Posted on 03/16/2002 4:44:26 PM PST by Pokey78
A DEFECTOR from Iraq has given American intelligence details of a secret underground network of laboratories where Saddam Hussein is believed to be building weapons of mass destruction.
The defector is a 43-year-old civil engineer named Adnan Sayeed who worked on 20 sites. He has provided evidence suggesting they are part of a network of bunkers where chemical and biological weapons have been made and where attempts are under way to create a nuclear bomb. A second defector has reported that Iraq has constructed seven mobile germ laboratories, which have been disguised as milk lorries. Saddam’s efforts to conceal his weapons programme have reinforced fears among American and British officials that he has rebuilt a clandestine arsenal since United Nations weapons inspectors were forced out of Iraq three years ago. Amid growing tension over plans by President George W Bush to force Saddam from power, the Foreign Office has alerted all its embassies after eight Iraqis were found spying on British diplomats in Sweden in preparation for suspected terrorist attacks. The eight, including two diplomats, were expelled or banned from the country after carrying out reconnaissance on British and American missions in Sweden. The expulsions in January were the first sign that Saddam may have activated a European network of spies to retaliate if he is attacked. Sayeed escaped from Baghdad in June 2001 by paying £14,000 in bribes and driving his two wives and children north to Kurdistan. According to a senior British official, his information about underground sites is regarded as “high-grade” by the Pentagon’s Defence Intelligence Agency. He has supported it with a stack of Iraqi government contracts, complete with technical specifications, which have been seen by The Sunday Times. The 3,000-word manuscript of a preliminary interview with Sayeed shows that he claims to have created “clean” rooms, using special materials to line floors and walls. The sites were under private houses, state factories and the Saddam Hussein hospital in Baghdad. Sayeed says a unit producing mustard gas has been hidden between factories making insulation material at the Al-Taji compound north of Baghdad. At the city’s Waziriya complex two years ago, he was ordered to wear a protective suit, mask and gloves to seal a floor in an area where the air passed through seven layers of filtration before reaching the outside. He also speaks of a biological laboratory under the Adwaniya presidential palace and of wells situated 10 miles south of Baghdad that were dug six metres underground and were lined with 1.25 metres of concrete mixed with lead. “My assumption is that there is radiation there. Why use lead otherwise?” he said. The second recent defector, whose name is being withheld until his family reaches safety, said he worked in a concealment unit to foil UN searches. “We learnt our lesson,” he said in a videotaped interview with Iraqi opposition officials. “Houses and factories can be searched. So I had the idea to use trucks. If we disguised them as milk and yogurt trucks, who would suspect they are carrying anything suspicious?” According to his account, Iraq took delivery of seven flatbed lorries that were fitted with computers, microscopes and other equipment. They move between the central Iraqi cities of Hilla and Kut, he said. Such claims are expected to add momentum to America’s efforts to win support for military action against Iraq. Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, arrived in Saudi Arabia yesterday on the latest stage of a tour of the Middle East. Concern about retaliatory strikes in Europe in the event of war intensified when two Iraqis were expelled from Sweden. Muhsen al-Haidai, a chargé d’affaires, and Abdul Kadir Hussein were given 12 days to leave the country after Swedish police were provided with evidence of their spying.
Baby-milk factory bump.
They go to and from the "Baby Milk Plant", no doubt.
With this new knowledge, no doubt the French will be worried about all the innocent baby milk factories.
Well, maybe and maybe not!
During the Gulf War, they had an awful time finding SCUD sites.
He's not developing weapons to use against us, he's just developing them to help deal with those pesky Kurds and other rebels, that's all.
Which PR firm planted this one?
The big BLU (formidable though it is) weighs 30 kilo pounds, not tons.
We are in the middle of a real-world test of all kinds of new toys. Not to say we can 'bug' the whole country, but we can do a lot better ten years later. I wonder who Gen. Franks is breifing on how to use them.
Ritter makes me very nervous. His story has changed so many times it's like listening to a fairy tale. His comments fly in the face of all other available intelligence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.