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« Les bloggeurs threaten President Chirac with constitutional indigestion | Main | The politics of fear »

Blair-hatred

Bush-hatred has ruined much of America's left. Blair-hatred is doing something similar to some UK Tories.

Last week on Question Time, Michael Howard made an eloquent case for getting rid of Saddam but persisted with his reasonable critique of the way in which Tony Blair made the case for war.

Some conservatives - Michael Moore conservatives - are so consumed with Blair-hatred, however, that they have completely lost the plot.

Three statements in today's Mail on Sunday illustrate the way Tony Blair has distorted Britain's right. The three statements could easily have appeared in any George Galloway election leaflet. They are rebutted below.

MAIL ON SUNDAY: “Innocent Iraqis, caught in the hell of modern warfare… died needlessly.”

CONSERVATIVEHOME.COM: What offensive crap. They didn’t die needlessly. They died for democracy and the liberation of their country. The 60% of Iraqis who voted in January’s first modern-day election risked death to honour their countrymen who died for a democratic, post-Saddam future where poison gas isn’t an instrument of law and order.

MAIL ON SUNDAY: “All we can know for sure today is that every single one of [Tony Blair’s] public arguments for the invasion was false.”

CONSERVATIVEHOME.COM: His argument that 25 million people would be liberated? His argument that the world would be better off without Saddam? His argument that Iraq shouldn’t be allowed to constantly flout UN resolutions? His argument that Saddam was a threat to his neighbours? His argument that Saddam’s scientists had the capacity to produce dangerous weapons? Tony Blair DID exaggerate the case on WMD and his case for pre-emptive action against Iraq was too narrow. But it is ludicrous for the MoS to claim that every single one of the public arguments for the invasion were false.

MAIL ON SUNDAY: “As for the linked claim that, if Mr Blair had not acted, Saddam Hussein would still be there, it is vainglorious and absurd. The US could and would have removed Saddam without British help.”

CONSERVATIVEHOME.COM: Or, in other words, let’s freeload on America. The Mail on Sunday – so hard line when it comes to “benefit scroungers” – wants Britain to sponge off America. Yes, there may be a global war on terror but the Chamerlain tendency at the Mail would rather not make any sacrifices for freedom. Our security may be worth American lives – but not one drop of British blood. Mail newspapers appeased Hitler in the 1930s and they’re still appeasing today.

***

This posting is adapted from a new conservativehome.com memo* on how five of Britain's Sunday newspapers are voting.

01 May 2005 in World | Permalink

Comments

On a day we learn yet another British serviceman has given his life for Mr Blair, I see very little difference between Adolf Hitler's reasons for 'liberating' the countries of Europe and Mr Blair's arguments for bringing 'democracy' to Iraq.

In both cases one country has sought to impose its own idea of how a country should be governed on another independent nation state.

Under international law, regime change is illegal. It is for that reason that an earlier Conservative Prime Minister stopped once the invader had been driven out of Kuwait and become effectively neutralised, apparently lacking the ability to manufacture and the cash to purchase, further chemical and conventional weapons.

Indeed I would hold that Mr Blair's entire excursion into Iraq was immoral, unnecessary, unwise and unlawful. Indeed the more we learn about how the truth was withheld not just from the British people and their Parliament but also from many members of the cabinet, the more worried I become about what the Executive will do next. This country seems to be fast turning into an elected dictatorship and it is about time most people faced up to the truth, unpleasant that it is.

Posted by: Cllr Graham Smith | 02 May 2005 at 11:17

What's so great about international law?

Posted by: Tom Greeves | 07 May 2005 at 19:44

The Case for WMD in Iraq

With the recent barrage of media reports, one might believe that the WMD debate might be over and neatly summed up by saying, “there were none.” When we peel back the layers of the issue, we find that this is far from a fact. Iraq had in place all of the components necessary to use Chemical, Biological, and potentially even nuclear weapons on both the strategic and the tactical levels. This capability has gone largely unrecognized because those responsible for investigating the presence of WMD and the media have put a microscope on specific events and discoveries instead of adding up their discoveries in a cohesive way. With politics in mind, they went looking for an exclamation point, “the smoking gun” that would end the debate decisively. Critics, also having politics in mind, sought to isolate and attack discoveries and redirect the WMD issue to one of the administration’s credibility. What was missed, both intentionally and unintentionally, is the big picture.
What has been proven thus far is not that the programs did not exist; just that there is simply not going to be a Ft. Knox of chemical weapons in a palace somewhere. It turns out that, despite popular belief in many circles, Iraqis are smart people (too smart to leave a “smoking gun”). So, this begs the questions… What does the big picture look like and how do we get an idea of what that picture is? These are the questions we should be asking. They are the ones that cut to the bone of the issue. I’ll try to answer them for you with a short list of discoveries pulled from a wide variety of open sources.

NOTE: Accepting that this is a complex issue, I will fall victim to my own previously mentioned criticisms and focus on certain finite aspects of the programs to a certain extent. I could write volumes about the discoveries coming out of Iraq to date, but I’d likely have to set up my own server to make it available. If you have an interest in diving further into these issues (and I hope that you do…), I have provided sources for everything I have discussed in this paper to get you started. Please also be aware that much of my research for this project is done online. Some of my sources for information change, but I have done my very best to re-source any broken links. It is also important to note that this is a total free write. In spite of this, I did my best to make it sensible.

Initially, it’s a good idea to remind the reader of what we know existed, and in some cases still exists, in Iraq when we begin to examine pre-war evidence. The Iraqi government had imported tons of precursor chemicals, several examples of dual-use equipment, and restored many facilities with known association to WMD research and production. None of this is disputed. Still, we find that many critics balk when these facts are mentioned now that we are in the post-war period. All balking considered they are still strong indicators of intentions, which are driven by motive. The short answer for motive, in Iraq’s case, is a complex combination of defiance, a desire to become a world power, a borderline paranoid fear of its neighbors, paranoia in general, and cultural factors. I won’t delve too far into motive. It’s a bit off the subject. It’s enough to know that a strong motive existed for a variety of reasons. Though critics can argue intent and motive, they cannot argue with the facts… at least not logically. For the first part of my discussion, the facts (with breaks for discussion) are as follows:

- Fallujah I (Habbaniyah III) was destroyed and never rebuilt. It remained largely abandoned, but is important for the purpose of comparison. Photographic comparison of it and it’s sister sites in Fallujah demonstrate activity.

- The chlorine and phenol plant at the Fallujah II (Habbaniyah II) facility. Iraq had three other higher capacity facilities that more than served its water purification needs. This facility was rebuilt after WE air strikes destroyed it during Operation Desert Storm/Operation Desert Fox. It was attacked because the facility was known to be a production site for mustard gas. There is a secured storage area at this site, a perimeter fence and wall, an access control point, and a couple of guard towers located at the site.

- Fallujah III (Habbaniyah I), a castor oil plant, has been associated with Iraqi WMD programs. This facility has been reconstituted since the UNSCOM inspectors left in 1998. It was damaged by air strikes during operation Desert Fox. Castor Oil, besides being used in legitimate industry for products such as brake fluid, is also used to create Ricin. Many of the buildings were still damaged or destroyed prior to OIF, but the facility remained functional. Security at Fallujah III is similar to that of Fallujah II.

- Under the oil for food program, Iraq imported 15 million kg of Chlorine from the mid-1990’s onward. It used only 10 million kg, leaving 5 million kg in stock. Abduallah al Mullah Huwaysh, a prominent defense figure in Iraq until the fall of Baghdad reported in 2001 that he told Saddam Hussein Iraq could make mustard gas almost immediately after a ministers meeting in 2001. He further states that Saddam was constantly looking for ways to subvert the sanctions placed against Iraq in an effort to develop a viable NBC capability. Abduallah al Mullah Huwaysh is currently in an Iraqi prison.

- Salmon Pak, a site known to house a training facility for Iraqis, Arabs, and Non-Arabs in the acts of sabotage and terrorism, was also a primary research facility for Biological weapons and associated technologies. This site was a research facility that developed Anthrax, Botulinum toxin, Clostridium, perfringens (gas gangrene), mycotoxins, aflatoxins, and Ricin. Salmon Pak was also the site of a major battle on 20 March 2005. It was also the site of a massacre during the Invasion phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Among the identified dead was an Iraqi Intelligence Officer. On a side note, a US court found that expert testimony and evidence related to this site was sufficient enough to award $104 million dollars in damages to the families of two 9/11 victims.

- Other reports, from the border village of Sargat during open hostilities include an independent test by MSNBC reporters at that site indicated a presence of Ricin and botulinum. The site, occupied by Ansar Al-Islam, was largely destroyed by air strikes, which likely destroyed any evidence that might have existed.

- AP reported the discovery of Chemical weapons materials, “cookbooks,” and plans associated with potential small scale NBC attacks against US troops on 14 November 2004. The discoveries were made during the Coalition assault on Fallujah.

- In September 2002, the IAEA claimed that it had seen new construction or alterations at nuclear sites in commercial satellite photos. While the IAEA refused to name the sites or analyze what it had seen prior to conducting inspections in Iraq, it was reported in the Washington Post that Tuwaitha was among the sites with new buildings. Since the end of the war, there have been several cases of theft at the facility. The facility is now under coalition control.

- Iraq refused to account for about 3.9 tons of VX and 600 tons of precursors for VX. Iraq said that it produced the gas but said that it was poor in quality. Iraq also said that all of the ingredients to make it were either destroyed or used up. Also missing were 3,000 tons of other poison gas agents that Iraq had admitted producing but said were used, destroyed or thrown away, and several hundred additional tons of agents Iraq could have produced with the 4,000 tons of missing ingredients it admitted was at its disposal. Iraq also admitted producing or possessing 500 bombs with parachutes to deliver gas or germ payloads, roughly 550 artillery shells filled with mustard gas, 107,500 casings prepared for various. Chemical munitions, and 31,658 filled and empty chemical munitions – all of which Iraq claimed were destroyed or lost, a fact that inspectors have been unable to verify. Many key records were also missing. These included "cookbooks" showing how Iraq operated its poison gas plants.

I’ll stop here and discuss what we can piece together so far. The former Iraqi government rebuilt or partially rebuilt facilities known to be associated with WMD development and construction. They imported 5 million kg more Chlorine than they needed, and a prominent defense industry figure currently in Coalition custody has admitted that Saddam was deeply interested in NBC weapons. This individual has admitted he had told Saddam Hussein that it would be easier to produce mustard gas than VX and Ricin. Of the functioning facilities that have been mentioned in the above paragraphs, one was a fully functioning Chlorine and Phenol plant. Salmon Pak, clearly an active facility, was known to be a site where Ricin (a product of Castor bean pulp) was researched and a place where Iraqi and foreign nationals were trained to conduct acts of terrorism. Sargat, a site frequented by terror group Ansar Al-Islam, produced positive independent (IE-non-coalition…) tests for Ricin.

It is also worth noting that Fallujah was, until November of last year, considered to be the stronghold of the insurgency. Salmon Pak has seen major battles in very recent times also. The poor security situations at these locations have made these sites largely unavailable to inspectors in the post-war period so far. There have also been reports of laboratories that have been captured by US and Iraqi forces in the area. Let’s not forget the thefts at the Tuwaitha Nuclear facility. This would indicate to me that Iraq had the means to produce a lot of mustard gas and a little bit Ricin with a continued interest in Radiological and Nuclear weapons. The purposes of these programs seem to have been national defense and assassination (I.E.-Terrorism).

Got that? GREAT, let’s begin again. We have established, broadly, that Iraq has the means and the equipment. Let’s explore this further.

-Three mobile labs were discovered in April and May of 2003. One lab was seized at a checkpoint in Mosul, another was discovered, after being looted, at the Al-Kindi research facility, and the final one was found in Baghdad. The labs were inspected by two sets of scientists, one from various coalition countries; the other was an international group from outside the coalition. The independent inspectors stated that the labs were not “best suited” for use with WMD programs, the coalition group found no other plausible reason for them to be in Iraq. Iraqi scientists captured during the war have said that the labs were intended for generating helium (a gas…) for conventional artillery.

-This is an excerpt from the Dulfer files… “2001__Attempts to Procure Mobile Laboratory Trucks”
“A French Firm known for violating UN sanctions submitted a request for bids to a South Korean and a German company for 20 mobile laboratory trucks in August of 2001. The end-user for the trucks was purported to be the Iraqi General Company for Water and Sewage.”

-12 empty Chemical/Biological Artillery Shells were discovered prior to hostilities in January of 2003. The shells, 155 mm Rocket Artillery rounds, were in “excellent condition.”

-In May of 2004, US Forces discovered a 155 mm Rocket Artillery Shell rigged as an IED in Baghdad. The round was loaded with Sarin, according to the Iraqi Survey Group. The shell had no markings indicating that it was a chemical weapon. Roughly two weeks prior to this incident, a shell of the same description was discovered containing mustard gas.

-The ISG found evidence of destroyed 155 mm rockets at the Jaguar CEA depot. The damage was attributed to “looters” other sites showed evidence of looting or were un-inspected because of safety concerns relating to unexploded ordinance or shifting stockpiles.

-In the interest of fairness, I will preface this statement with the fact that I cannot corroborate this report or find any follow up… Soldiers of the 1st Cavalry division seized 43 155 mm Rocket Artillery shells in the spring of 2004. Some of the shells were leaking. Last report indicated that the shells were being tested for the presence of Sarin and other chemical weapon agents.

-In April of 2003, 11 shipping containers full of brand new lab equipment and documents were discovered by the 101st Airborne. The discovery was made next to an Artillery ammunition plant in southern Iraq.

-Evidence of preparation for the use of chemical warfare by the Iraqi military was discovered and has been reported by several media, scientific, and government outlets. Discoveries range from Chemical Protective masks, to nerve agent antidotes, to literature to a nerve gas called, “Tabun” (which Iraq was banned from having) for training, and at Al Qa Qaa, a conventional munitions facility, explosives were discovered in 5x12 cm boxes coupled with literature about engaging in chemical warfare. "There was no hint by anybody, no special tip that led us there," one U.N. official said when asked why the inspectors had found nothing when they inspected the Ammunition plant.

-The United States Mission to the European Union and other sources believed Saddam was concealing and sanitizing facilities, making fraudulent declarations to the U.N. and weapons inspectors, sacrificing elements of some WMD programs to deceive inspectors, creating WMD facility and program cover stories, placing WMD programs in "dual-use" facilities, and establishing disinformation programs. This is supported by the ISG Final Report, which states that Iraq decided to “make do” either by continued paper-oriented research or by using less effective equipment.

-In April of 2003, marines testing drinking water from the Euphrates River near a Nasiriya discovered high levels of Cyanide and mustard agents in the water. Marines on the ground at that location believe it was a deliberate attempt to poison US troops.

OK, So far we know that Saddam was advised that Mustard gas was a fairly simple and sustainable WMD program. Iraq had a massive amount of precursor (and dual-use) chemicals that would be needed to produce Mustard gas. Mustard gas has been discovered in Iraq since the invasion began. Most aspects of the program were comparatively easy to handle. It was easy to make, transport, and hide. It was the focus of the Iraqi regime’s WMD initiative in the post Desert Storm era because of these factors.

This point is driven home by the fine print not found in the media. We know that Iraq attempted to purchase mobile labs and succeeded. Coalition forces have discovered three since the beginning of hostilities in the spring of 2003. According to the Dulfur report, the intended end user was “the Iraqi General Company for Water and Sewage.” This is the same Agency that would have been responsible for the Fallujah II (Habbaniyah II) facility. Again, this chemical plant processed chlorine and phenol. Chlorine is a component of mustard gas. Iraqi scientists have admitted that this equipment was intended for use with Artillery. Improbably, they claim that the labs were for the production of Hydrogen. Hydrogen, like Mustard gas, is… well… a gas. Not being a scientist, I can deduce from the statements made by the inspectors and making the previously mentioned connection that this equipment was capable of and intended for the manufacture of mustard gas. The later intent to expand the role of the labs to other programs cannot be discounted. (You will note that all of the reporting carefully avoids chemical weapons. Most of the reporting on the subject stated that the labs were not suitable for Biological weapons).

This is supportable also by looking at conventional Iraqi equipment. Iraq’s primary means of delivery for chemical weapons were by Ariel bomb and by Artillery. Again, the labs mentioned above were tied to Iraqi artillery by the admission of Iraqi scientists. Again, no one has disputed that the labs could be used for the purpose of producing chemical weapons. This is where the genius of this program really begins to take shape. The labs “belong” with artillery. No doubt Iraqi leadership believed that at least some would be captured or destroyed in combat with coalition forces. (I mentioned the discoveries at the Euphrates because it was the site of a large artillery battle and heavy resistance during the invasion. The parallels between the locations of WMD vs. the Resistance to US forces are quite compelling. But I digress…) If the equipment were abandoned on the battlefield or remained largely intact after coalition forces overtook it, the presence of the labs could be explained with the Hydrogen balloon story. The “Hydrogen lab” story further served Iraq’s purpose because when the “Hydrogen labs” were discovered, they were far removed from sites related to WMD in the past. Iraq has demonstrated a propensity towards inventing cover stories for its WMD programs and facilities. This one is pretty damn good. The mobility of the labs and the dual use status of the facilities related to the precursor chemicals would also allow the Iraqis to avoid having to stockpile ready munitions. The obvious components, such as empty rounds, could be mislabeled or moved regularly without arousing much suspicion. Evidence of this can be found by examining the Sarin shell detonated as an IED. It bore no markings indicating that it was a chemical round. The recurring type of ammunition, 155 mm Rocket Artillery rounds, takes us another step closer. Rocket Artillery is very mobile. The ammo, labs, and Artillery could come from three entirely separate places in a very short amount of time and produce a chemical attack. Only the lab workers would have to know that an attack was planned for this to work. The individuals driving the trucks full of mislabeled rounds or transporting the Rocket Artillery piece could simply be told where to be and when to be there. This step allowed Iraq to evade inspectors, to avoid air strikes, to involve as few knowledgeable participants as possible, and most important, it created an exceptional technique with which to hide the capability.

Finally, the program was extremely flexible in terms of development. As Iraq refined its ability to produce hardier versions of its known chemical and biological weapons of choice, the programs could simply be expanded with the purchase of more equipment.

The precursor chemicals were stored at dual-use facilities. A mobile lab, belonging to the agency responsible for the facility (on paper, at least…) would retrieve the chemicals and prepare the gas and load the shells in the field. The rounds would be fired and the lab would leave and do it all over again as many times as possible (in the case of an all-out US invasion…). This leaves us with the questions of who was actually a part of this program? Why don’t we have any of them in custody? Why hasn’t anyone come forward since the fall of Saddam and the Ba’ath Party? The answers are quite interesting.

Control of the WMD program was put in the hands of the intelligence apparatus. Amn al-Khas, an elite special security organization was a one of the major command and control oversight groups involved in the concealment effort. General Intelligence, al-Mukhabarat had at least two sub-directorates involved in the concealment effort: a covert operations unit and a covert procurement unit. Military Intelligence (al-Istikhabarat) had a role in the strategic concealment of Iraq’s WMD, while General Security’s (al-Amn al-‘Amm) military unit, the Emergency Forces (al-Quwwat al-Tawari’), provided security for the facilities related to WMD programs. After the Shia uprising in the immediate aftermath of the Gulf war, control of WMD was taken away from the military because Saddam did not want it to be turned against him in another revolt.

UNSCOM became aware of these activities through interviews conducted between 1991 and 1996. With Russian assistance and through their own efforts, Iraq became quite effective at tactics related to concealment. Abid Hamid Mahmud (head of the Presidential Secretariat) along with Qusay Hussein (head of the Amn al-Khas, or SSO) Lead the programs to conceal WMD development. Qusay also controlled the Special Republican Guard, the unit responsible for transporting WMD. Through the SSO, Qusay also maintained control of some Chemical Corps elements of the Iraqi Army. These elements were the ones who were to fire the weapons. The Chemical Corps units acted only on orders from Qusay.

All of the soldiers described were elite and the most loyal to Saddam. They were picked for this particular task because of their extreme loyalty (inspectors never gained access to any SSO facility…). It is likely that many have been captured or killed since the end of the war. Qusay was killed and Mahmud was captured. The majority of this group (that haven’t been killed) probably fled the country or is a big portion of the core of the insurgency. It could take years to round up enough of them to put together a solid picture of the WMD concealment and deployment apparatus.

So, members of an Elite Chemical Corp Unit, guarded by the Special Republican Guard, would pick up precursor chemicals in a mobile lab, mate them with empty CW ammunition, meet a conventional Rocket Artillery battery, and hypothetically, they could deliver a chemical attack when given the order to do so by Saddam’s son, Qusay (who is now dead…). We now see means and method at work within pre-war Iraq for the battlefield employment of chemical weapons. But Iraq’s ambitions did not end with a desire to use WMD on the battlefield. There is substantial evidence indicating that Iraq saw greater potential for the use of WMD through individual acts of terrorism.

It is no secret that Iraq sought to expand its influence through the use of terrorism in other countries as well as it’s own. Iraq has provided material support, financial support and safe haven to organizations and individuals related to and involved in terrorism. I have already mentioned Salmon Pak, Sargat, and the labs in Fallujah. This sort of blatant activity should be enough to convince even the most critical opponents of war and the Bush administration. There is more that, again, has only been made public in the back pages of the papers or not at all through the media. There are financial, research, and material links to terror well beyond the range of reasonable doubt. As with the battlefield use of such weapons, the preponderance of evidence outweighs plausible deniability when the subject is approached reasonably.

-A UN selected and approved oil buyer, Galp International Trading Corp., funneled money through Liechtenstien to a shell company (no, not the one that owns gas stations… a “pretend” company…) called ASAT Trust that was linked to a bank in the Bahamas called Bank Al Taqwa. Al Taqwa is on the UN’s watch list and has had its assets frozen as a supporter of terror. Yusuf Nada, international leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and other key members of the Egyptian Terror organization founded Al Taqwa. The organization is linked to Al Qaeda. One of the most significant links is Sayyid Qubt. Sayyid Qubt died in an Egyptian prison in the 1960’s. He was tortured to death, many say. He was also an Islamic scholar and a teacher who Osama Bin Laden calls one of his biggest influences. His work took on great meaning for many Muslims after their crushing defeat in the Arab-Israeli Conflicts.

-In October 1997, the IAEA concluded that it had a technically coherent picture of the pre-1999 nuclear weapons program, although it was troubled by the absence of centrifuge program documentation and there were gaps in knowledge about nuclear weapon design and development activities and the role of foreign assistance. There was a pre-1991 offer by a representative of Pakistan’s A. Q. Khan to assist Iraq in developing nuclear weapons. This was also of great concern to the IAEA.

-In June of 2003, critical parts of a centrifuge and documents relating to nuclear weapons development were discovered buried in the rose garden of an Iraqi scientist. The equipment was buried after the first gulf war. The documents were instructions on how to conceal WMD technology and how to deceive UN Inspectors.

-On June 24, 2003, an independently formed Greenpeace mission sent to test contamination levels in Iraq handed over to the U.S. military an abandoned metal canister found in Iraq, which the group said was giving off 10,000 times normal radiation levels. Though much of the missing radioactive material from looted sites has been recovered, they believe that significant amounts of dirty bomb materials have been looted from Iraq since the wars end.

-In the spring of 1991, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz requested and was granted permission from Sudan's President Umar al-Bashir to move Iraqi chemical weapons to Sudan in order to circumvent their destruction by the UN. In the summer of 1991, a research project for the use of chemical weapons was thus established. The Sudanese in an effort to help Iraq avoid the use and stockpiling of obvious CW munitions, developed canisters, which they rolled off the back of An-24/An-26 transport aircraft.

-The Iraqis are said to have constructed a separate facility in Sudan for the production and weaponization of large quantities of chemical agents. Construction began In the Spring of 1996 and finished in the fall of 1997. The Yarmook Industrial Complex is located in the in Shajarah [al-Shagara] area, beyond southern Khartoum in the Mayu area.

-"Iraq admitted to UNSCOM that it planned to produce VX for its CW program using the EMPTA process, And prior to the Sudanese soil sample, Iraq was the only country we knew of to have pursued this production process," An unnamed US State Department official said when speaking about the destruction of the Shifa Pharmaceutical plant in the Sudan. Osama Bin Laden is believed to have bankrolled the facility. Bin Laden is known to have bankrolled genetic, chemical, and nuclear research in the Sudan during the early to mid 1990’s. William S. Cohen, President Clinton's defense secretary, cited an al Qaeda-Baghdad link to justify the bombing of the pharmaceutical plant. Iraq admitted to having a $199,000 contract with al Shifa for goods under the oil-for-food program. Those goods were never delivered. A senior Clinton Administration official stated, "We knew there were fuzzy ties between [bin Laden] and the plant but strong ties between him and Sudan and strong ties between the plant and Sudan and strong ties between the plant and Iraq." Although this official did not oversell bin Laden's ties to the plant, other Clinton officials told reporters that the plant's general manager lived in a villa owned by bin Laden.

-Saddam Hussein gave a total of 10 million us dollars to Palestinian families when the new intifada started in October of 2000 until March of 2002. The families were those of suicide bombers or individuals killed in clashes with the Israeli military. 500,000 dollars was handed out at a ceremony in Tulkarm, (about 90 kilometers north of Jerusalem) and was organized by the Arab Liberation Front, a small PLO faction aligned with the Ba’ath Party.

-Iraq has provided Palestine with the following materiel support:
RPG-7, RPG-16, AT-3 (NATO code-name SAGGER or Russian PTUR-64 Malatyuka), SA-7 (NATO code-name GRAIL or Russian STRELA), 3,500 7.62mm AK47 and AKM automatic Rifles, 1,500 5.45mm AK74 a modern and highly effective automatic rifle, 700 7.62mm RPK, the LMG or squad automatic weapon version of AK47, 300 5.45mm RPK74, the LMG (squad automatic weapon version of AK74), and, though not certain, 7.62mm SVD sniper rifles may have been smuggled in. This was made possible in large part because of a renewed military co-operation between Syria and Iraq.

-Abu Abbas, leader of the group of Palestinians who hijacked the cruise ship, “Achille Lauro,” and subsequently murdered Leon Klinghoffer, a wealthy, Wheelchair-bound, elderly Jewish man in August of 1985, was captured near Baghdad by US Special Operations Forces in April of 2003.

-Bin Laden’s construction company “el-Hijrah for Construction and Development Ltd.”—In partnership with the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the Sudanese military—built the new airport at Port Sudan, as well as a 1200 km-long highway linking Khartoum to Port Sudan. The Sudanese government paid for at least part of this construction work by giving bin Laden ownership of the Khartoum Tannery. The tanning industry uses sodium sulfite, a chemical component of mustard gas.

-Another company reputedly owned by bin Laden is the “Wadi al-Aqiq” Company, an export-import firm. For many years, bin Laden owned and ran the Taba Investment Company Ltd., which deals in global stock markets. He was also part owner of the “el-Shamal Islamic Bank” in Khartoum, a joint effort with the NIF, in which bin Laden is said to have invested $50 million. According to the testimony of witnesses in the U.S. embassy bombing trials in Kenya and Tanzania, al-Qaida ran several farms in Sudan, raising a variety of crops, from peanuts to sunflowers. However, the land was also reportedly used for weapons and explosives training. Other enterprises in Sudan included the Laden International import/export company; a bakery; a furniture company; the Bank of Zoological Resource cattle-breeding operation; and the International al-Ikhlar Co., which made honey and other sweets. He also invested an undetermined, but large amount of money in Genetic engineering through these companies.

SO, what have we learned about Iraq and its links to international Terror? We have learned that it had connections to Al Qaeda through the Sudan. Iraq invested close to 200,000 dollars in contract with a pharmaceutical plant bankrolled by Al Qaeda. The al Shifa facility also had close ties to the Sudanese military. Osama Bin Laden is known to have invested in several industries that use chemicals with dual purposes and that conduct research that is valuable for the development of WMD technology. Iraq further researched low-tech delivery systems for chemical weapons with the Sudanese military. Given the low-tech nature of the WTC attacks, it is easy to see how this research not only held benefits for the Iraqi military, but also for terrorist organizations.

We also know that Iraq has a history of providing material and monetary support to Palestinian terrorists. Saddam Hussein considered Palestine to be a ward of Iraq. Though Yassir Arafat was initially hesitant to accept assistance from Iraq after 1991 because he knew that there was no hope for his cause without the support of the United States. He was more afraid of the US alliance with Israel because the US has in Israel a willing supporter for any action that it deems necessary to protect its interests in the Middle East, to include the eradication of terror organizations. So, Palestine willingly allowed Iraq to ship weapons, money, and expertise to its territory. It is no small surprise that we now see a large number of suicide bombings and IED attacks, once limited mostly to Israel, occurring in Iraq.

We know that Saddam was circumventing the Oil-For-Food program (THAT is another story for another time…) with the help of Terrorist organizations. Iraq’s investment in Sudanese industry, particularly the Al Shifa facility was organized under the Oil-For-Food program. Saddam was funneling money to Liechtenstein, a country known for secretive banking practices, through front companies run by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood, among other dubious distinctions, has been held responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat, ran a spy network for Nazi Germany (It’s founder, Hassan al BANNA was an ardent admirer of Adolph Hitler), and has more recently been implicated in assisting the Chechen Revolt.

I have already mentioned Sargat and Salmon Pak. Though Sargat was home to Asar Al Islam, a group not noted for it’s love of secular regimes, it would make tactical and strategic sense for Saddam and Ansar Al Islam to team up in a fight against the Coalition. Both were threatened by the invasion as the fall of the Ba’ath party regime and the destruction of the Sargat camp demonstrate. It shouldn’t be much of a stretch to see how this makes sense. It certainly explains the presence of Ricin at the site. Salmon Pak, outside of being a research facility, was also home to a training camp, as I have mentioned, that had facilities for training related to the hostile seizure of a commercial aircraft. Captain Sabah Khalifa Khodada Alami, an Iraqi defector who now lives in Ft. Worth, Texas, said that as late as 1998 he trained an elite commando team, Fedayeen Saddam, in airline hijacking and sabotage. A second Iraqi defector, a former intelligence officer who defected in early 2001, described "Islamicists" training on a Boeing 707 parked in Salmon Pak from about 1995 to as recently as September 2000. A UN Inspector also claimed to have seen the Fuselage during the same period of time. The welcome presence of terrorists can be demonstrated in one single incident by the capture of Abu Abbas near Baghdad.

We can conclude that Saddam was a patron of terror in just about every imaginable way. He supported terrorists with training, money, financial investment, and safe haven. He is now reaping the reward his support was intended to bring, though not in the way he had hoped. His intention was to draw Islamic Fundamentalists to the Iraqi cause in the event of another invasion. History, or at least the way it is written and reported, demonstrates that the US is vulnerable to a protracted guerilla campaign. The failing in the comparison between Vietnam and Iraq is that North Vietnam had the support of a major world power, their movement had a “respectable” figurehead, and the insurgency was very mature by the time the US became involved. Iraqi insurgents have not yet turned that corner and likely never will. His intention was to defeat the US in the same way North Vietnam did and to remain in power (the latter didn’t pan out…).

This ties us into another portion of Iraqi strategy in the battlefield use of WMD and should emphasize the danger posed by Iraq’s relationship with terror organizations. Iraq knew, and looting demonstrated, that an IAEA seal on its nuclear materials would mean nothing once war broke out during an invasion. This is important and it ties into some of what I have mentioned, but not talked about yet. Remember the conventional explosives US forces discovered with publications about engaging in NBC warfare? Remember the media reports of a final protective line for the use of WMD around Baghdad? Remember all of the NBC protective gear US troops found? The combination of dirty bombs and guerilla warfare was meant to tie coalition forces down near urban centers where the odds were somewhat more even for the defending Iraqi forces. The strategy clearly came apart, I’m still working out how, but it is known that Iraq believed that tactical nuclear warfare (IE-nukes fired on the battlefield at conventional troops) was a good idea and that it was survivable. If one were to look at a map, that person might notice 6 sites (Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, Tarmiya, Al Atheer Center, Al Furat, Rashidiya, and Petrochemical-3 Center) related to nuclear aspects of the WMD program in Iraq surround Baghdad. 2 sites are located between Baghdad and the Iranian border. 3 more are organized in a wedge, pointing south (the direction of the US led invasion in 1991 and along most of the major arteries in and out of the city to the south). The final site is north of the city. None within close proximity are west of Baghdad (the least likely invasion route). If Iraq did not plan to involve these sites in a final protective line, it would have made much more sense to move them to the west (away from high speed avenues of approach and away from areas that would have appeal to an aggressor). Iraq knew it was outmatched on the conventional battlefield. It’s transformation to unconventional tactics, techniques, and procedures were an obvious choice for them after Desert Storm.

I know what you are thinking… all of this surely could be true, but we surely would have found SOMETHING substantial by now, right? Personally, I would submit that I have proven that we have found plenty to indicate WMD technology existed in pre-war Iraq (and I’m not even coming close addressing all the possibilities…). But, I am willing to offer further evidence of what has happened to a lot of the WMD materiel related to Iraq. It’s pretty shocking at times.

-The UN reported in May of 2004 that it and the IAEA were investigating claims that engines for SA-2 rockets and higher than normal radiation levels were detected in a Rotterdam, Netherlands scrap yard. The engines are the same ones used in the Al Samoud II missile. Company employees confirmed that they had seen between 5 and 12 similar engines in January and February of 2004. Employees also reported that a number of stainless steel and other non-corrosive parts and pieces of equipment had been arriving from the “Middle East” (marked “Iraq” or “Baghdad”) since November of 2003. When some of these items were inspected, it was found that they were Titanium or Inconel. Both are dual-use materials and subject to monitoring.

-The UN reported Satellite imagery indicating that many of the sites of interest for WMD inspectors had been cleaned out or looted. The report stated, “[i]t is not known whether such equipment and materials were still present at the sites during the time of coalition action in March and April of 2003.”

- Approximately 90 sites monitored by the UN for WMD activity were looted during or possibly prior to OIF according to the UN. Their report, from the spring of this year (2005) stated, “The continuing examination of the imagery has revealed that approximately 90 of the total 353 sites analyzed containing material of relevance have been stripped and/or razed.”

-The U.N. report stated that the Iraqis had handed over 90 unopened vials of biological agents to weapons inspectors prior to open hostilities. But it declared that 13 vials of “seed stock” or strains of microorganisms had been used, some in biological arms programs. “The issue remains as part of the residue of uncertainty with respect to the continued existence in Iraq of seed stocks that could possibly be used in the future for the production of biological weapons agents,” Demetrius Perricos said in the report.

-in 2004, Iraqis have reported that Intelligence officers periodically replaced guards on the border of Syria. The movement of trucks in and out of Syria followed this action.

-In the first weeks of OIF, Sami al-Araji, the deputy minister of industry, said it appeared that a highly organized operation had pinpointed specific plants looking for valuable equipment, some of which could be used for both military and civilian applications, and hauled the machinery away. Dr. Araji said his account was based largely on observations by government employees and officials who either worked at the sites or lived near them.
"They came in with the cranes and the lorries, and they depleted the whole sites," Dr. Araji said. "They knew what they were doing; they knew what they want. This was sophisticated looting."

This should sum up the argument. Iraq systematically removed the all of evidence it could spare. When the war got out of hand, it accelerated the process. Remember, Iraqs intelligence arm controlled every aspect of Iraqs WMD programs. Looters with cranes, intelligence officers guarding the borders, missing biological agents, the appearance of WMD related materials in European scrap yards... it doesn’t seem to be much of a stretch to believe that Iraq, a country full of industrious and intelligent people, managed to anticipate the events of the OIF invasion and had a plan in place to make this happen. They encountered a similar military situation during Desert Storm and, like any military would, they planned and altered their tactics to fit their situation.

The evidence is there. If I were to go to court in an attempt to prove any of the above points, I would win… beyond a reasonable doubt. Again, Iraq recently lost a lawsuit to family members of 2 men who died in the WTC attack. The judge awarded them 104 million dollars. Another lawsuit was filed on behalf of 1400 WTC victims in 2002 against Iraq for over a trillion dollars. I have yet to read about the results of that action. It would seem that they have a good case. Saddam Hussein’s Iraq is guilty as charged.

Again, I wouldn’t expect a “smoking gun,” at least not anytime soon. I’ll leave you with a quote that illustrates my point. Lt. Col. Dominic Caraccilo made the statement after the discovery of partially buried trailers near a munitions plant. "The weapons inspectors never would have found this stuff," said Lt. Col. Dominic Caraccilo, the battalion commander who led the team to the sites. "It would have taken 40 years."

NOTE: My sources are listed below. Being an Art guy, I have simply cut and pasted the links in an effort to demonstrate how much confusion we are left with thanks to Major Media outlets. It only confirms to me that the Major Media has only one concern, selling subscriptions and advertising. So, if you dare, sift through as I have and see if you can come similar conclusions. If you can refute any of this, I’d be surprised. If you can add to it, I wouldn’t be. With all the sources I have listed, this is barely a scratch on the surface of open source material available on the subject. It’s a challenge that is not for the feint of heart. Good luck and happy hunting!!!

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/fallujah_2.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/fallujah_3.htm

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iraq/fallujah_1.htm

http://www.strategypage.com/the_war_in_iraq/tactics/200532611.asp

http://osborn-scientific.com/PDF/Positive_test_for_terror_toxins_in_Iraq.htm

http://osborn-scientific.com

http://www.iraqwatch.org/government/US/Pentagon/us-dod-iraqchemreport-060703.htm

http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/index.html

www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd/Iraq_Oct_2002.pdf

http://www.un.org/Depts/oip/

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/14/oilfood.indictment/

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/02/07/un.suspensions/