Posted on 04/09/2006 10:19:52 AM PDT by jveritas
Pages 99 to129 of document CMPC-2003-00013038 dated in March 1997, many years after Saddam was supposed to fully comply with the UN resolutions to disarm his WMD and reveal everything to the UN inspectors, include many correspondences from the Iraqi intelligence service asking their employees not to store any information related to WMD and remove any information they have regarding WMD from their computers and records. This is yet another document that shows how Saddam Regime was doing all their efforts to hide their WMD programs or any information relate to it from the UN inspectors, a clear sign that this regime never really complied and they always wanted to keep their WMD programs and production.
Beginning of Translation of Page 107:
Subject: Pledge
I am the signatory below, I pledge not to store any information related to the Prohibited Weapons on any computer that we have installed and evacuate the related numbered magnetic discs to outside the location. And for this I sign
Signature
Name: Issam Shaker
Position: Director of Administration in the Fourth Directory
Directory: The Forth Directory
Date: 26/3/1997
End of translation of Page 107
In the document, there are many letters with the same text as in page 107 signed by other employees of the Iraqi intelligence service.
Beginning of the Translation of Page 115:
A visit was made to the Computer Center of the Third Directory Storage and search it and inform the person who is directly in charge of it to remove all the information related to the Prohibited Matters and what is related to the committees of inspection and industrialization and that he will be held responsible for this.
Signature
29/3/1997
End of translation of Page 115
In the document, there are many letters with the same text as in page 115 that inform different departments in the Iraqi intelligence service to remove all the information related to WMD.
Thank you. God Speed.
That will be great. Be sure to have us all pinged.
Remember the threads back when we went into Iraq? There was one specific thread I remember about a scientist that had some equipment buried in his yard and disks and files in his home. That article said the scientist and others were told to keep that data in their homes.
So I bet those hard drive disks were removable. Similar idea to zip disk drives.
It has always appeared to be state sponsored to me; and I sometimes feel almost alone in having any interest. Any thoughts?
Thank you very much for doing this. Let us spread the truth.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Six Iraqi scientists working at different Baghdad research institutions were ordered to destroy some bacteria and equipment and hide more in their homes before visits from U.N. weapons inspectors in the months leading up to the war, the scientists told The Associated Press.
In separate interviews, all of the scientists said they were involved in civilian research projects and none knew of any programs for weapons of mass destruction. It was not clear why their materials, ostensibly for nonmilitary research, were ordered destroyed.
But their accounts indicate the government of Saddam Hussein may have had advance knowledge of at least some of the inspectors' visits, as the United States suspected, and that the former Iraqi regime was deeply concerned about any material that could raise the suspicion of U.N. experts.
"An hour or two before the inspectors came to the university, I got my orders from the chairman," said a biochemistry professor at Saddam University for Science and Engineering.
"The order was to hide anything that might make the inspectors suspicious. Any bacterium, any fungus. I destroyed seven petri dishes in the autoclave and I put the others in the trunk of my car."
He said the petri dishes held Staphylococcus and E. coli bacteria and a fungus that can cause severe skin problems -- all commonly used for experiments.
The scientist and several others would only speak on condition of anonymity.
While U.S. troops are firmly in control of the Iraqi capital, university officials, some of them linked by blood to Saddam, remain in their academic positions and scientists fear they could be fired if they are discovered providing information that slights their bosses.
Saddam University's assistant dean, Ameer Abbas Ameer, said inspectors visited his university three times, checking the chemistry, biology and physics departments. He denied ordering professors and researchers to destroy or hide materials.
"The inspectors never found anything because there wasn't anything to find," he said. "They were even joking about it when they were here. They were never serious. You don't search for weapons of mass destruction under the carpet."
But the professor and other scientists said orders came from Ameer's office, through the department chairman, to hide and destroy materials when the inspectors were on their way.
"The chairman told us not to answer questions from any inspectors, to go to the cafeteria and stay there until they left," the professor said. "They were afraid. What they were afraid of, I don't know."
President Bush claimed during his State of the Union address that Iraqi spies had penetrated the U.N. inspections. While some inspectors privately suspect as much, none of the inspection teams found any firm evidence to support the president's claim.
"Clearly we were well aware that the Iraqis were trying to figure out our inspection plans and we took many practicable precautions against that," said Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for the U.N. inspectors. He said information was handled on a "need to know" basis and precautions included "silent briefings" between inspectors to elude any listening devices the Iraqis may have placed at U.N. offices in Baghdad.
excerpt
I am very glad that you are doing this jr; thank you very much.
Thanks. This seems very important to me. I hope you can find something.
And Again, Much Thanks.
(snip)
An American military team hunting for unconventional weapons in Iraq, the Mobile Exploitation Team Alpha, or MET Alpha, which found the scientist, declined to identify him, saying they feared he might be subject to reprisals. But they said that they considered him credible and that the material unearthed over the last three days at sites to which he led them had proved to be precursors for a toxic agent that is banned by chemical weapons treaties.
The officials' account of the scientist's assertions and the discovery of the buried material, which they described as the most important discovery to date in the hunt for illegal weapons, supports the Bush administration's charges that Iraq continued to develop those weapons and lied to the United Nations about it. Finding and destroying illegal weapons was a major justification for the war.
(snip)
The team, with vehicles and supplies from the 101st Airborne Division, went out on its own to survey other sites and pursue the tip about the buried containers and the scientist. After completing a lengthy survey of one installation, Mr. Gonzales and other team members from the Defense Intelligence Agency's Chemical Biological Intelligence Support Team decided to try to find the scientist.
Mr. Gonzales tracked down the scientist's note, which had never been formally analyzed and was still in a brigade headquarters, along with the scientist's address, military officials said.
The next morning, MET Alpha weapons experts found the scientist at home, along with some documents from the program and samples he had buried in his backyard and at other sites.
The scientist has told MET Alpha members that because Iraq's unconventional weapons programs were highly compartmented, he only had firsthand information about the chemical weapons sector in which he worked, team members said.
But he has given the Americans information about other unconventional weapons activities, they said, as well as information about Iraqi weapons cooperation with Syria, and with terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda. It was not clear how the scientist knew of such a connection.
(snip)
bump
Good memory.
Curious as to how you retrieved the thread...
::Sings to Ernest::
Thanks for the memories!
/singing
Your bump list :)
OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC)LIST
12 posted on 04/14/2003 2:58:47 PM EDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (Recall Gray Davis and then start on the other Democrats)
Thanks for the ping!
Them bumplists are mighty handy!
LOL!
United Nations
Distr. GENERAL
S/1997/301
11 April 1997
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
NOTE BY THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
I. BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES
2. Verification inspections were conducted in Iraq each month from October 1996 to March 1997. These inspections continued to uncover flaws in accounting for the biological weapons programme and evidence that Iraq is concealing significant aspects of that programme. The October inspection (UNSCOM 159) focused on field trials conducted by Iraq. Information from interviews, supported by documentation, indicates more field trials than have been acknowledged by Iraq. A disturbing incident, which occurred in October 1996, was an attempt during a break in an interview by a senior Iraqi official to convince the Iraqi expert being interviewed to change his statements.
Missile Activities
Monitoring activities
34. During the reporting period, the missile monitoring teams have conducted over 250 inspections and have actively participated with other resident teams in joint inspections of sites of inter-disciplinary interest. In addition, the Commission has conducted two special monitoring inspections related to non-proscribed missile systems, i.e., those with a range of less than 150 kilometres. In November and December 1996, the monitoring teams conducted the second and third of the annual checks of Iraq's non-proscribed operational missile systems. The missions ascertained that these missiles had not been modified for prohibited purposes. In March 1997, UNSCOM 181 carried out inspections of a selected group of military units in order to verify that the relevant sites were not involved in training, maintenance or operation of prohibited missile systems. No evidence of proscribed activities was found.
V. CONCEALMENT INVESTIGATIONS
47. In December 1996, the Commission continued its investigation by examining, jointly with IAEA, the concealment activities between January and July 1991, involving the Engineering Design Centre - Iraq's centrifuge and gaseous diffusion enrichment projects. The results of this mission are still being assessed, although patterns of Iraq's behaviour in this area appear to have mirrored known concealment activities in other areas. In March 1997, IAEA excavated three declared equipment burial sites south of Lake Tharthar and unearthed hundreds of items relating to Engineering Design Centre operations. Although many of these items are consistent with Iraq's declaration, a previously undeclared and highly expensive cache of unused specialized, corrosion resistant valves was found. The excavation exercise was facilitated by the utilization of geophysical sensors provided through UNSCOM.
49. In March 1997, the Commission undertook a major investigation of the concealment mechanism. An inspection team, UNSCOM 182, visited 17 sites looking for possible connections between concealment activities and elements of the Special Republican Guard. Other sites visited included those belonging to Iraq's Intelligence Service (Mukhabarat), the Special Security Organization, the General Security Service and the Military Intelligence. No proscribed material or activity was found. The Commission welcomes Iraq's cooperation in providing access to the sensitive sites for inspection.
very impressive work, you've done, jveritas
I know you probably are getting a bit tired of all the thanks, but... thanks.
I know its not why you did it, but I really believe when books are written on Iraq, and this time in history, you name will be included.
I am proud that our country has such people as citizens.
P.S. Helloooooooo.... Mr.Negroponte that sat on these documents for 2 years, saying they are 'of little significance, and only then in historical context" and only started releasing them when FORCED by Bush....
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