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Saddam s arsenal revealed
The Sunday Times (U.K.) ^ | 03/17/2002 | Marie Colvin and Nicholas Rufford

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.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: geopolitics; terrorwar
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To: dighton
Oh my goodness, you're right. We do need nukes.
21 posted on 03/16/2002 5:29:19 PM PST by tomahawk
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Comment #22 Removed by Moderator

To: TrappedInLiberalHell
Don't feel bad...I have a hard time believing a bomb can travel 100 feet into the ground before it goes off.
23 posted on 03/16/2002 5:36:41 PM PST by silver fox two
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To: silver fox two
Yeah, how DO those things work anyway? Maybe sand I could see, but not rocky loam, like we have here in New England.
24 posted on 03/16/2002 5:48:50 PM PST by TrappedInLiberalHell
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To: Gritty
During the Gulf War, they had an awful time finding SCUD sites.

I was thinking about how in Afghanistan we found, for example, a white Chevy Suburban we were looking for (I think we'd hoped Omar was in it, but he wasn't).

25 posted on 03/16/2002 6:00:00 PM PST by gg188
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Comment #26 Removed by Moderator

To: SmartBlonde
I am not sure what Ritters game is anymore. I think the man has gone off the deep end or is being paid to say what he is saying by the other side.
27 posted on 03/16/2002 6:30:33 PM PST by Bombard
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To: Bombard
Thanks for agreeing with me. You're right, he is treating it as a 'game', but it is one with very high stakes and he may not be a honest actor.
28 posted on 03/16/2002 6:34:57 PM PST by SmartBlonde
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To: wretchard
Transporting deadly pathogens in milk trucks will give a traffic accident a whole new meaning

I sure as sh!t wouldn't want to be the lucky guy picked to mix in that thing when cluster bombs were going off all about...

29 posted on 03/16/2002 6:40:03 PM PST by Pistias
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To: SmartBlonde; Bombard
Scott Ritter has been turned, plain and simple. The only real question is by whom?

Shortly after he testified to the Senate Committee, where Biden told him decisions made relative to the inspections were way above his pay grade, Ritter began to change his tune.

Now, did Iraq get to him with threats and/or money, or did the DNC tell him about a few choice morsels in his FBI file?

That, to me, is the real question.

30 posted on 03/16/2002 6:45:09 PM PST by BOBTHENAILER
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To: BOBTHENAILER
Well, I didn't want to say it... It also occurs to me that he might have received death threats, and he's protecting his family. But whatever, it gives me chills every time I see and hear him.
31 posted on 03/16/2002 6:50:18 PM PST by SmartBlonde
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To: SmartBlonde
It gives me chills every time I see and hear him

Couldn't agree more. I wish the talking head programs would find another expert, that doesn't reek of being compromised in some fashion or another.

32 posted on 03/16/2002 6:56:14 PM PST by BOBTHENAILER
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To: StriperSniper
"...We are in the middle of a real-world test of all kinds of new toys. .."

Absolutely the best of times to be alive!! A live enemy, and 'Buck-Rogers' weapons to be tried-out! By God, I wish I was 20 again!

These Islamaniacs have no idea what's coming their way, and I'd give my left-nut to be able to try it out on them!.........FRegards, Sniper

33 posted on 03/16/2002 7:10:30 PM PST by gonzo
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To: Pokey78
A second defector has reported that Iraq has constructed seven mobile germ laboratories, which have been disguised as milk lorries.

And the instant we blow these up, we'll be accused of denying milk to the starving Iraqi people...

34 posted on 03/16/2002 7:39:59 PM PST by xm177e2
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To: *TerrorWar;*Geopolitics
Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.
35 posted on 03/16/2002 7:42:44 PM PST by Free the USA
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To: SmartBlonde
Ritter sounds like he's got his [insert body part name here] in the wringer.
36 posted on 03/16/2002 7:56:50 PM PST by Don Joe
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To: Don Joe
Yes. Wanna guess how and why?
37 posted on 03/16/2002 8:00:09 PM PST by SmartBlonde
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To: Jewels1091
Bet Bush is putting a plan together right now.

Isn't it nice to be able to say that? No need to worry about whether Bush will check polls first, what the PR or other angle will be or if he will not act in America's best interest.

38 posted on 03/16/2002 8:08:38 PM PST by LarryLied
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To: TrappedInLiberalHell
Maybe sand I could see, but not rocky loam,

How about 100 feet of concrete?

39 posted on 03/16/2002 8:14:01 PM PST by RightWhale
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To: Harp
Nah, they are too busy looking for someone to preemptively surrender to in case the balloon goes up.
40 posted on 03/16/2002 10:46:29 PM PST by Atchafalaya
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