels:

First off...  any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here.  Die spambots, die!  And now...  the winning entries in the Watcher's Council vote for this week are UN Admits Saddam Had WMD by Alpha Patriot... [Read More]

Tracked on July 15, 2004 11:47 PM

» Saddam's WMD from The Rough Woodsman:

Alpha Patriot's UN Admits Saddam Had WMD is the best summary I've seen yet of the stories being buried by the mainstream media. I hope the RNC wakes up to the need for the public to be educated on these... [Read More]

Tracked on July 16, 2004 12:14 AM

» THE COUNCIL HAS SPOKEN. from The SmarterCop:

Congratulations to this week's Watcher's Council winners! They were both excellent entries, noted quite appropriately with an astounding four votes a piece! They are: Council member Alpha Patriot, with UN Admits Saddam had WMD Non-council blog The Blea... [Read More]

Tracked on July 16, 2004 07:43 AM

» Council Winners from Patterico's Pontifications:

The winners of the Watcher's Council's weekly vote for best post of the week have been announced. Congratulations to Alpha Patriot for the winning Council entry, UN Admits Saddam Had WMD, and James Lileks's The Bleat for an overwhelming victory... [Read More]

Tracked on July 16, 2004 08:27 AM

» As The Worm Turns from I love Jet Noise:

Knowing that I can never resist flogging a dead horse, the ever-observant Don Brouhaha sent me a link to this excellent post on our friends at UNMOVIC. You remember - those wacky folks who brought you entertaining fare like, "Dude... [Read More]

Tracked on July 17, 2004 02:56 PM

» The Council Has Spoken from INDC Journal:

The results from this week's Watcher's Council are in, and the winners are ... Non-Council Link: Some classic Lileks: Believing In Bush’s Perfidy Council Link: The truly excellent UN Admits Saddam Had WMD, by Alpha Patriot Congrats to the winners... [Read More]

Tracked on July 18, 2004 09:34 PM

» Saddam's WMD from The Rough Woodsman:

Alpha Patriot's UN Admits Saddam Had WMD is the best summary I've seen yet of the stories being buried by the mainstream media. I hope the RNC wakes up to the need for the public to be educated on these... [Read More]

Tracked on July 21, 2004 10:15 PM

» The Council Has Spoken ! ! ! from e-Claire:

and I was baaaaed -- apparently late and baaad. The winning council entries were: UN Admits Saddam Had WMD by Alpha Patriot Affirming Life - and Death by Exultate Justi and the non-council winners; Believing In Bush’s Perfidy by Lileks'... [Read More]

Tracked on July 22, 2004 10:23 AM

» The War in Iraq: For the record, once again from The Rough Woodsman:

war in iraq, president bush did the right thing, saddam's wmd [Read More]

Tracked on August 7, 2004 07:17 PM

» A Weighty Analogy from AMERICAN DIGEST:

The ancien regime of "Bush Lied" is back again.But then again they will always be back since, having been denied real power, they are -- for at least four years -- card-carrying members of the hard-core unemployed. Whether they are actually employable ... [Read More]

Tracked on January 15, 2005 01:01 PM

Comments

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Rock

Posted by Uncle Mikey on Saturday at 07:59 PM

[doug from upland]

Why can't the administration explain it like this?

[rhombus]

Why can't the administration explain it like this?

Well I have to admit that it was a little dull in reading but you are correct to point out that the administration did a very poor job of defending the "no WMD" charge that is now accepted as fact. I heard Tim Russert just this morning on Imus repeat the "no WMD" mantra.

[quantfive]

Great compilation of facts. Thank you!!!!!!

[Piquaboy]

Just another one of our great MSM people repeating a lie. If they all could be sent to jail for libel we would not have many of these people around.

[rhombus]

Just another one of our great MSM people repeating a lie.

It's not a lie if they believe it and they really do want to belive that there was NO WMD. There's some real irony there when they often repeat the claim that "intelligence was cooked" etc

[Piquaboy]

Of course they would never cook any news! If a--holes were airplanes, the media would be the airport.

[yoe]

Thanks! Sent onto Hardball, Imus, Rush and Hannity.

[Peach]

Why can't the administration explain it like this?

A very good question. And why can't they explain that the Democrats KNEW that Al Qaeda was in Iraq in 2002. It's in the Iraq War Resolution that it is known that AQ is in Iraq.

[pickrell]

"...Why can't the administration explain it like this?...

I hesitate to write this, but here goes. Let us suppose that the Administration has very sensitive intelligence about where these materials are currently buried in Syria, but has no geo-political mandate to go get them, and have their hands full right now stabilizing Iraq.

An alternative might be to allow the world perception to exist that we just don't know what went wrong and where these weapons went. Our best option then would be to watch these sites, and as weapons were then moved, (such as to attack Jordan), we could simply tip off Jordanian Intelligence as to what vehicles would be crossing the border, and insist that they take the credit for stopping these guys.

Similarly, if we knew where Bin Laudin was, we could take him out... and then have to start all over again on the unknown new leaders of the deathmob who would then emerge, or... we could profess ignorance and absorb as much intelligence as possible from monitoring his communications, whatever they might be.

We have no way of knowing what is taking place, and that is a good thing. Our intelligence professionals, (once they were freed from the necessity of collecting 900 files on the Clinton's enemies), have always had the stricture to operate unlauded and unacknowledged, and thereby preserve what intelligence advantages they could turn up.

A good example is the Verona intercepts, I believe they were called, where we had a submarine tapping Soviet communications, and knew for certain many things that would have made great ammunition against the liberals.

But, because there were adults in the room, we had to weigh the loss of a critical source of intelligence against the warm vindication we would have felt at exposing it.

Let us continue to have faith in our military and intelligence assets.

[Peach]

Your post makes as much sense as any I've seen about this matter. I'm glad you wrote and didn't hesitate!

[doug from upland]

Good points.

[Mrs Zip]

ping

[CyberAnt]

Well .. I have saved this .. and the next time one of those smarmy creeps starts spewing the "no WMD" charge - I will be sending this info to the TV station.

I have used this method before .. and after I have sent it several times - SOMEBODY GETS THE MSG.

That's why you can't give up .. even when it looks like there's just no end in sight.

[SunkenCiv]

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Saddam's Bombmaker by Khidhir Hamza with Jeff Stein

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[SunkenCiv]

blast (ahem) from the past.

[Chena]

Excellent post, doug from upland. Thank you! I've never understood why these facts haven't been repeated again and again by our administration nor news outlets. Well, ok, I know why the MSM wouldn't report it, but there are some clear-thinking reporters and talking-heads that also do not get the news out there as they should.

BUMP!

[Chena]

Very interesting, pickrell. Your hypotheticals make sense and could very well be correct. Thank you for sharing them.

[XJarhead]

I hesistate to write this, but what the hell....

Nobody disputed that Iraq had some banned materials. The question was whether they had undeclared stuff other than what had been inventoried, secured, and mark by U.N. inspectors. What the U.N. article is saying is that banned materials that had been securely stowed and marked in Iraq prior to war showed up after the war outside the country. The point being that during our invasion and for a period of time afterwards, those previously secured sites were no longer secure, and the stuff was stolen. But it wasn't stolen until after the invasion. In fact, that's one of the stories they use to say that the invasion made the spread of WMD's worse. I don't buy that spin, but the story really doesn't help us either.

Acknowledging that stuff was there is not the least bit inconsistent with the "we didn't find any WMD's" refrain, because that refrain wasn't referring to stuff U.N. had stored within Iraq.

I'm not speaking to any of the other links listed. Just the one that talks about "U.N. admits that Saddam had WMD". That's a flawed argument, and anyone who makes it somewhere off this site is going to have their lunch handed to them by a halfway intelligent liberal. Granted, such creatures are few and far between, but we shouldn't make flawed arguments anyway.