Subject: Debka - Syrans Hid Iraqi WMDs in Lebanon 5/4/2003 2:00:34 AM

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  Subject: Debka - Syrans Hid Iraqi WMDs in Lebanon 5/4/2003 2:00:34 AM

  According to a report from Debka.com (today May 4) Bashar Assad and the Syrians hid a large portion of Iraq's WMDs in large pits in the Syrian controlled Bekaa valley in Lebanon. The transfer of the WMDs from Iraq through Syria into Lebanon was completed just 10 days before the war began on March 20. The Syrians were reportedly paid $ 35 million by the Iraqis to cover costs and for services rendered. Again, according to Debka the US government is aware of this development. Secretary of State Colin Powell 'discussed' this issue with Assad during his recent visit to Syria.

  RE:Debka - Syrans Hid Iraqi WMDs in Lebano: Bolton's testimony 9/16/2003 6:12:20 PM

  U.S.: Syria supporting terror groups, developing WMD By Nathan Guttman, Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies Undersecretary of State John Bolton on Tuesday vehemently attacked Syria and said it was a rebellious country, like Iran, North Korea and Libya. Bolton told a congressional hearing that Syria is developing weapons of mass destruction and supporting terror organizations, and that the combination poses a serious threat to both U.S. and international security. Bolton said that the United States must keep open the option of using "every tool" - code for the remote possibility of military action - to dissuade Syria and others from pursuing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. While saying the United States had yet not found any information to substantiate media reports that Iraq might have transferred some of its suspected weapons of mass destruction to Syria, Bolton said Washington was concerned by the reports. Bolton added that Syria continues to support Hezbollah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad - groups the United States considers terrorists - and that it is allowing militants to cross the border into Iraq. But Bolton asked the Congress committee members to be patient and allow Secretary of State Colin Powell time to bring about a change in Syria's behavior. Syria's foreign minister on Tuesday rejected the U.S. accusations and said his country was willing to meet "reasonable" U.S. demands within the framework of international legitimacy. Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa spoke at a press conference with European Commissioner for External Relations Christopher Patten, before the U.S. Congress opened the hearing on Syria. "This is not the first time in which the U.S. Congress makes an unjust accusation against Syria," Sharaa said. He said Syria, which opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq, was ready to cooperate with America "if the U.S. demands are within the framework of international legitimacy, for the sake of Iraq's unity and in order to find a just and comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict." Blaming Israel for his country's strained relations with the United States, Sharaa said, "I hope Congress would not adopt a deformed image about Syria which it receives from others."

  RE:Debka - Syrans Hid Iraqi WMDs in Lebano: Bolton's testimony 9/16/2003 7:39:40 PM

  Depka is not the only source on this story and it wasn't the first. John Loftus (late of the Justice Dept., and who still holds very high level security clearances), whose sources are in CENTCOM and the CIA spoke about this at or around the time the war began, back on March 19. RE:Debka - Syrans Hid Iraqi WMDs in Northern Syria 12/16/2003 5:14:32 PM link >> DEBKAfile?s military and intelligence sources reveal that Washington and Dr. David Kay, senior US and coalition WMD hunter in Iraq - far from groping in the dark for Saddam?s prohibited weapons, as conventionally believed ? have a very good idea of where they are hidden. The search has narrowed down to a section of the Syrian Desert known as Dayr Az-Zawr in Syria?s 600 sq. mile Al Jazirah province, which is wedged between the Turkish and Iraqi borders. The missing weapons systems are thought to be buried somewhere under these desert sands. This area is now probably the most keenly watched area on earth ? from its outer periphery. At its eastern edge, US special force units, Predator drones and reconnaissance airplanes and satellites make sure no one steps into this ultra-sensitive patch of desert. Turkish special forces, intelligence and air force units are guarding it from the northwest. The Syrians are nowhere to be seen, acting as though the target-area does not concern them. DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly have consistently reported that Saddam?s weapons of mass destruction were removed from the country and secretly buried in Lebanon and northern Syria with the connivance of Syrian president Bashar Assad. <<> Debka - Syrans Hid Iraqi WMDs in three sites in Syria 1/6/2004 6:00:39 AM From Debka: "A senior Syrian journalist reports Iraq?s WMD located in three Syrian sites. Nizar Najoef, a Syrian journalist who recently defected from Syria to Western Europe and is known for bravely challenging the Syrian regime, said in a letter Monday, January 5, to Dutch newspaper ?De Telegraaf,? that he knows the three sites where Iraq?s WMD are kept. The storage places are: 1. Tunnels dug under the town of al-Baida near the city of Hama in northern Syria. These tunnels are an integral part of an underground factory, built by the North Koreans, for producing Syrian Scud missiles. Iraqi chemical weapons and long-range missiles are stored in these tunnels. 2. The village of Tal Snan, north of the town of Salamija, where there is a big Syrian airforce camp. Vital parts of Iraq?s WMD are stored there. 3. The city of Sjinsjar on the Syrian border with the Lebanon, south of the city Homs. Najoef writes that the transfer of Iraqi WMD to Syria was organized by the commanders of Saddam Hussein?s Special Republican Guard, including General Shalish, with the help of Assif Shoakat , Bashar Assad?s cousin. Shoakat is the CEO of Bhaha, an import/export company owned by the Assad family. In February 2003, a month before America?s invasion in Iraq, DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly were the only media to report the movement of Iraqi WMD, the efforts to bring them from Iraq to Syria, and the personal involvement of Bashar Assad and his family in the operation. Najoef, who has won prizes for journalistic integrity, says he wrote his letter because he has terminal cancer." I really wonder... ================ Russia "Cleaned Up" Saddam's WMD Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense John A. Shaw, a "top Pentagon official who was responsible for tracking Saddam Hussein's weapons programs before and after the 2003 liberation of Iraq," stated in October 2004, March 2005, and again in February 2006 that it was the Russians who helped Saddam Hussein to "clean up" his weapons of mass destructionstockpiles "to prevent the United States from discovering them." [1] In late October 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations' "nuclear watchdog", told the UN Security Council that the Iraqi Interim Government "reported to the agency" that approximately 380 tons of "conventional explosives" were "missing" from the "vast" Al Qa Qaa complex of "1,100 buildings" [2] about 30 miles south of Baghdad "after last year's invasion." [3][4][5] IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei "passed on the letter from Iraqi authorities informing the agency of the theft." [6]The IAEA said that "the material, sealed and monitored by its inspectors until the US-led invasion, had gone missing some time after" April 9, 2003, "during 'the theft and looting of governmental installations'." The IAEA "last inspected the munitions at al-Qaqaa in January 2003 but [had] not been allowed back into Iraq" following the invasion. [7] The Associated Press reported October 25, 2004, that, "At the Pentagon, an official who monitors developments in Iraq said U.S.-led coalition troops had searched Al-Qaqaa in the immediate aftermath of the March 2003 invasion and confirmed that the explosives, under IAEA seal since 1991, were intact. Thereafter, the site was not secured by U.S. forces, the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity." The Pentagon was "unclear" as to whether or not the explosives had "disappeared" after the site in Iraq "fell under US control." [8][9] On February 18, 2006, Shaw "told an audience" at "a privately sponsored 'Intelligence Summit'" in Alexandria, Virginia, that "The short answer to the question of where the WMD Saddam bought from the Russians went was that they went" to Syriaand the Bekka valley inLebanon, Kenneth R. Timmerman reported February 19, 2006, in NewsMax. "They were moved by Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units out of uniform, that were specifically sent to Iraq to move the weaponry and eradicate any evidence of its existence," Shaw said. However, the Financial Times (UK) reported October 28, 2004, that Shaw had "not provided evidence for his claims and the Pentagon [had] distanced itself from his remarks." On December 10, 2004, Bill Gertz reported in The Washington Times that Shaw, who was a former aide to Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, "was forced to leave his position ... as the result of a 'reorganization' that eliminated his job, defense officials said. ... Shaw said he had been asked to resign for 'exceeding his authority' in disclosing the information, a charge he called 'specious'." Contents [hide] 1 External links 1.1 Overview 1.2 2003 1.3 2004 1.4 2005 1.5 2006 2 Related SourceWatch Resources External links Overview "Al Qa Qaa" and the "Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy" in the Wikipedia. "Al Qaqaa Weapons Cache" in the dKosopedia. 2003 "U.S. Searches 'Suspicious' Iraqi Site," CBS News, April 4, 2003. "U.S. troops find signs of chemical readiness," Associated Press (Global Security), April 5, 2003. Barton Gellman, "Banned Iraqi Weapons Might Be Hard to Find. Suspicious Sites Provide No Proof Yet," Washington Post, April 5, 2003. Ion Mihai Pacepa, Op-Ed: "Ex-spy fingers Russians on WMD," The Washington Times, August 20, 2003. 2004 Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough, "Early warning," Inside the Ring, May 1, 2004. James Glanz, William J. Broad and David E. Sanger, "Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq," New York Times, October 25, 2004. "About 380 tons of explosives missing from looted site in Iraq," Associated Press (chron.com), October 25, 2004. Matt Drudge, "NBCNews: Cache of Explosives Vanished from Site in Iraq Before Troops Arrived...," Drudge Report, October 25, 2004. "Tons of Iraq explosives missing. 'Massive' facility also held large caches of artillery," CNN, October 25, 2004. Transcript: "380 Tons of Explosives Disappear From Iraq," CNN Newsnight with Aaron Brown, October 25, 2004. "Pentagon says its unclear if explosives disappeared after Iraq site fell under US control," Agence France Presse (Turkish Press), October 25, 2004. Jim Geraghty, "Miklaszewski's new report," National Review Online, October 26, 2004. re Joshua Micah Marshall,Talking Points Memo, October 26, 2004. "High explosives 'missing in Iraq'," BBC, October 26, 2004. David E. Sanger, "Iraq Explosives Become Issue in Campaign," New York Times, October 26, 2004. Rowan Scarborough, "Pentagon responds to missing-explosives report," The Washington Times, October 26, 2004. Joshua Micah Marshall, Talking Points Memo, October 26, 2004. "Discrepancy Found in Explosives Amounts. Documents Show Iraqis May Be Overstating Amount of Missing Material,"ABC News, October 27, 2004. "Disappearance of explosives in question. Russia calls for investigation into missing stockpile in Iraq," CNN, October 27, 2004. "Search Showed No Explosives at Iraqi Base Before War's End," Fox News, October 27, 2004. "All the President's Excuses," American Progress Action Fund, October 27, 2004. APAF compares "rhetoric" to "reality". Joshua Micah Marshall, Talking Points Memo, October 27, 2004. Michelle Malkin, "Moscow and the Missing Cache," michellemalkin.com, October 27, 2004. Bill Gertz, "Russia tied to Iraq's missing arms," The Washington Times, October 28, 2004. "Russian Defense, Foreign Ministry Refute Reports on Smuggling Iraqi Arms," MosNews, October 28, 2004. "Video Suggests Explosives Disappeared After U.S. Took Control. Evidence Indicates U.S. Military Opened Al-Qaaqa Bunkers, Left Them Unguarded," ABC News, October 28, 2004. James Glanz and Jim Dwyer, "4 Iraqis Tell of Looting at Munitions Site in '03," New York Times, October 28, 2004. Transcript: "Controversy Over Missing Explosives Intensifies," CNN Newsnight with Aaron Brown, October 28, 2004. Mark Follman, "Al Qaqaa story continues to explode," Salon "War Room", October 28, 2004. Subscription or preview required. Demetri Sevastopulo, Guy Dinmore, and James Harding, "Russians 'may have taken Iraq explosives'," Financial Times(UK), October 28, 2004. Registration required. Luis, "Top Iraqi Official: Explosives 'Could Not Have Been Taken' Before US Invasion," The Blog From Another Dimension, October 28, 2004. "Russia accused of removing WMDs from Iraq," SiberianLight, October 28, 2004. "Russians didn't remove weapons from Iraq," SiberianLight, October 29, 2004. "Photo, video show Iraqi complex before, after invasion," CNN, October 29, 2004. "New twist in Iraq explosives row," BBC, October 29, 2004. Bradley Graham and Thomas E. Ricks, "Munitions Issue Dwarfs the Big Picture," Washington Post, October 29, 2004. "Pentagon: Some explosives possibly destroyed," Associated Press (MSNBC.MSN.com), October 29, 2006. Gordon Prather, "October Surprise and the 'Axis of Evil'," Lew Rockwell.com, November 1, 2004. Bill Gertz, "Pentagon ousts official who tied Russia, Iraq arms," The Washington Times, December 30, 2004. "Pentagon Dismisses Official Who Accused Russia of Involvement in Iraq Weapons Scam," MosNews, December 30, 2004. 2005 "Pentagon Document: U.S. Paid Pro-Saddam Figures, Chinese and French," NewsMax, February 28, 2005. Charles R. Smith, "Russia Moved Iraqi WMD. Moscow Moved Weapons to Syria and Lebanon," NewsMax, March 3, 2005. 2006 Kenneth R. Timmerman, "Ex-Official: Russia Moved Saddam's WMD," NewsMax, February 19, 2006. Sunnye T, "Speech ceases to be free when it becomes a lie. The American media has lied to us again," GOP Insight, February 21, 2006. Mike Minton, "The Case For War In Iraq-The Evidence And The Moscow Connection," American Daily, February 22, 2006. Ben Johnson, "Saddam's WMDs: The Russian-Syrian Connection," FrontPageMag.com, March 20, 2006. "The Bear Is Back," Investors Business Daily, March 24, 2006. Related SourceWatch Resources post-war Iraq weapons of mass destruction investigation Category: War in Iraq