U.S. Finds Cache of Data in Baghdad

AP | 4/14/03 | CHRIS TOMLINSON

[kattracks]

U.S. Finds Cache of Data in Baghdad

By CHRIS TOMLINSON .c The Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. troops discovered thousands of microfilm cartridges and hundreds of paper files in two residential buildings in a Baath Party enclave Monday in central Baghdad in what could be a major intelligence discovery.

Four specially designed safes, with thousands of microfilm cartridges filled one room of one house. The film showed official Iraqi documents written in Arabic. The cartridges were numbered in a cataloging system.

``They are archives of some kind, whose and what it's an archive of is the mystery,'' said Sgt. Spencer Willardson, a U.S. Army counterintelligence agent attached to A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment.

In house next door, Willardson of Logan, Utah, found dozens of book cases with hundreds of paper files. The files on the first floor appeared to be thick dossiers on individuals, while the files on the second floor were labeled with dates, some going back to the 1950s.

Three document shredders were set up in the building, and several plastic bags held shredded documents. Other files had been dumped in similar bags and thrown in a corner.

``This house isn't nice at all, so it leads me to believe they were taken from somewhere else and put here as a temporary solution,'' said Willardson, a member of the Utah National Guard.

Assessing the importance of the find may take weeks, he said. But other homes in the area have held a weapon's cache belonging to Saddam's son Odai, a safe house used by Saddam and a stockpile of thousands of pistols and hundreds of thousands of round of ammunition.

U.S. intelligence agencies have placed a high priority on finding what they call ``document caches'' for information about former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime and possible banned weapons programs.

Nearby troops also found a photo and video lab with tens of thousands of photos of Saddam dating back decades. Some of the photo archive showed Saddam with leaders such as Cuban President Fidel Castro, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

The enclave near one of Saddam's presidential palaces and military headquarters had several dozen homes. Most appear to have been occupied by senior Baath Party and army officials and their families. But as troops continue to sweep the area, they find houses that have been adapted to store weapons or documents.

One house with thick bars on the windows appeared to be filled with empty shelves. Troops planned to break into that building later.

``It doesn't make sense having this in a residential area,'' Willardson said. ``But here, nothing is as it appears.''

04/14/03 08:31 EDT

[anniegetyourgun]

Shredders? Billing records? Sorry...just had what I thought was a case of deja vu.....

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[goldstategop]

The shredded documents can be reconstructed. At least the morons didn't burn up. From the looks of it, we moved too fast for them to have much time to destroy anything vital.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Shredders? Billing records? Sorry...just had what I thought was a case of deja vu.....

Hillary Alert?

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"While there was initial optimism as to the intelligence value of the find, later reports indicate that the documents consisted of the movie rental records of Baath Party members, comprised largely of such films as Porky's, American Pie, Something About Mary and Police Academy VII."

[wharfrat]

Along this line of thinking I was wondering over the weekend when the Iraqui ambassabor was shown going to syria;what about the Iraqui Embassy's? Who is reporting on this issue and who is searching through everything? I have not heard of anyone saying what or who is keeping track of these embassyies around the world now that Iraq has no legitimate government as of now? It would appear there is a Treasure Trove of information left un-guarded! WE need some reporting done on this right now!

[Publius6961]

U.S. troops discovered thousands of microfilm cartridges and hundreds of paper files in two residential buildings in a Baath Party enclave Monday in central Baghdad in what could be a major intelligence discovery.

I wonder how long it took the CIA to "manufacture" the evidence and plant it?
(/sarcasm)

[George W. Bush]

Shredders? Billing records? Sorry...just had what I thought was a case of deja vu...

Contragate, Ollie North, Fawn Hall?

[anniegetyourgun]

Actually, it brought to mind the lying male slut of the last administration - you know...the one all Leftists love.

[Illbay]

Wouldn't it be wonderful to find a bunch of correspondence between Saddam and ObL? Oh, I know, they detested each other, but "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," especially when we're all Arabs.

[=Intervention=]

Evidence? Oh that's right -- you don't have any! Just innuendoes and what the leftist press spoon-fed you! Keep stirring it. I'm sure you and your friends are all sitting around waiting for Clinton to be re-elected...

[George W. Bush]

No, I would have Ollie's and Fawn's own testimony about how they were shredding the documents while the 'cops' were in the office suite to seize the evidence they were shredding.

You must be pretty young not to know about it. We all could see it on TV every day for months. It was actually pretty funny. Poindexter was a riot. And that idiot who tried to commit suicide over it. A big Demo tempest in a teapot though not as entertaining as the Coke-can hearings on Clarence Thomas.

[Gritty]

Have they come across the stained blue dress yet?

[SamAdams76]

Ollie North and Fawn Hall were shredding documents to coverup Iran/Contra. I don't think that is "innuendo" or malicious left-wing gossip. Ollie was a stand-up guy throughout and took his lumps so I respect him for that and that is why he was able to rebuild his reputation and move on. The intentions were good (to help the Contras) but some of the things they did to circumvent the U.S. policy at the time were not so good and they paid a price for it.