Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006 11:47 a.m. EST

Iraq Official: Saddam Moved WMD to Syria


The former number two official in Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force claims the former Iraqi dictator moved weapons of mass destruction from Iraq to Syria in the months preceding the current Iraq war.

Georges Sada revealed the charges in an interview Wednesday with the New York Sun. They are detailed in his new book, "Saddam’s Secrets.”

"Saddam realized, this time, the Americans are coming," Sada told the Sun. "They handed over the weapons of mass destruction to the Syrians.”

The former Iraqi general said Special Republican Guard brigades loaded WMDs onto two converted Iraqi Airways planes.


He said he was told of the operation by two pilots that helped transport the materials. Sada says 56 flights were made, and were accompanied by a ground convoy of trucks carrying similar materials.

The Sun reports that the flights attracted scant international attention because they occurred at the same time that Iraq was sending relief to Syria for a dam collapse.


Sada’s claims echoed those made by Moshe Yaalon, Israel’s top general in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Yaalon told the Sun in December that Saddam had "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria.”


According to the Middle East Quarterly, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon issued a similar warning in a Dec. 23, 2002 television appearance on Israel’s Channel 2.

"Chemical and biological weapons which Saddam is endeavoring to conceal have been moved from Iraq to Syria,” Sharon said.


Together, their claims challenge the conventional wisdom in the United States and Europe that pre-war intelligence estimates were incorrect in suggesting the mass-murdering Iraqi dictator either possessed or was close to possessing WMDs.


Even President Bush has conceded the point, telling Americans in a televised address in December, "It is true that many nations believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.”


Recent reports by Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard have similarly challenged the conventional wisdom on Saddam’s relationships with al-Qaida.


Hayes is calling for the release of approximately 2 million unclassified documents recovered in Iraq from the Hussein regime. He claims the documents could prove Saddam maintained significant contacts with al-Qaida.


Sada’s and Yaalon’s claims will be even more difficult, if not impossible, to prove, but several U.S. Senators will try to get to the bottom of the claims. Sada is scheduled to meet with Senators Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., next week. Both are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"No, we're not liars. We're just too stupid to know where the WMD's are."

So, what you're saying Rory, is that we attacked the wrong country?

Sure he did Rory...sure he did.

rory.....fetch the weapons rory....sniff em out boy...good boy rory keep lookin boy........check over by syria.....good dog good dog

I thought he buried 'em in your backyard???

Anyway, it would have made for a more entertaining thread.

"So, what you're saying Rory, is that we attacked the wrong country?"

No it's just that we have more to deal with now.

Of course the hand wringers will have their say .

What flavor boots is Bush wearing today, bootlicker?

Dan

"What flavor boots is Bush wearing today, bootlicker?"

Ask a liberal they are the ones's claiming he is using them on them and their civil rights. My boots smell lile liberal [Bleeeeep!] from the ass kicking I have given you girl's.

KT is ass kicking? NPD is becomming outright delusional in KT's case. And it isn't his boots, it's KT's cyber personality that's smellin' like [Bleeeeep!].

Those lycra riding shorts are a little too tight it would be a bigger problem if your nads did not shrivel up like dried peas years ago GH

KT knows anything about nads? Doubtful. His only acquaintance with anatomy is his own cerebral-rectal inversion.

Doesn't it make you ill to have him thinking about you in tight shorts and about your nads too? It would make my skin crawl.

I trust this Sada guy to be telling the truth about as much as I trust Chalabi. Which is not at all.

Only because he's had a pair bouncing off his chin so often.

Quit braggin gabout your Dad at glory holes at I -5 the rest stops.

Learn how to type, dumbass.

OK Mom!

I've never been on public assistance.

Sure you have you went to public school.