Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Saddam's WMD -- Moved to Syria by Russian Special Forces?”

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February 26, 2006

Saddam's WMD -- Moved to Syria by Russian Special Forces?

Hatched by Dafydd

John at Power Line has an incredibly important post up linking an editorial at the Investor's Business Daily -- a very fine newspaper even for political and world events, in addition to its extensive financial listings. From the editorial:

Inconveniently for critics of the war, Saddam made tapes in his version of the Oval Office. These tapes landed in the hands of American intelligence and were recently aired publicly.

The first 12 hours of the tapes — there are hundreds more waiting to be translated — are damning, to say the least. They show conclusively that Bush didn't lie when he cited Saddam's WMD plans as one of the big reasons for taking the dictator out.

Nobody disputes the tapes' authenticity. On them, Saddam talks openly of programs involving biological, chemical and, yes, nuclear weapons.

On the tapes, Hussein is heard being briefed by the scientists responsible for the programs... scientists that the United Nations Special Commission, UNSCOM, were unaware even existed:

Indeed, as late as 2000, Saddam can be heard in his office talking with Iraqi scientists about his ongoing plans to build a nuclear device. At one point, he discusses Iraq's plasma uranium program — something that was missed entirely by U.N. weapons inspectors combing Iraq for WMD.

This is particularly troubling, since it indicates an active, ongoing attempt by Saddam to build an Iraqi nuclear bomb.

"What was most disturbing," said John Tierney, the ex- FBI agent who translated the tapes, "was the fact that the individuals briefing Saddam were totally unknown to the U.N. Special Commission (or UNSCOM, the group set up to look into Iraq's WMD programs)."

Perhaps most chillingly, the tapes record Iraq Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz talking about how easy it would be to set off a WMD in Washington. The comments come shortly after Saddam muses about using "proxies" in a terror attack.

We now believe that the WMD were moved out of Iraq and into Syria and Syria-controlled Lebanon in the months before the war by Russian special forces:

So how was Saddam able to use his "cheat and retreat" tactics without being found out? He had help, according to a former U.S. Defense Department official.

"The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went to Syria and Lebanon," said John Shaw, former deputy undersecretary of defense, in comments made at an intelligence summit Feb. 17-20 in Arlington, Va.

"They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special ops) units out of uniform that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," he said.

This is pretty stunning news... so of course, it's going to be the lead story on all the networks and in every major American newspaper, right? I mean, surely it's more important than Bode Miller's failure to make good on his boasts at the Winter Olympics or whether Bush should have allowed A-rabs to lease cargo operations at six American ports, right?

Let's give it a couple of days and see how many members of the Antique Media pick up on the IBD editorial and start actually reporting on real-world events -- events which retain their currency, not only because claims that "Bush lied, people died" still infect the political dialog like a contagion; but also because if the claims are accurate, then Syria now has access to nuclear, chemical, and biological materials and the ongoing programs and scientists weaponizing them.

Any predictions? My own is that by early next week, Fox News Channel will have reported on this; and by next Sunday, Fox News Channel will have reported on this.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, February 26, 2006, at the time of 6:11 PM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: Mr. Michael

My prediction? Brit Hume may mention it in passing on the Grapevine portion of "Special Report" on Monday, but then it will just blow away. Right now, if there are no solid financial backers of any particular story, it will not even make a blip on the antique media radar screen.

Maybe if we could get a group of Iraqis to use the tapes to prove that Saddam was and still is the legal leader of Iraq... offer a few well dressed talking heads for the 'news' programs like Larry King or other CNN shows... pry a few Democrat spokespeople off of the Port Snort to push the story that George Bush Is Ignoring The True Leader Of The Iraqi People(!), THEN you could get the tapes on the TV.

But try getting anybody with real knowledge of the subject to get on a talk show laying out real evidence in the form of Saddam himself saying "So tell me more about our Nuclear Weapons program Tariq: How soon can we nuke Washington D.C.?"

They aren't going to go for that at all.

The above hissed in response by: Mr. Michael at February 26, 2006 7:03 PM

The following hissed in response by: RBMN

When you go up against the mainstream media's official KnownFacts™, the truth doesn't really matter much, does it? Saddam's WMD is almost a Galileo's Trial situation at this point.

The above hissed in response by: RBMN at February 26, 2006 8:24 PM

The following hissed in response by: Bill Faith

Great analysis, Dafydd. I'd read the IBD article but it hadn't soaked in
that it meant Syria has WMD. I linked to your post from http://www.smalltownveteran.net/posts/2006/02/investors_busin.html.

The above hissed in response by: Bill Faith at February 27, 2006 2:39 AM

The following hissed in response by: MTF

So here I am, catching up on my reading, and what do I find? The Russians sold Saddam his WMD? Do we have any sources, other than the single source cited (the Iraqi general's book, I believe)? Thanks.

The above hissed in response by: MTF at February 27, 2006 6:53 AM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

MTF:

I don't know what hard evidence there is. But since the lion's portion of Saddam's weaponry came from the Soviet Union (Iraq was a client state), and since the Soviets sold other WMD elsewhere (notably Pakistan, where they helped AQ Khan), and since they worked with Hussein and with the French to give him nuclear power, and since of course the Soviets have chem-bio and nuclear weapons -- it's not exactly a startling claim.

Dafydd

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh at February 27, 2006 1:16 PM