Jewish World Review April 20, 2004 / 30 Nissan, 5764
Jack Kelly
And if the WMD are found ... Connecting the dots
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
For most Democrats and journalists, the question of weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq is a closed, because it is politically embarrassing for
President Bush if none are found. But if Saddam's arsenal exists, and our
enemies have access to it, we could suffer something far worse than
embarrassment if we pretend that it does not exist. Here are some dots
crying out for connection:
- Explosives and poison gas that could have killed as many as 20,000 people
and decapitated his government came from Syria, Jordan's King Abdullah told
the San Francisco Chronicle last Saturday.
An al Qaida cell associated with Abu Musab al Zarqawi, a Jordanian national
thought to be masterminding al Qaida operations in Iraq, smuggled three cars
containing 17.5 tons of explosives and a deadly chemical agent of an
undisclosed type into Jordan early in April.
Targets for the attack were Jordan's military intelligence headquarters, the
prime minister's office, and the U.S. embassy, which are located close to
each other in the Jordanian capital of Amman.
- Former U.S. weapons inspector David Kay told Congress last fall that U.S.
satellite reconnaissance showed substantial truck traffic between Iraq and
Syria in the weeks before Operation Iraqi Freedom began last March 19.
- A Syrian journalist who defected to Europe told a Dutch newspaper Jan. 5
that chemical and biological weapons developed by Saddam Hussein's regime
were being stored in tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of
Hama in northern Syria; in the village of Tal Snan, near a big Syrian air
force base, and on the Lebanese border south of the city of Homs.
Nizar Najoef told the Dutch Telegraaf that the WMD transfer was organized by
the commanders of Saddam's Special Republican Guard with the help of a
cousin of Syrian strong man Bashir Assad.
Najoef's remarks strengthen the view of some in U.S. and Israeli
intelligence that many of Saddam's most deadly weapons were moved to Syria
just before the war began.
"People below the Saddam-Hussein-and-his-sons level saw what was coming and
decided the best thing to do was to destroy and disperse," James Clapper,
head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (since renamed the National
Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency), told the New York Times last October.
- On April 12, the official Iranian news agency "reported" that U.S. forces
were secretly hiding weapons of mass destruction in southern and western
Iraq. This is, of course, a lie. But the telling of it suggests the
Iranians think U.S. forces might soon be discovering some hidden caches of
WMD.
The Iranians were especially alarmed that the U.S. was interviewing
scientists connected with Saddam's weapons programs.
"A professor of physics at Baghdad University told the MNA correspondent
that a group of his colleagues who are highly specialized in military,
chemical and biological fields have been either bribed or threatened during
the last weeks to provide written information on what they know about
various programs and research centers and the possible storage of WMD
equipment," the Iranian news agency said.
Charles Duelfer, who has replaced Kay as chief weapons inspector, told
Congress March 29 that few Iraqi scientists have been willing to talk to
Americans.
"Many perceive a grave risk in speaking with us," Duelfer said. "On the one
hand, there is the fear of prosecution or arrest. On the other, there is
fear former regime supporters will exact retribution."
- Mohammed El Baradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), reported April 11 that large amounts of nuclear-related
equipment, some of it contaminated, and a small number of missile engines
have been smuggled out of Iraq for recycling in European scrapyards.
UN satellite photos have detected "the extensive removal of equipment and,
in some instances, removal of entire buildings" from sites subject to UN
monitoring, El Baradei said in a letter to Security Council members, a copy
of which was obtained by the Washington Post.
El Baradei said it wasn't clear whether this was merely looting, or part of
a systematic effort to destroy evidence. "In any event, these activities
may have a significant impact on (IAEA's) continuity of knowledge of Iraq's
remaining nuclear-related capabilities and raise concern with regards to the
proliferation risk associated with dual use material and equipment
disappearing to unknown destinations."
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington
and in the media consider "must reading." Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a
deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan
administration. Comment by clicking here.
Jack Kelly Archives
© 2003, Jack Kelly
|