Britain finds Iraq's 'smoking gun': a top-secret missile

The Sunday Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 05/25/03 | Con Coughlin

[Pokey78]

British military officers have uncovered an attempt by Saddam Hussein to build a missile capable of hitting targets throughout the Middle East, including Israel, The Telegraph can reveal.

Plans for the surface-to-surface missile were one of the regime's most closely-guarded secrets and were unknown to United Nations weapons inspectors. Its range of 600 miles would have been far greater than that of the al-Samoud rocket - which already breached the 93-mile limit imposed by the UN on any Iraqi missiles.

Saddam's masterplan for the new missile, which was being developed by Iraq's Military Industrialisation Commission (MIC), the body responsible for weapons procurement, constitutes the most serious breach uncovered so far of the tight restrictions imposed on Iraq's military capability after the 1991 Gulf war. The range of Saddam's missiles was restricted to prevent him from using them as a delivery system for weapons of mass destruction.

David Kay, the former United Nations weapons inspector responsible for dismantling Iraq's nuclear weapons programme in the 1990s, said the British discovery proved that Saddam had no intention of complying with UN requirements.

"This is the smoking gun we have been looking for," he said. "We have known all along that Saddam was desperate to develop a delivery system for his mass destruction weapons, and this missile would undoubtedly have given him that capability."

Details of Saddam's secret missile programme were discovered by British weapons experts after interviews with several former senior officials of the MIC.

Gen Mudh'her Sadeq Sabe'a, the head of missile technology at the MIC, was in charge of the development programme, which began in 1999. Once a week Gen Mudh'her and Abdul Tawib Mulla Hawish, the minister responsible for the MIC, would travel to the presidential palace in Baghdad to deliver a progress report to Saddam, who is said to have taken a keen personal interest in the project.

Mr Hawish surrendered to coalition forces shortly after the war and has provided British officials with a detailed breakdown of Saddam's plans to manufacture the weapon.

The rocket motor was to be built at the Abu Ghraib military base, the main fuselage at al-Waziriyah and the navigation system at al-Taji. "We had finished the research stage and entered the development stage," said a senior Iraqi engineer who worked at the MIC and is now co-operating with British officials. "If it had not been for the war, development would have been completed within a year."

Iraqi officials insist that the missile was intended to carry a conventional warhead, but British weapons experts believe it could easily have been adapted to carry chemical or biological weapons.

The Iraqis say that the missile's main purpose would have been to protect Iraq from attack by neighbouring countries. However, it could also have been used to attack Israel. During the Gulf war Saddam launched Soviet-made Scud missiles at targets in Israel.

The discovery of the plans for Saddam's secret missile programme is being hailed as a significant breakthrough by coalition commanders, who have so far failed to find any convincing evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction programme.

[Dog Gone]

While important, it's not a WMD, and not even evidence of a plan to build a WMD. It's a plan to build a missile with an illegal range.

Still, good work.

[OREALLY]

THANKS FOR THE POST. President Bush's enemies will really have to work on this one ! No doubt the liberal media will not give this much attention.

[RWG]

While important, it's not a WMD...of course it is. Is the missle a toy or a vehicle for sight seeing? If it weren't a WMD why did they hide it?

[Cagey]

Plans for the surface-to-surface missile were one of the regime's most closely-guarded secrets and were unknown to United Nations weapons inspectors

Technically, they found plans for a smoking gun. This article may be reaching a bit far.

[JoeSchem]

While important, it's not a WMD, and not even evidence of a plan to build a WMD. It's a plan to build a missile with an illegal range.

Just what was Saddam going to deliver with these long-range missiles? Krispy Kremes?

[CyberAnt]

It's just the terminology - people are equating WMD with barrels of toxic chemicals, or warheads filled with toxic chemicals. They forget, the chems are no good without a delivery system.

[MizSterious]

"They forget, the chems are no good without a delivery system."

And, they've found a number of truck-labs for making the chems--the picture is coming together.

[Final Authority]

You are correct. We should have given Iraq more time to build a deliver a smoking gun. They should have had access to North Korea's excess Pt so they could build a good smoking gun. All this would have made GWB more popular with the anti-American, anti-Bush crowd? I don't think so. When Boston had a looming mushroom cloud overhead all the liberals in Cambridge would have been calling for GWB's head. I guess it doesn't matter what he does 'cause he has an R after his name.

[BagCamAddict]

***David Kay, the former United Nations weapons inspector responsible for dismantling Iraq's nuclear weapons programme in the 1990s, said the British discovery proved that Saddam had no intention of complying with UN requirements. "This is the smoking gun we have been looking for," he said.***

Ok, so the "al-Samoud rocket - which already breached the 93-mile limit imposed by the UN" wasn't a smoking gun, but this one is?? So it's not a matter of whether or not you breach the 93-mile limit, but it's a matter of BY HOW FAR you breach the limit? A 100-mile rocket, which barely breaches the limit is OK, but a 1000-mile rocket, which breaches the limit by ALOT is not OK ?

Sounds like the old speeding-ticket-excuse to me... "But Officer, I wasn't speeding by very much, only 5 mph over the speed limit - it's not like I was going 25 mph over the speed limit!"

And the next thing we will hear are complaints that the US couldn't even find these missile plans, that it took the British to find them...

[meenie]

Fed Ex and UPS are delivery systems and they are not WMD's. Nor are they the "smoking gun" we have been searching for. When is it going to dawn on the "faithful" that they have been sold a bill of goods? Fair maiden doth protesteth too much.

[Dog Gone]

Is the missle a toy or a vehicle for sight seeing? If it weren't a WMD why did they hide it?

If you'll read the story carefully, they hadn't even built it yet.

A weapon of mass destruction is considered to be a nuke, chemicals, or a biological weapon. Not a missile. Keep in mind that the Iraqis who volunteered this information denied that it was going to carry a WMD.

I don't see any basis for characterizing this as a WMD. Where am I wrong?

[Cagey]

Don't be so dramatic. The headline claims these plans are a "Smoking Gun" when in fact it just isn't. There are plenty of smoking guns in Iraq yet to be found and many that were probably destroyed and hidden that will come out eventually. My reference is to the dumb headline in this article. The editor is reaching to sell papers.

[BagCamAddict]

We should have given Iraq more time to build a deliver a smoking gun.

One of the problems is the mis-use of the term "smoking gun." If they had built and delivered a WMD, it would be the BULLET, not the smoking gun. The goal was to find the gun -- before it started smoking after having discharged the bullet. But the anti-war crowd doesn't seem to see the difference.

Like you said though, when the "bullet" was in their foreheads (mushroom cloud in Boston), they might have figured out the difference.

I never did want to find a smoking gun. A smoking gun is found AFTER the crime. I wanted to find the parts and pieces before they were made into guns and bullets in the first place.

[Timothy]

"Technically, they found plans for a smoking gun. This article may be reaching a bit far."

Reaching?!?! Did you miss this part:

'The rocket motor was to be built at the Abu Ghraib military base, the main fuselage at al-Waziriyah and the navigation system at al-Taji. "We had finished the research stage and entered the development stage," said a senior Iraqi engineer who worked at the MIC and is now co-operating with British officials. "If it had not been for the war, development would have been completed within a year." '

[CyberAnt]

Oh really ...?? Well ... according to documentation presented to the UN at the end of the first Gulf War, there were reported to be tons of this and that, barrles of this and that - WHERE ARE THEY! If we have been so duped, are you purporting to say those reports were phoney - and Iraq did not have any WMD's then either ...?? If that were so, then why did they have trucks to mix the stuff ...?? If so, why have barrels been found which previously held the contents of substances which when mixed with other substances, would have made a deadly compound ...??

Your theory doesn't hold any water ...??

[CyberAnt]

I personally believe the stuff was moved right before the inspectors returned.

[Dog Gone]

to be built

Is there any part of that phrase that indicates anything other than plans?

[Cagey]

No, I didn't miss that part. As I wrote to another poster, I do believe there are WMD's still in Iraq and we will find them. Plans are not "Smoking Guns" as the dumb headline from this paper implies.

[Ditter]

The WMD/chemicals were all dumped into the Euphrates river at the beginning of the war. That why the barrels were empty. Remember?