Iraq's WMD Secreted in Syria, Sada Says

[Svpernaut]

Stumbled upon this and can't believe I hadn't heard about it before I did... why didn't any of the major news outlets pick up on this?

http://www.nysun.com/article/26514

Iraq's WMD Secreted in Syria, Sada Says By IRA STOLL - Staff Reporter of the Sun January 26, 2006 The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein’s air force says Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircraft in which the passenger seats were removed. The Iraqi general, Georges Sada, makes the charges in a new book, “Saddam’s Secrets,” released this week. He detailed the transfers in an interview yesterday with The New York Sun. “There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands,” Mr. Sada said. “I am confident they were taken over.” Mr. Sada’s comments come just more than a month after Israel’s top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon, told the Sun that Saddam “transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria.” Mr. Sada, 65, told the Sun that the pilots of the two airliners that transported the weapons of mass destruction 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. Short of discovering the weapons in Syria, those seeking to validate Mr. Sada’s claim independently will face difficulty. His book contains a foreword by a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, David Eberly, who was a prisoner of war in Iraq during the first Gulf War and who vouches for Mr. Sada, who once held him captive, as “an honest and honorable man.” He said he had not shared his story until now with any American officials. “I kept everything secret in my heart,” he said. But he is scheduled to meet next week in Washington with Senators Sessions and Inhofe, Republicans of, respectively, Alabama and Oklahoma. Both are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. 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.

This was also mentioned by Sharon in 2002...
http://www.meforum.org/article/755

[Aceshigh7]

Originally Posted by Svpernaut why didn't any of the major news outlets pick up on this?

Because then all the Bush-bashers would be proven wrong. Liberal media cannot allow that to happen.

[SamFisher]

If anybody's word has proven trustworthy over the last few years regarding Iraq's nonexistent WMD's - it's the unsupported assertions of Iraqi defectors.


"While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991."

the end.

Liberal media - or the Bush Administration. Take your pick.

[RocketMan Tex]

Originally Posted by SamFisher Liberal media - or the Bush Administration. Take your pick.

They both lie....they just do it differently.

Or...I should say....they're both out to lunch....they just like different restaurants.

[Harrisment]

Originally Posted by Aceshigh7 Because then all the Bush-bashers would be proven wrong. Liberal media cannot allow that to happen.

So a Bush supporter and a Creed fan? Damn Aces, you are on a roll today.

[Svpernaut]

Originally Posted by SamFisher If anybody's word has proven trustworthy over the last few years regarding Iraq's nonexistent WMD's - it's the unsupported assertions of Iraqi defectors. "While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991." the end. Liberal media - or the Bush Administration. Take your pick.

Hmm, this guy is a part of the Bush administration? Wow, thanks for the Government lesson... I had no clue. Yeah, we totally shouldn't take what someone who was THERE has to say for it especially when there is Israeli intelligence to back it up. Nah, you Bush haters that will do whatever it takes to continually bash him don't want to investigate anything.

I find it funny that people like Barbara Boxer are bashing Bush right now for "allowing our ports to be sold off to the highest foreign bidder" when the ports being sold off were ALREADY under foreign control (Brittian). While I strongly disagree with the UAE take-over I still know for a fact that it is nothing new and I know for a fact that the vast majority of the dems currently bashing Bush for it are doing it for political reasons only... I also find it amusing that they are simply blocking the purchase because it is from an Arab country, ethnic profiling at it's greatest....

I bring all of this up because it is the type of crap that just shows that most of the Bush haters could care less about what is right for the country as long as they can oppose Bush and make him look bad in doing so. So what if this guy lied about the planes, this should be all over the news and be investigated to the fullest extent... I mean hell if we can cover a hunting accident for two weeks I think we can do better on this.

[real_egal]

Bomb Syria. Before they are wiped out, there will be source confirming those WMDs are tranferred to Iran; then just bomb Iran. After they are moved to North Korea, bomb NK. The list can go on and on, until all the evil countries are removed. Welcome to world peace.

[SamFisher]

Originally Posted by Svpernaut Hmm, this guy is a part of the Bush administration? Wow, thanks for the Government lesson... I had no clue. Yeah, we totally shouldn't take what someone who was THERE has to say for it especially when there is Israeli intelligence to back it up. Nah, you Bush haters that will do whatever it takes to continually bash him don't want to investigate anything.

What the hell are you even talking about? The Bush Administration - which has EVERY incentive to lie and spin - itself has concluded that there were no WMD's - the quote is from the ISG's own report. The ISG is the Iraq Survey Group - the handpicked, government appointed, ex post WMD inspection team. You not knowing who they are in the context of this discussion speaks volumes.

Random reports of defectors = dogsh-t. This has been about 100% true in the past ("Curveball", the rest of the Chalabi gang, the handheld WMD general - and all the gang). Why it should not be true, after an exhaustive multiyear search by folks handpicked by the Bush adminstration has revealed nothing (and in fact, revealed the OPPOSITE) is not supplied by you.

I find it funny that people like Barbara Boxer are bashing Bush right now for "allowing our ports to be sold off to the highest foreign bidder" when the ports being sold off were ALREADY under foreign control (Brittian). While I strongly disagree with the UAE take-over I still know for a fact that it is nothing new and I know for a fact that the vast majority of the dems currently bashing Bush for it are doing it for political reasons only... I also find it amusing that they are simply blocking the purchase because it is from an Arab country, ethnic profiling at it's greatest....

I find it funny that senators like Bill Frist are doing the same thing - but you aren't saying sh-t about it.

I also find it funny that you're reminding us of the UAE port takeover thread, considering that your sole contribution was to post a piece of garbage article from WingNutDaily that you both naively took at face value (despite it having none) and even managed to misread it anyway - which is why you are laboring under certain misconceptions.

I bring all of this up because it is the type of crap that just shows that most of the Bush haters could care less about what is right for the country as long as they can oppose Bush and make him look bad in doing so. So what if this guy lied about the planes, this should be all over the news and be investigated to the fullest extent... I mean hell if we can cover a hunting accident for two weeks I think we can do better on this.

LOL - yeah, it should be all over the news - dubious unconfirmed reports about WMD's really SHOULD be all over the news - I mean they never have before - and nothing bad ever came of it.

[TMac640]

Originally Posted by RocketMan Tex They both lie....they just do it differently. Or...I should say....they're both out to lunch....they just like different restaurants.

I'm sure they've been to the same one every once in a while.

[Svpernaut]

Originally Posted by SamFisher What the hell are you even talking about? The Bush Administration - which has EVERY incentive to lie and spin - itself has concluded that there were no WMD's - the quote is from the ISG's own report. The ISG is the Iraq Survey Group - the handpicked, government appointed, ex post WMD inspection team. You not knowing who they are in the context of this discussion speaks volumes. Random reports of defectors = dogsh-t. This has been about 100% true in the past ("Curveball", the rest of the Chalabi gang, the handheld WMD general - and all the gang). Why it should not be true, after an exhaustive multiyear search by folks handpicked by the Bush adminstration has revealed nothing (and in fact, revealed the OPPOSITE) is not supplied by you. I find it funny that senators like Bill Frist are doing the same thing - but you aren't saying sh-t about it. I also find it funny that you're reminding us of the UAE port takeover thread, considering that your sole contribution was to post a piece of garbage article from WingNutDaily that you both naively took at face value (despite it having none) and even managed to misread it anyway - which is why you are laboring under certain misconceptions. LOL - yeah, it should be all over the news - dubious unconfirmed reports about WMD's really SHOULD be all over the news - I mean they never have before - and nothing bad ever came of it.

Feel free to read my posts in the UAE thread, I've said since my first post that I support blocking it... but I find it hilarious and somewhat pathetic that liberals are just NOW jumping on the bandwagon even though this practice has been used for decades. Frist and the other GOPers aren't politicizing the issue, they are just straight up saying it is wrong. Meanwhile Boxer and Clinton are saying stupid things like "our ports should never be under the control of foreign lands" but they have been for freaking years... it is just the fact that it is a middle-eastern country that helps there agenda of bashing Bush that is why they are standing up for it.

[Batman Jones]

Yeah, Sam. How thick are you anyway? The Republicans are opposing the president's plan because it's wrong. The Democrats are opposing the exact same plan out of pure politics. I don't know how Svpernaut can be any more clear about this.

[Svpernaut]

Originally Posted by Batman Jones Yeah, Sam. How thick are you anyway? The Republicans are opposing the president's plan because it's wrong. The Democrats are opposing the exact same plan out of pure politics. I don't know how Svpernaut can be any more clear about this.

I do think it is a foreign policy nightmare and I can see where the President is coming from, he doesn't want our middle-eastern outlook to look even more bleak by cutting off the UAE and saying "sorry guys, you're not the brits so you can't do it". I think ALL borders/ports should be in complete control of the US and the US only... and I think even some of the republicans are politcizing it by fueling the fire and trying to ONLY block the UAE sale when they should be blocking ALL sales to foreign interests.

[rimrocker]

I find it interesting that the only specificity in the charge are 2 planes, 2 unnamed pilots, and "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel.”

So, we are to believe that 54 flights from Iraq to Syria at the height of the beating of the war drums would cause little notice. Sorry, that's BS. No way our intelligence agencies, even with Bush appointees in charge, are that bad. (If they are, it is another example of Bush Administration incompetence.) 54 flights with yellow barrels would be hard to conceal and you can bet if we found about even one flight with WMDs on it, this administration would have trumpeted that at every chance.

Given that they didn't and given that all reports and even spokesmen from this administration say there were no WMDs, and given the history of other Iraqis trying to scam a little bit of money off the wingnut talking tour, this cannot be taken seriously.

[vlaurelio]

isn't the guy hawking a book he wrote?

[Oski2005]

If this info was valid, why isn't the Bush admin threatening Syria? It's because it's BS. The guy is lying or exaggerating to sell his book.

[nyquil82]

You can't be Syrious! I dare anyone to give me one shred of evidence why we should care? we never went in to Iraq for WMD's anyway. And if we did, it was never our top priority.

[FranchiseBlade]

Some people may have slept through the first part of the Iraq war. Let's say the only reason we got into it was bad intel and not because of lying.

Guess where that bad intel came from? It came from the exact type of sources quoted in this article. Chalabi and other defectors talked about Iraq's nuclear program(it turned out not to exist). The defectors talked about stockpiles of WMD's(it turned out they didn't exist). They talked about various WMD labs.(it turned out they didn't exist.)

With each of those revelations the "liberal" media jumped on the story. The "liberal" NY TIMES even had to apologize for not being critical enough of the evidence before the war.

So it doesn't seem strange that another Iraqi defector tells a story severely lacking in credibility, and nobody rushes to cover it.

[tigermission1]

Of course, as we all know, previous assertions by handsomely paid Iraqi defectors and exiles such as Chalabi and numerous others who suckered us into war with Iraq to serve their own interests should be taken as the absolute truth.

I see the propoganda war against Syria is still under way, I was starting to worry there for a minute, we need another war damn it!

[CometsWin]

Originally Posted by Svpernaut Stumbled upon this and can't believe I hadn't heard about it before I did... why didn't any of the major news outlets pick up on this?

Treeman told us all about the WMD to Syria conspiracy as the war was unfolding and our troops weren't attacked with chemical weapons. Where were you dude? This conspiracy theory has been stuck in neutral for years due to lack of any evidence. Old, old news.

[basso]

Originally Posted by Svpernaut Stumbled upon this and can't believe I hadn't heard about it before I did... why didn't any of the major news outlets pick up on this?

A while back i mentioned a conversation i had at CES with guy who used to be a senior US commander during the invasion, and subsequently was govenor of a large swath of iraq. he said the same thing as Sada, and that the russians foot the bill for the transfer. i don't know why we should believe him however, since the ISG said iraq unilaterally destroyed it's undeclared WMD stocks after the gulf war, and it's not like we have anyone on tape contradicting them.

oh, wait...