Former Iraqi scientist speaks out about horrors of Saddam
Romeo Observer ^ | 4/30/03 | DENISE LETARTE
....I saw his torture chambers underground where people had been irradiated and injected with Ricin ... what I saw still haunts me to this day."
These are just some of the comments of Dr. Gazi George, a former high-ranking Iraqi scientist who spoke at a conference for the Michigan Tactical Officers Association. His speech dealt with the time he worked for Saddam Hussein and his eventual escape with his family from Iraq.
To a standing-room only audience of law-enforcement and the press, the scientist, who has a PhD with expertise in atomic energy and biochemistry, told the group how he once helped develop and conceal weapons for the fallen dictator.
Dr. George hopes that by telling his story and sharing his technical knowledge of biochemical-terrorism and its effects he can help battle terrorism.
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Dr. George spent 5 years working for Hussein. As a young scientist he and others were lured back from abroad to work in Iraq with offers of tax-free salaries and rich life styles. In 1976, George met Hussein and he was impressed like everyone else by a charismatic man whose true nature was still unknown. By 1978, Dr. George again met Saddam but by this time his opinion of the ruler and his regime had changed.
Dr. George worked for Iraq's Atomic Commission in the radiation protection division. The scientist was given a secret assignment during which he witnessed first-hand evidence of the atrocities being committed.
At one time he was sent to assess a clean-up operation and had no clue what he would eventually find.
"I saw his torture chambers where anyone who was anti-Saddam or anti-government had been taken. There were syringes on a table where there was blood and restraints. I could tell by the blood and my meter that people had been irradiated and injected here."
"... in the next room there were five-by-five cages that had been quickly welded together. There was vomit and human excrement in them and shackles ...."
After this experience Dr. George said he "played the game," to stay alive. What he found had convinced him that he and his family must flee the country ... 20 years of narrow escapes from Hussein's long reach has left him and his family looking over their shoulders.
"I was tried in a kangaroo court and sentenced to death," he said.
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Dr. George is convinced that the Iraqi government moved many of its weapons across the border into Syria before this last conflict. He says inspectors would never have found what they were looking for and that he fully supports the president`s actions.
"The burden of proof is on Iraq, not the U.S., said Dr. George. "Hans does not know what he is talking about. He was being duped by Saddam ... the inspectors were not experienced in what they were looking for."
Dr. George asserts that chemical weapons are what we are most vulnerable to because, "They are easy to make, are fast acting and can be made from common household items."
Dr. George devoted a portion of his presentation to the physical and psychological threats of bio-chemical terrorism. He hopes that the knowledge he can impart can be taken into the field.
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(snip) Marines discovered at least two caches of Iraq military warheads in the Iraqi countryside that were being tested as possible chemical or biological weapons.
Military sources said that warheads were found in Aziziyah, about 55 miles southeast of Baghdad. They were being run through a battery of sophisticated analyses by the military.
Another stash of rockets was found in the central Iraqi town of Sayyid Abid, military sources said, each was equipped with clear vials containing an unknown substance. Military biological hazard teams are investigating.
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Why would a rocket be equipped with clear vials for any other purpose, but to carry a chem or bio weapon? Most can be made duel-use chems and mixed on site. All that's necessesary is a delivery system - like the above rockets - equipped w/ vials. Like the rockets Saddam used before to gas the Kurds.