[the anti-liberal]

Will there be any reference to Russia? How much will be redacted? Some questions to ponder...

Facts known are growing more numerous, and from reputable sources, but they now include:

• That the United States has uncovered some 12 hours of Saddam Hussein palace audiotapes – since authenticated by FBI methodology – with discussions by familiar voices like Tariq Aziz and others including Saddam himself about what to do with their WMD stockpiles and resources.

• That Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units evidently helped Saddam's military in secreting away – mostly into Syria – WMD that had first been purchased from Russia. Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John Shaw recently declared after lots of inquiry that the Russians' goal had been to erase any signs of their involvement in Saddam's WMD programs. On this point, retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney has been quoted as believing the Bush administration needs Russia's involvement now in halting Iran's rush toward nuclear armament and so must resist information damning to Russia.

• That two different former high-ranking Iraqi military officers – Gen. Georges Sada, the No. 2 ranking officer with the Iraqi Air Force, and Ali Ibrahim, another Iraqi commander – both assert that that Saddam possessed stockpiles of WMD and transported them out of Iraq by converted 747 passenger jet and by land to be hidden inside Syria.

Here:

[My2Cents]

That the United States has uncovered some 12 hours of Saddam Hussein palace audiotapes

Didn't Saddam learn anything from Nixon's downfall?

[Eva]

There was an article in the WSJ that said that Bush has been calling for the release of the tapes/documents, for some time, but has been receiving resistance from the NSA, supposedly to protect Russia and France, but also to protect the CIA from looking too stupid for claiming that there were WMDs and then afterwards saying that they were wrong, when they were really right, all along.