WMD Story Ignored by Media
Friday, January 27, 2006 at 10:25AM Potentially one of the most important stories of the past 3 years is getting barely a notice by the MSM (mainstream). However, the New York Sun is reporting that Gen. Georges Sada, Saddam Hussein’s former #2 Air Force official, is saying in his book, ‘Saddam’s Secrets’, that Saddam did indeed have WMD, and that they were moved to Damascus, Syria.
Gen. Sada claims in his book that in November of 1990, Saddam Hussein planned a massive chemical attack (WMD) on Israel using the nerve gas Tabun, as well as Sarin 1 and Sarin 2, using, of course, the best French and Russian aircraft the Iraqi military possessed. He also said of Gen Amir Rashid Ubaidi, the former Iraqi Deputy Air Force commander, that….
"after the Gulf War, he was taken into custody by the American and imprisoned in Iraq. He had been in charge of the ‘superweapons’ program but claimed that Iraq never had chemical weapons or WMDs of any kind; of course, that wasn’t true and he, of all people, knew it."
The NY Sun says that:
Mr. Sada, 65, told the Sun that the pilots of the two airliners that transported the WMD to Syria from Iraq approached him in the middle of 2004, after Saddam was captured by American troops.
"I know them very well. They are very good friends of mine. We trust each other. We are friends as pilots," Mr. Sada said of the two pilots. He declined to disclose their names, saying they are concerned for their safety. But he said they are now employed by other airlines outside Iraq.
The pilots told Mr. Sada that two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, Mr. Sada said. Then Special Republican Guard brigades loaded materials onto the planes, he said, including "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel." The pilots said there was also a ground convoy of trucks.
The flights - 56 in total, Mr. Sada said - attracted little notice because they were thought to be civilian flights providing relief from Iraq to Syria, which had suffered a flood after a dam collapse in June of 2002.
"Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming," Mr. Sada said. "They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians."
Mr. Sada said that the Iraqi official responsible for transferring the weapons was a cousin of Saddam Hussein named Ali Hussein al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali." The Syrian official responsible for receiving them was a cousin of Bashar Assad who is known variously as General Abu Ali, Abu Himma, or Zulhimawe.
When, during an interview with the Sun in April 2004, Vice President Cheney was asked whether he thought that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been moved to Syria, Mr. Cheney replied only that he had seen such reports.
An article in the Fall 2005 Middle East Quarterly reports that in an appearance on Israel’s Channel 2 on December 23, 2002, Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon, stated, "Chemical and biological weapons which Saddam is endeavoring to conceal have been moved from Iraq to Syria." The allegation was denied by the Syrian government at the time as "completely untrue," and it attracted scant American press attention, coming as it did on the eve of the Christmas holiday.
The Syrian ruling party and Saddam Hussein had in common the ideology of Baathism, a mixture of Nazism and Marxism.
Syria is one of only eight countries that has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty that obligates nations not to stockpile or use chemical weapons. Syria’s chemical warfare program, apart from any weapons that may have been received from Iraq, has long been the source of concern to America, Israel, and Lebanon. In March 2004, the director of Central Intelligence, George Tenet, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee, saying, "Damascus has an active CW development and testing program that relies on foreign suppliers for key controlled chemicals suitable for producing CW."
There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein was developing a WMD program, according to other sources, like
Saddam has a whole range of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear, biological and chemical. The nuclear program is his primary weapon, and that would give him the ability to use the biological and chemical better. According to German intelligence estimates, we expect him to have three nuclear weapons by 2005. So, the window (actually, he’s being careful right now), will close by 2005, and we expect him then to be a lot more aggressive with his neighbors and encouraging terrorism, and using biological weapons. Now he’s using them through surrogates like al Qaeda, but we expect he’ll use them more aggressively then. There could also be the angle of him using nuclear weapons through surrogates also, if he can achieve it.
Here Hamza also made an al-Qaeda/Saddam Hussein link, just after 9/11/01. CNN asked about an Osama Bin Laden/Saddam Hussein connection in the same October 2001 interview:
CNN: Do you believe there is any link between Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein? If so, should the U.S. resume attacks on Iraq in the name of stopping terrorism?
HAMZA: I think there are several links between Osama and Saddam. The Iraqi ambassador in Turkey, Hajazi, visited Afghanistan, and met with Osama and his associates. He’s a powerful figure in Iraq. There are several reported meetings between him and Osama’s associates. Osama was sighted in an Iraqi hotel in 1996, by the lawyer for Arkan, the Serbian leader. [Regarding] the reported sighting by the Czech intelligence of Mohammed Atta, and the Iraqi intelligence agent — to do this meeting, Atta had to drive from Germany and Czechoslovakia, a long drive, meet him, and go back. Which means it was an important meeting for supplies, coordination. It couldn’t have been by accident.
Many other meetings were reported between Osama associates and Iraqi intelligence. There are reports by Iraqi defectors of bin Laden’s people being trained in Iraqi terrorist camps. They are credible stories, because they don’t contradict each other. They confirm each other in types of training, places, the people trained. In a covert operation like this, you don’t expect much more information. There will be no smoking gun. All sightings confirm a multi-layered coordination between Saddam and bin Laden, in terms of training, support, and supplies. That could have included anthrax.
Again, this was right after 9/11 and before the anti-Iraqi war rhetoric started heating up. Whether all this can be substantiated may require some investigations within Syria, which is not likely to happen, particularly in light of situations brewing in Iran and Israel/Palestine but Gen. Georges Sada is scheduled to meet next week in Washington with Senators. Perhaps more of the truth about "missing WMD" will surface then.
In the meantime, if this were a story about, say, bad intelligence about WMD, it would be a front page story across the nation for as long as the public could stomach the story, whether true or not. Doesn’t this story deserve a headline?
Michelle Malkin
Conservababes
Ms. Underestimated
Righting America
Generation Why?
Trackback URL:
http://amyproctor.squarespace.com/blog/trackback/367489
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (19)
>>>"However, the New York Sun is reporting that Gen. Georges Sada, Saddam Hussein’s former #2 Air Force official, is saying in HIS BOOK, ‘Saddam’s Secrets’, that Saddam did indeed have WMD, and that they were moved to Damascus, Syria."
This guy is SELLING A BOOK. Take that at face value.
The second thing you want to notice is that he claims that there were 56 flights (in a no-fly zone) from Iraq to Syria, and a "ground convoy of trucks" across the Syrian border.
Let's get serious here. This guy is trying to claim that in perhaps the most satellite monitored place on EARTH in 2002-2003, and the most MONITORED via eavesdropping surveliance, somehow, 56 flights of WMD and convoys of trucks spirited out of the country undetected, knowing full well how much of a case Bush and his neo-con warhawks wanted to find SOMETHING to stick on Saddam in regards to WMD?
Come on, now.
--Cobra
Sada's story cannot be true because he's written a book about his experiences with Saddam as the #2 Iraqi Air Force official? You come on! There are several things to keep in mind. If your premise is that you reject a story because a book coinsides with it, you cannot take James Risen's book, "State of War: State of War : The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration," (about the US surveillance Program) seriously, right? Or any other number of Bush bashing books and their accussations. They must be false based on the premise that you presented. If you want me to make a list of oddly-timed liberal book releases and the stories that accompany them I will, but you'll find that you probably believe the content dispite the fact it's unsubstantiated or in a BOOK.
Sada's story is buttressed by other stories that are similiar, such as Iraqi scientist Khidhir Hamza, who say the same basic thing. Clearly you didn't read the rest of the story. Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, VP Dick Cheney, former US Sec. of St. Colin Powell and former CIA director George Tenet all said the same thing Gen. Sada said: Iraq's WMD were shipped and flown to Damascus, Syria.
Warhawks? You just don't get it, Cobra. Yes, Ariel Sharon is a neo-con. So is Bill Clinton and the U.N. They all believed the same thing *until* the WMD could not be located because it suited their political agendas.
COBRA -
Amy stole most of my thunder in her last comment, but I wanted to add a few thoughts here.
You are misinformed about the Iraq flight restrictions - not all of Iraq was under a "No Fly Zone." Only the Northern and Southern parts of Iraq were under that restriction - the central portion of the country had no such thing.
Also, during the relief efforts of the flooding, the Americans were also using their assets to assist Syria - the perfect time for such a plan. Saddam was many things - but stupid wasn't one of them.
Finally, you give WAY too much credit to satellite surveillance technology and capabilities. It would be all too easy to stage a fake relief effort while transporting something else - right under our orbiting noses. You can blame Hollywood for getting all things regarding American Intelligence (nature and mission of given agencies, technology and practices) completely wrong, every single time.
AMY -
Great article, as usual. You go into great depth on your subjects! I think I'm your biggest fan ;-)
Also, Gen. Sada is a Christian. No biggie to many, but according to the book, he says Saddam trusted him and he (Sada) had a reputation for honesty and truthfulness. Saddam, according to Sada, seemed to place confidence in him because of his reputation for being truthful.
This is totally in sync with what my hubby and others tell me about Christians in Iraq. He told me that Saddam's palaces were staffed by mostly Christian Iraqis because Saddam liked Christians... he'd just as soon cut their heads off then look at them, but that's Saddam's equal opportunism. The fact is that Saddam preferred employing Christians becaus of they didn't lie, didn't cheat, didn't steal, didn't accept bribes. Muslim workers were not nearly as reliable. From what I've read in Sada's book, this stereotype is totally correct.
This leads me to trust other aspects of his book. Who else would know that about Christians and Saddam than someone who's had the rare opportunity, like my husband, to see and hear this first hand? Not many, and Sada could not have known when writing his book that these type of descriptions in it would validate the rest of what he was saying to those who observed these types of things.
Also, Sada now works for a Christian agency in the US as a liason to the Christian church in Iraq. Since this also is a subject near and dear to my and Johnny's heart, and because we also work as a liason between the US, fundraising and the Christian Iraqi church, it adds another element of believability to his story. Many Iraqis not directly in Saddam's cabinet knew Saddam's wish for a pursuit of a WMD program. Surely there would be some outcry against Sada from Iraqis themselves if this were true. I haven't heard of any. There may be, but Sada has been telling this story for 2 years now and I haven't heard a rebuttal.
I also understand that Sada doesn't need the money. I don't believe that's why he wrote the book: he knew Saddam in a very unique way and was able to get out of Iraq with that story. Much of what he describes in the book is an emotional element which is totally believable in how he related to Saddam, or vice versa. It is exactly as I would think one would feel and react if in his place (he describes the kind of fears felt at particular times in dealing with Saddam and recalled particular events that lead to those fears or anxieties). This also adds a layer of believability for me.
But my point is that even if this story is not true, it certainly appears on the surface (and deeper if you take into account the things I've said here) to be so, but you'd think the MSM would be covering it. This is the left's big critique against the President, that there were supposedly no WMD. There's no way around the significance of this story, but it's dead in the water except for on the web. Geesh, the fake non-story of Gov. Bush's forged Air Force reserve records made the headlines for weeks if not longer, and it was totally bogus.
But, as an Iraqi woman told Pres. Bush last week at a question and answer conference: "Iraq thanks you, President Bush! To everyone who says there are no WMD in Iraq, I tell you Saddam and his cabinet were Weapons of Mass Destruction!"
Nuff said.
I found it fascinating that Ariel Sharon said that Saddams WMD were sent to Damascus. Fascinating.
If there was anything more than curveballesque proof of this, don't you think the reality challenged WH would be yelling it from the rooftops? Or maybe they just want to check with Chalabi first. Or pray on it.
Excellent article! I love your site. Thanks for your husband's service and thanks for writing about stuff like this. The media does not want the truth to get out bbut you have proven that it is possible to bypass the mainstream media and go right to the American people. Keep up the great work. I will be back often.
In the future, please leave an e-mail or URL to identify yourself. Thank you!
Rather than repeat myself, I'll just refer you back to my post.
Correct on COBRA's ignorance. The Northern and Southern No-Fly Zones did not cover the middle. Sadam actually challenged the Southern one a year before when he was about to send civilians on a flight to the south. Even if we were to lead some of these liberals by the neck the way you do a young puppy to his "mistake" and put their nose in the WMDs, they would say it was planted, or it wasn't enough, or it couldn't have been delivered or 100 other excuses. Just think of Tom Hayden and Jane Fonda et al.
I'll refer you back to my post.