Iraqi Weapons Expert Insists Search Is Futile

After three decades as one of Saddam Hussein's chief chemical warriors, Iraqi Brig. Gen. Alaa Saeed picks nervously at the kebabs on his plate as he talks about the deadly nerve gases and blister agents he once produced.

His hands shake visibly as he describes his last terrifying meeting with Hussein, even though it was more than five years ago. He worries about his culpability for the sweeping documents he wrote declaring to the United Nations that Iraq was free of banned weapons. And thoughts of the price he may pay for his deeds haunt him.

The following is taken from the same article that is posted at newsday.com

I think it's the important part...

In 1988, after a three-year break studying in Britain, Saeed was named head of quality control at Muthana. He supervised the continued production of a witch's brew of lethal gases, although U.N. inspectors say the exact amounts — especially of VX, one of the most horrific agents — is still unclear.

Saeed said Hussein ordered Muthana emptied before the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Chemical munitions and other material were dispersed to airfields and military bases across Iraq.

"We would just obey the order," he recalled. "Take 100 munitions to this air base, take 200 to that one." None were used in the war, however, and Muthana was heavily bombed by allied forces.

After the 1991 war, Saeed was quickly assigned to the U.N. teams as Iraq's liaison for chemical weapons. He ultimately became deputy chief of the "minders" attached to the inspectors.

He wrote all three of Iraq's "accurate, final and complete" chemical weapons declarations to the U.N. Security Council, including a 2,000-page portion of the 12,000-page document handed in last December. Like its predecessors, that report was quickly denounced as inaccurate and incomplete by both U.S. and U.N. officials.

But Saeed confirmed part of what Bush administration officials asserted after U.N. inspectors returned to Iraq last winter. He said he and other scientists were under strict orders to bring "a friend" and a tape recorder to any U.N. interviews. Regime officials had insisted the scientists were under no such pressure.

Saeed also explained why neither he nor any other scientist ever agreed to be interviewed outside Iraq, despite U.N. offers of safety. "We were told our families would be killed if we left the country," he said.

Steven Black, who served with the U.N. inspection teams from 1992 to 1999, said Saeed "wouldn't necessarily know about covert things" outside his control. "There was a group over the minders who didn't necessarily tell them what was going on," he said.

Moreover, Black said Saeed and his colleagues were grilled hundreds of times by U.N. inspectors.

"I know he lied to us, and he may be lying to you," he said. "This isn't some bank robber who's been hauled in. These guys have gone through this time and time again. They are very comfortable with this line of questioning."

Despite the ouster of Hussein's regime, Black said, senior Iraqis still have reasons to lie.

"Some of these guys did really bad things in the past and they don't want to own up to it," he said. "Or they're not convinced that Saddam is gone, and they know that when the U.S. goes, whoever talked will get dipped in an acid bath."

Like many Iraqis, Saeed is convinced Hussein is still alive. His hands still tremble when he describes how Hussein's security agents suddenly appeared at his office in late 1997. They ordered him into a car with shades drawn and took him to an unknown location. The dictator was waiting inside.

"He thanked me for my work," he recalled. His voice dropped. "But I am still shaking."

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