Posted on 07/28/2006 1:42:19 PM PDT by Sam Hill
The following is a translation of a newly posted Iraqi document done by an unofficial translator. The document, posted in Arabic, is from a Department Of Defense program. It is dated July 13 -- probably 2003.
In it an Iraqi opposition source (a Kurd) working in Syria reports on the movement of Iraqi trucks to Syria before the start of the US invasion of Iraq. It is his understanding that the trucks contained proscribed weapons of mass destruction.
Here is one page from the pdf file showing the original document in Arabic:
"I'm curious what Moharram 10th translates to on the normal calendar."
It's a Moslem holiday period, and moves with the moon.
When is Al-Hijra / Muharram? - When-Is.com
http://www.when-is.com/al-hijra-muharram.asp
Apparently it can be anywhere from late January to the end of March.
A lot of people have said this is what happened, including somebody who should know;
Ex-Official: Russia Moved Saddam's WMD
"The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went to Syria and Lebanon," former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw told an audience Saturday at a privately sponsored "Intelligence Summit" in Alexandria, Va. (www.intelligencesummit.org).
"They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units out of uniform, that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," he said.
Shaw has dealt with weapons-related issues and export controls as a U.S. government official for 30 years, and was serving as deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security when the events he described today occurred.
http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/2/18/233023.shtml
"I was simply saying had they moved in a convoy of that size we would have spotted it."
Whose to say we didn't?
You have to remember, that at the time these convoys were traveling to Syria, we hadn't attacked Iraq as yet and weren't on the ground to stop them.
At that point, there just wouldn't have been anything that we could have done about it anyway.
I think the U.S. knows where they went, but, unless they want to start a fight with Syria, they aren't going to go after them.
IMO
"I'm curious what Moharram 10th translates to on the normal calendar."
Let me correct my earlier post. It's the first month of the Moslem New Year. But since the Moslem year is shorter than ours, it "migrates" through the years.
Anyway, in 2003 it was the thirty day period starting March 4, 2003.
Muslim New Year - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_New_Year
DoD Report: 50 Trucks Carried Iraqi WMD To Syria
Release/Translation of Classified PreWar Docs ping. If you want to be added or removed to the ping list, please Freepmail me.
Please add the keyword prewardocs to any articles pertaining to this subject.
Operation Iraqi Freedom Documents
Documents from the Harmony Database
An Interview With a Citizen Translator and American Hero
Mark Eichenlaub Documenting Saddam Hussein's State Sponsorship of Terrorism
This battle is lost.
"There are no WMD"
At least that is the public perception and the arguments of the anti war pundit. Minor details like those finds that have been made, soldiers that have been exposed, documents reference transfers of them to Syria, facilities found sanitized, Iraqi regime members making sworn statements to the effect of their existence is all brushed aside.
Unless we find a giant bunker with 20 tons of WMD in one place all marked "Saddams secret WMD cache." the MSM will continue to report about “No substantial finds of WMD” (as Newsweek did). Even if we found a large stockpile, many would claim it was planted. The battle over public perception is lost.
The battle of public opinion is lost UNTIL these weapons reappear. Then the anti-war pundit, MSNBC, CBS etc will go on as if they never denied these weapons existence. They will report as if they never took a position on this issue. Don’t believe me? You watch! Remember the MSM and how the beat on Bush and his “stupid” his “Cowboy” his “unilateral” and “destabilizing” effort to build a missile defense shield? Those worthless cowards in Europe used those exact arguments as well reference a missile defense shield and today the same nations that engaged in name calling are rushing to ensure coverage themselves under such a shield. Those who used the false arguments of “no WMD found” as a false pretense to justify doing nothing will just slither on and focus on some new topic they can attack even after the WMD do resurface, and the will.
Syria did not take those WMD to do noting with them. Eventually these nonexistent WMD will reappear. Let the issue rest, at least for now.
What strikes me as odd is that our administration does not rub these things into the faces of those who opposed and bad mouthed us years ago. Why do we let them off the hook so easy? Why do we today not mention missile defense to the Germans and French who are scrabbling to do the same but bad mouthed us for it in 1999? Why does the Bush administration not mention Kyoto, a protocol they refused to sign and claimed was unrealistic, and were criticized over but Germany and many others are in gross violation of today? Eventually even the WMD issue will be proven as correct, but WHO CARES if the Bush administration never makes an issue of it!
Bush should capitalize on issues like missile defense and Kyoto but instead lets them blow by.
I believe that I remember him showing these pictures. Have been wondering why we have not been hearing more about this in the past few years.
On June 9th [2004], the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission briefed the Security Council about the export of Iraqi WMD, missile and nuclear components shipped out of Iraq before, during and after the invasion. As reported by MENL news service, UNMOVIC acting executive chairman 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.'"
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, said vehicle traffic photographed by U.S. spy satellites indicated that material and documents related to the arms programs were shipped to Syria."
"Last month Moshe Yaalon, who was Israel's top general at the time, said Iraq transported WMD to Syria six weeks before Operation Iraqi Freedom began.
Last March, John A. Shaw, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology security, said Russian Spetsnaz units moved WMD to Syria and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
"While in Iraq I received information from several sources naming the exact Russian units, what they took and where they took both WMD materials and conventional explosives," Mr. Shaw told NewsMax reporter Charles Smith.
Retired Marine Lt. Gen. Michael DeLong was deputy commander of Central Command during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In September 2004, he told WABC radio that "I do know for a fact that some of those weapons went into Syria, Lebanon and Iran."
In January 2004, David Kay, the first head of the Iraq Survey Group which conducted the search for Saddam's WMD, told a British newspaper there was evidence unspecified materials had been moved to Syria from Iraq shortly before the war.
"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 program," Mr. Kay told the Sunday Telegraph.
Also that month, Nizar Nayuf, a Syrian journalist who defected to an undisclosed European country, told a Dutch newspaper he knew of three sites where Iraq's WMD was being kept. They were the town of al Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria; the Syrian air force base near the village of Tal Snan, and the city of Sjinsar on the border with Lebanon.
In an addendum to his final report last April, Charles Duelfer, who succeeded David Kay as head of the Iraq Survey Group, said he couldn't rule out a transfer of WMD from Iraq to Syria.
"There was evidence of a discussion of possible WMD collaboration initiated by a Syrian security officer, and ISG received information about movement of material out of Iraq, including the possibility that WMD was involved. In the judgment of the working group, these reports were sufficiently credible to merit further investigation," Mr. Duelfer said."
"The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went to Syria and Lebanon," former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw told an audience Saturday at a privately sponsored "Intelligence Summit" in Alexandria, Va. (www.intelligencesummit.org).
"We are not talking about a large stockpile of weapons," he said. "But 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 programme. Precisely what went to Syria, and what has happened to it, is a major issue that needs to be resolved."
"Two days before the war, on March 17th, we saw through multiple intelligence channels - both human intelligence and techinical (satellite,eavesdrop) intelligence - large caravans of people and things, including some of the top 55 Iraqis, going to Syria."
I just took a stab at converting the date, 10 Moharram in Gregorian year 2003, to the Gregorian date... it's March 10... ie 10 days prior to the March 20 invasion.
Here is the link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671897/posts
This confirms the NIMA assessment from just after the war. In addition, DEBKA had announced exactly this same story a bit earlier, but I haven't located that link yet:
-------
Oct. 30, 2003 - This week the director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency released an assessment that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were transferred to neighboring Syria in the weeks prior to the U.S.-led war against the Saddam Hussein regime. The assessment was based on satellite pictures that showed a huge number of Iraqi trucks entering Syria from Iraq just before and after the start of the war there.
http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2003/october/10_30_1.html
Source:Middle East Newsline
WASHINGTON [MENL] -- For the first time, the U.S. intelligence community has released an assessment that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction were transferred to neighboring Syria in the weeks prior to the U.S.-led war against the Saddam Hussein regime.
U.S. officials said the assessment was based on satellite images of convoys of Iraqi trucks that poured into Syria in February and March 2003. The officials said the intelligence community assessed that the trucks contained missiles and WMD components banned by the United Nations Security Council.
The U.S. intelligence assessment was discussed publicly for the first time by the director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency in a briefing in Washington on Tuesday. James Clapper, a retired air force general and a leading member of the U.S. intelligence community, said he linked the disappearance of Iraqi WMD with the huge number of Iraqi trucks that entered Syria before and during the U.S. military campaign to topple the Saddam regime.
"I think personally that the [Iraqi] senior leadership saw what was coming and I think they went to some extraordinary lengths to dispose of the evidence," Clapper said. "I'll call it an educated hunch."
It's only a guess, but:
Monitoring may have ignored the 50-truck WMD convoy, as it was busy looking at the 100-truck convoys carrying the swag from the Oil-for-Food scam to a safe place in Syria.
"This is the same document that I translated few days ago!!!
Here is the link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671897/posts"
+++++++
I thought it looked familiar. But I've been reading so much of this stuff that it's all getting blurred.
I will Freepmail you as to how this came to me. (Shows you're work is getting noticed in high places.)
Anyway, it bears repeating.
Congrats.
(I will amend the article at S&L to give you credit of course.)
Thanks Sam.
So what's the problem?
index for later.
that is just a picture and should have been id'd as such.
Whatever was moved - and it was moved - was moved over a period of time and under cover.
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