Iraq has poison bombs

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | February 23, 2003 | Philip Sherwell and David Wastell

[MadIvan]

Saddam Hussein's air force has developed a more sophisticated delivery and detonation system for chemical weapons than previously known to United Nations inspectors, a former senior air force officer has told The Telegraph.

In an interview at a house in Amman in Jordan, where he has been hiding since he fled Baghdad last year, the former officer said that Baghdad was still pursuing the chemical armaments programme when he left Iraq - despite its insistence that it had abandoned its weapons of mass destruction project after the Gulf war.

"Ali" - The Telegraph knows his real name and former rank but promised not to disclose it in case his relatives still in Iraq are identified and punished - said that he was trained to handle binary-system bombs which mix lethal chemicals moments before detonation for maximum effect.

"Saddam will never surrender these weapons," said Ali. "They are as much a part of his life as eating and drinking."

His alarming claims, which indicate a clear breach of UN resolutions, will fuel fears that Saddam may use chemical weapons against American and British forces in the event of war.

United Nations weapons inspectors based in New York said yesterday that they would like to debrief the former officer urgently. "We would be interested in talking to this man," said a spokesman for Unmovic, the weapons inspection agency.

Ali described in detail how the chemical bombs and sprays were fitted and operated, backing up his testimony with drawings and graphics, during clandestine meetings lasting several hours in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

"What he describes is a logical development of the techniques we know the Iraqis were working on," said one former senior weapons inspector contacted by The Telegraph.

Another said: "If what he says can be confirmed then this is a very big discovery. It would be proof that Iraq has continued with the development of a new type of weapon."

The chemical weapons previously known to inspectors were less advanced; their lethal contents mixed on the ground before the bombs were loaded on to planes.

At the time that Ali was trained, he was working at military bases at Habbaniya 50 miles west of Baghdad, and al-Qa'qa, 20 miles south of the capital.

He last witnessed the new bomb mechanism being tested - with water and oil rather than chemicals - at Habbaniya in 2000, after which the tests were switched to a different location. However, he said former colleagues with whom he remains in contact confirm that the programme is still running.

He said that the bombs were divided in two by an internal partition. When loaded with chemicals, there was a black liquid in one compartment and a yellowish one in the other.

The pilots were trained to hit a switch to open the partition when they approached their targets, allowing the two substances to combine and reach their greatest potency. A few seconds later, outer doors on the bottom of the weapon would open automatically, releasing the mixture.

Ali then drew a detailed diagram of another binary-system bomb, also divided by a partition that was designed to explode after its release in mid-air, again allowing the two substances to mix at the last moment. These weapons were intended for the Iraqi air force's more modern jets, but an alternative delivery method was developed for slower planes such as Sukhoi-25s and for helicopters, he explained.

[Red6]

Now that we know Iraq has missiles exceeding the max allowable range. That Chemical weapons are being hidden. That there is a suggestion of terrorist support by Iraq, out of mutual interest. That the report to Blix was not FULL and COMPLETE. Are we going to pass another resolution? Will this one be called the "Really really REALLY last chance to conform to the UN resolutions?" Does the UN think that this game will give them any credibility?

[fella]

"I'm sure the French contingent would especially like to "debrief" him - so they can then inform Saddam what his name is."

BINGO!

Ladies and gentlemen please hold your cards we have a bingo.

[Republic]

Ya know, I can understand the 'why' about our President deciding to go to the UN, and I can understand the 'consequences' of doing just that, (cause of course we are in that debating mess right now and our President knew it would happen-he knows deceitful, arrogant, unresolved people, of that there is no doubt)but WHAT I LOVE FROM ALL OF THIS is the learning of who our true, deep allies are. Who trusts us and who would fight for freedom alongside us. That is just plain good to know.

Our President has challanged the UN to be relevant. If they prove cowardly or selfish, in the end, the our President has DEFINED them for the world, led the way for our nation to form an Axis of Freedom Alliance that WILL HAVE by its very nature the resoluteness needed to enforce agreements and our president has also led the way for the UN to be tucked away in the attic of needless things, pretty on the outside, meaningless on the inside.

And it the meantime, without meaning to, our President becomes a global leader-bringing along those who treasure freedom as much as we do into a real and binding relationship. In such as Axis...there will never be a nation like Iran leading a human rights commission. (Which is just so ridiculous it is embarrassing to even type it.)

[nevergore]

"I have great faith that both the President and the Prime Minister would regard use of chemical weapons like this as serious enough to warrant using nukes."

Negative...politically they have painted themselves in a corner regarding using nukes in retaliation to chemical to a WMD attack....

Both Blair and Bush have taken great pains to tell the world that this is a war of liberation for the Iraqi people...That Saddam and a small group of dedicated military is what has a stranglehold on that country.

If we go nuclear with Saddam placing his troops in the most heavily populated areas, the loss of civilian life would be, well you get the idea...

Hard to liberate a people after you've killed the bulk of them.....

NeverGore

[aculeus]

It was an off-hand comment on a King gabfest. The point was the possibility of a chem/bio attack on the USA mainland via a ship-launched aircraft, something I haven't heard mentioned elsewhere.

[AndrewC]

I was just using your post as a jab against the "UN". :)

They might be crazy enough to try something like that, but I think they would need the support of another country.

[GrandMoM]

BUMP

[Defender2]

BTTT!!!!

[Defender2]

BTTT!!!!

[ApesForEvolution]

LOL

[Stefan Stackhouse]

One or two of these things smuggled in and dropped from a Piper Cub or a Cessna over a major city could make for a very bad day for a lot of people.

So, Peaceniks, explain to us again exactly why it is you believe that "Saddam is not a threat to us"?

[Stefan Stackhouse]

In a submission before the House Armed Services Committee on 10 September 2002 biowarfare expert Dr Richard Spertzel, who spent years trying to uncover Saddam's secrets while heading the biological wing of UNSCOM in Iraq after Operation Desert Storm, said that there was some evidence that the Iraqis might now also have the deadliest nerve gas of all: Novichok. A product of the Cold War, Novichok is a dozen times more potent than any other agent easily penetrates all known gas masks produced in the West - Israel's included.

Well, if Saddam is crazy enough to deliver just one of these things to Israel, then that will be the permanent end of our Iraq problem.

Anybody have any good ideas about what to do with a glass parking lot the size of California that glows in the dark?

[Rockitz]

I would have liked to seen an initial surgical strike to rid Iraq of Saddam but it's getting too dangerous with all the junk he can throw at our troops. I'm leaning toward a few nukes on Baghdad for round one to clear the field, so to speak.

[Red6]

If they, the Germans & French don't support our push in Iraq, why support a EUROPEAN problem in Bosnia and Kosovo?

We need to pull out. Let them take up the slack. They won't have a choice. Germany said and cared not a bit about the disaster in the Balkans until the refugees came.

Then they pushed for an armed intervention. Afterwards the public television ran a one-hour special on how Joschka Fischer really didn't want war but just had to do what he did. What a hero. The show was called the "der Maraton Man". Its sick over here. You should listen to the German talk radio shows. 2 Liberals and a left commentator, that's an unbiased show according to them. It's always the same shit too. "I'm not anti-American, BUT" kind of like "I don't mind Jews, as long as their in Israel" or "I got a black friend, but I think their all this or that". It's always the, "I’m not ideologically opposed to the US nor do I hate them, but I think their imperialistic capitalistic arrogant uneducated uncultured people." They always at least attempt to appear objective in their tirade. They’re a bunch of losers (seriously). Ignorant is when you have a system fail and you can't learn from your mistakes (their socio-economic concepts). Stupid is when you have a world war because of an apathetic and appease based foreign policy and adopt this way of dealing with problems such as Germany does after the war is over. Their hate for us is based on feelings of inferiority and a leftist ideology (which has, is and will continue to fail), which is deeply ingrained in European thought.

Just imagine you preach how terrible a free market economy such as the US is. The medically uninsured, the poor old people, the expensive universities. Yet this system for which they have so much contempt beats them, EVERY time. It creates the most wealth for its people. It has the newest and best medical technology. It has some of the world’s best universities. It is the economically biggest and most technologically advanced country in the world. Militarily the most powerful, with the most noble peace prizes and the worlds most patents. Imagine you preach how bad this is, and you must stare into the face of its success every day.

Red6

[Grampa Dave]

If we capture any of these bombs, we should drop them on their country of origin's capital, Paris, Berlin, Moscow or Bejing or where ever they came from.

That would be a long time warning to other countries not sell WMD stuff to mass murderers.

[happygrl]

Since we can't nuke Iraq if they use this on us, can we nuke France ?

[happygrl]

Actually it would be a pity because civilians are not our target.

It has been stated repeatedly by the Bush team that the Iraqi people are not the targets, but weaponry and the forces guarding Saddam are.

Our intent is to liberate, not destroy, the populace.

[happygrl]

You must be very glad for FreeRepublic.

Welcome home.

[null and void]

That's Chiraq not Chirac ...

I thought it was shhh-Iraq...

[null and void]

Anybody have any good ideas about what to do with a glass parking lot the size of California that glows in the dark?

islamofascist holding pen?