See below the fold for other Iraqi documents we have reviewed and analyzed.
What to keep in mind when you read the NYT article. NYT
Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq had abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.
The Senate Prewar Intelligence Review Phase II report reveals that Saddam’s Foreign Minster told the US government that Saddam was trying to build a bomb. He said Saddam was trying to get uranium and was irate that his nuclear team was taking too long.
In September 2002, the CIA obtained, from a source, information that allegedly came from a high-level Iraqi official with direct access to Saddam Hussein and his inner circle. The information this source provided was considered so important and so sensitive that the CIA’s Directorate of Operations prepared a highly restricted intelligence report to alert senior policymakers about the reporting. Because of the sensitivity, however, that it was not disseminated to Intelligence Community analysts.
Concerned that something may have been missed in our first Iraq review, the Committee began to request additional information from the Intelligence Community and to question current and former CIA officers who were involved in this issue. As noted above, the Committee has not completed this inquiry, but we have seen the operational documentation pertaining to this case.
We can say that there is not a single document related to this case which indicates that the source said Iraq had no WMD programs. On the contrary, all of the information about this case so far indicates that the information from this source was that Iraq did have WMD programs.
So what did Saddam’s foreign minister tell the US government? From the report: [emphasis mine]
The intelligence report conveyed information from the source attributed to the Iraqi official which said:
• Iraq was not in possession of a nuclear weapon. However, Iraq was aggressively and covertly developing such a weapon. Saddam, irate that Iraq did not yet have a nuclear weapon because money was no object and because Iraq possessed the scientific know how, had recently called meeting his Nuclear Weapons Committee.
• The Committee told Saddam that a nuclear weapon would be ready within 18-24 months of acquiring the fissile material.
By the way, about two weeks ago I contacted a former member of the IAEA about a document from the FMSO website that relates to an attempt to acquire nuclear fusion material in 1999. I wont say much more on that until the document is reviewed by an expert, which is why I contacted IAEA in the first place. It is a duel use item although in some configurations it was expressly forbidden. I wanted to determine the configuration of this item by the documents specifications. Anybody out there a nuclear expert who can help me out? The official I contacted resides in Europe. This person never contacted me back. Now I read about IAEA "European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity ". Funny the IAEA complains now! Think they are trying to stop something from coming out because they hate Bush?
Fox News Saddam, the Taliban and al Qaeda meeting in Baghdad, 1999.
American Thinker saddams poison paper alert.
Hitchens, Slate, Saddam invite to Nigerian Prez in 1997.
American Thinker Fallujah: Baathist and Wahhabist cooperation.
Today at American Thinker, Hersh's alternate reality.
Here is a document that seems to support a wild story about Saddam's secret underground nuke test in 1989.
Saddam's IIS operations to influence here and here.
details of goings in Iraq from an anonymous source (take that into consideration of course)
Big thanks to Thomas at AT and Bob at Confederate Yankee.
UPDATE: Bumped from a few weeks ago due to renewed interest, thanks LGF, hotair, Floppingaces...several others
The article below comes from an Arabic reader who translated an article from a respected Arab media website. While I have no knowledge of the media source or the subject, I have high confidence in the translation and that the original article exists.
This article was posted on the Al Seyassah website on Monday the 25th of September 2006. Al Seyassah is Kuwaiti and one of the most reliable Arabic newspapers.
A Syrian nuclear program managed by Iraqi and Iranian scientists in the Al Haska area.
Brussels- From Hamid Geriafi
European intelligence sources based at the headquarters of the European Union in Brussels released information yesterday about the “presence of an active Syrian nuclear program in a secret location Northeast of the country, being supervised by nuclear scientists from Iraq, Iran and some scientists of the previous Muslim Soviet Republics, and it seems that the program has reached the stage of medium activity”.
The information, which Al seyassah got from British security sources in Brussels, revealed that “the brother of the Syrian president, Major Maher Al Assad -in charge of the Republican Guard brigade- along with his maternal cousin of the Makhlouf clan are supervising this program since the end of 2004 in the Northeastern district of Al Haskah situated next to the Iraqi and Turkish borders and which has a Kurdish majority”.
The information - of which the British security sources hinted that it might be coming from the German intelligence which is active in some Middle Eastern countries- revealed that “the Syrian nuclear program is relying on equipment and materials that the sons of the deposed Iraqi leader, Udai and Qusai supervised their transfer to Syria by using dozens of civilian trucks and trains, before and after the US-British invasion in March 2003”. Therefore according to those sources, the international inspection teams or the British and US intelligence could not find one “nuclear needle” in Iraq even though everybody knew about the existence of a huge program since the end of the seventies, before the Israeli planes struck and destroyed its main reactor in the Tuwaitha area near Baghdad in 1981.
The British security sources in Brussels assure Al Seyassah that “Iranian nuclear scientists are cooperating with their expertise, equipment and materials in addition to approximately 60 Iraqi nuclear scientists” that had found refuge in Syria after the onset of the war in Iraq and around 20 scientists that had moved from the former Soviet republics at the beginning of the nineties after the collapse of the Soviet Union and after the first government of Gorbatchev pulled out its nuclear weapons from those new republics”.
The sources said that “the Iranians are supporting the Syrian nuclear program, which was originally built on the remains of the Iraqi program after it was wholly transferred to Syria, with materials, equipment and expertise which are more advanced than it originally was. The Iranian could have brought up an advanced plant to enrich Uranium, of which the West is totally unaware.”
While I have your attention, here is a little reminder of Saddam's brutality we found on the portal and posted at YouTube. Funny, don't think the NYT picked this up. Just another day under Saddam. These guys were beaten for minor infractions according to the accompanying analysis. Graphic violence, viewer discretion advised.
UPDATE:
Well that didn't take long, YouTube determined it was inappropriate. But lucky me, I uploaded it as videoegg.com. Here is the link. Saddam regimes beatings for petty crimes. In case the YouTube version stops working anyway, working now. Anybody got one of those banned by YouTube icons for me? Funny how they haven't banned the Saddam propaganda video I posted on the other day. Gee, who do you think complained.
Ahhhhh history:
"Many people have asked how close Saddam Hussein is to developing a nuclear weapon. Well, we don't know exactly, and that's the problem. Before the Gulf War, the best intelligence indicated that Iraq was eight to ten years away from developing a nuclear weapon. After the war, international inspectors learned that the regime has been much closer -- the regime in Iraq would likely have possessed a nuclear weapon no later than 1993. The inspectors discovered that Iraq had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for a workable nuclear weapon, and was pursuing several different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb.
Before being barred from Iraq in 1998, the International Atomic Energy Agency dismantled extensive nuclear weapons-related facilities, including three uranium enrichment sites. That same year, information from a high-ranking Iraqi nuclear engineer who had defected revealed that despite his public promises, Saddam Hussein had ordered his nuclear program to continue.
The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclear weapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings with Iraqi nuclear scientists, a group he calls his "nuclear mujahideen" -- his nuclear holy warriors. Satellite photographs reveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have been part of its nuclear program in the past."
http://www.scottmalensek.com/SAMPENDER/ISGvol2%20illegal%20nuclear%20enrichment%20equipment%20that%20was%20never%20explained%20to%20UN%20v1.JPG
-President Bush 10/7/02
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"How quickly Iraq will obtain its first nuclear weapon depends on when it acquires sufficient weapons -grade fissile material.
· If Baghdad acquires sufficient weapons- grade fissile material from abroad, it could make a nuclear weapon within a year."
-10/2002 National Intelligence Estimate
(Note, Dr Baradei of the IAEA confirmed/reaffirmed this in early 2003, but I can't find the quote. He also reaffirmed it in an interview with Newsweek or TIME in late 2005 re Iran and other countries)
-----
"In September 2002, the CIA obtained, from a source, information that allegedly came from a high-level Iraqi official with direct access to Saddam Hussein and his inner circle. The information this source provided was considered so important and so sensitive that the CIA's Directorate of Operations prepared a highly restricted intelligence report to alert senior policymakers about the reporting. Because of the sensitivity, however, that it was not disseminated to Intelligence Community analysts.
The intelligence report conveyed information from the source attributed to the Iraqi official which said:
. Iraq was not in possession of a nuclear weapon. However, Iraq was aggressively and covertly developing such a weapon. Saddam, irate that Iraq did not yet have a nuclear weapon because money was no object and because Iraq possessed the scientific know how, had recently called meeting his Nuclear Weapons Committee.
. The Committee told Saddam that a nuclear weapon would be ready within 18-24 months of acquiring the fissile material. The return of UN inspectors would cause minimal disruption because Iraq was expert at denial and deception."
-Senate Intelligence Committee Phase II rpt 2006
(Note, the ISG Duelfer Report as well as the Interim Kay rpt both confirm
this)
With regard to Iraq's nuclear program, the testimony we have obtained from Iraqi scientists and senior government officials should clear up any doubts about whether Saddam still wanted to obtain nuclear weapons. They have told ISG that Saddam Husayn remained firmly committed to acquiring nuclear weapons. These officials assert that Saddam would have resumed nuclear weapons development at some future point. Some indicated a resumption after Iraq was free of sanctions. At least one senior Iraqi official believed that by 2000 Saddam had run out of patience with waiting for sanctions to end and wanted to restart the nuclear program. The Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) beginning around 1999 expanded its laboratories and research activities and increased its overall funding levels. This expansion may have been in initial preparation for renewed nuclear weapons research, although documentary evidence of this has not been found, and this is the subject of continuing investigation by ISG.
-10/2/03 Iraqi Survey Group Interim Report (unclassified)-David Kay
Exploitation of additional documents may shed light on the projects and program plans of Dr. Khalid Ibrahim Sa'id. There may be more projects to be discovered in research placed at universities and private companies. Iraqi interest in reconstitution of a uranium enrichment program needs to be better understood through the analysis of procurement records and additional interviews.
-10/2/03 Iraqi Survey Group Interim Report (unclassified)-David Kay
And then there's the ISG report's pics proving that inspections weren't ever going to work:
http://www.scottmalensek.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=248
Posted by: Scott Malensek | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 01:49 PM
I throw in my two bits here.
See this comment I just posted in Allahpundit's thread:
http://hotair.com/archives/2006/11/03/radiaoctive-more-on-the-nyt-iraqi-nuke-article/
The Death Knell of the MEME, "Bush Lied - People Died!"
I would encourage all to watch Ray Robison's Blog as this big story unfolds.
Ray Robison, Mark Echenlaub - Regime of Terror, and Scott Malensek have been working on this story for a long time and no one has paid much attention. And of course don't overlook Iraqi Gen Sada* and his message he has been criss-crossing Americia with.
Finally this cesspool is finally is seeing the light of day, ironically, by the LL and the MSM in their delusional state with BDS.
Damn that Rove guy is one hell of a smart dude. The call has been placed in this game of Texas Hold'em.
Please remember this nuke info is not unk in the intel circles. It just boils down to who has the scienitific, engineering, manufacturing, and raw materials to carry this out.
The strategic threat to the US - North Korea, Iran, and to a lesser degree Syria. Don't forget our "alley" The House of Saud probably was a receipient of the AQ Kahn nuke info for sale.
Do you suppose there is any connection with the impressive US Naval presence in the vacinity of Iran?
The irony is that this was all going on right under the noses of the IAEA until Col. Kadhafi fell on his sword and rolled over on his nuke program.
According to John Loftus, if you believe him reliable, said the NORKS were "shiting brinks" when it became apparent the the US was going into Iraq. Why? Because they new their "ass" was "grass" as all of this arrangements would become apparent in the Saddam Docs.
Glenn Reynold's, Army of Davids, has come to fruition. Folks actually have been working on these docs that are now coming to light. The government did not have the resources or vetted translators to comb through these docs.
The death of the meme, "Bush Lied - People Died!" The rope they've been allowed to run with has finally drawn taught with a snap.
RBT
www.rocketsbrain.com
*http://rocketsbrain.powerblogs.com/posts/1162352591.shtml
Posted by: rocketsbrain | Friday, November 03, 2006 at 05:06 PM
From WHAT “Report”?
It appears that someone has lifted a portion of a speech George Tenet gave in 2004 when he was trying a CYA maneuver regarding the failed Intelligence; and are trying to pass it off as “From the report:”
And while some documents may have contained “nuclear” information that would help some backwater country; the Duelfer Report has documented that Saddam shut down his nuclear program in 1991 and let it rot. That “Report” also indicated that there was zero evidence that Saddam would restart his nuclear program.
Posted by: Kuni | Monday, December 17, 2007 at 11:38 PM