Source of Iraq’s WMDs: ‘I made the whole thing up

[Roger Perry]

From January 2000 to September 2001, anIraqi ex-pat namedRafid Ahmed Alwan detailedSadaam Hussein‘s efforts to construct biological weapons of mass destruction in conversations with German intelligence (BND). This information was passed on to theCIA which, despite the skepticism voiced by Alwan’s BND handlers and never having interviewed Alwan directly, relayed the intelligence provided by the man codenamed Curveball to the Bush administration in the months leading up to thewar in Iraq. This testimony made up the backbone of then-Secretary of StateColin Powell‘s March 2003 speech at the United Nations citing “eyewitness accounts” of Iraq’s WMD capabilities in making the American case for invasion.
Today in the Guardian, Alwan confirms for the first time what many have suspected for years: he made the whole thing up. “I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime,” an unrepentant Alwan told the paper. “I and my sons are proud of that, and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.”
On the one hand, Alwan’s admission is hardly surprising.Charles Duelfer, head of theIraq Study Group, wrote that search forWMDs had “gone as far as feasible” back in 2005. In August of 2006,President Bush himself conceded in this White House press conference that Iraq did not possess WMDs.


http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/38798

[TxHillHunter]

From January 2000 to September 2001, anIraqi ex-pat namedRafid Ahmed Alwan detailedSadaam Hussein‘s efforts to construct biological weapons of mass destruction in conversations with German intelligence (BND). This information was passed on to theCIA which, despite the skepticism voiced by Alwan’s BND handlers and never having interviewed Alwan directly, relayed the intelligence provided by the man codenamed Curveball to the Bush administration in the months leading up to thewar in Iraq. This testimony made up the backbone of then-Secretary of StateColin Powell‘s March 2003 speech at the United Nations citing “eyewitness accounts” of Iraq’s WMD capabilities in making the American case for invasion.
Today in the Guardian, Alwan confirms for the first time what many have suspected for years: he made the whole thing up. “I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime,” an unrepentant Alwan told the paper. “I and my sons are proud of that, and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.”
On the one hand, Alwan’s admission is hardly surprising.Charles Duelfer, head of theIraq Study Group, wrote that search forWMDs had “gone as far as feasible” back in 2005. In August of 2006,President Bush himself conceded in this White House press conference that Iraq did not possess WMDs.


http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/38798

Proud of a bold faced lie.....what a great influence on his sons this guy is.

[road kill]

Of course, the fly in this "ointment" is that Hussein USED WMD's on his own people.


RK

[Granddaddy]

Of course, the fly in this "ointment" is that Hussein USED WMD's on his own people.


RK

I was thinking the same thing. He used WMDs on Iran during their long war & also on his on people. So maybe both claims are true - Iraq had WMDs & Iraq didn't have WMDs. I think the qualification is when did Iraq have them? Certainly during the Iran-Iraq war but probably got rid of them & all the evidence during the years after the UN got involved with inspections. Rumors persist that the technology, WMDs and raw materials went to Syria. And Hussein was too proud to avoid the conflict which he could have done by being completely open with the UN investigations.

[ducknwork]

Well, now that we know this, Sherman...let's just get in the Waaaay Back Machine and take back everything that has been done in the middle east in the last 10 years. Oh wait, I guess we can't do that, so we'll just bash the Bush Administration instead.

[BrianW]

Of course, the fly in this "ointment" is that Hussein USED WMD's on his own people.


RK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack for example
The Halabja poison gas attack , also known as Halabja massacre or Bloody Friday, was an incident that took place on March 16, 1988 BB43 (before Bush 43).
The Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as act of genocide on March 1, 2010. The attack killed between 3,200 and 5,000 people and injured around 7,000 and 10,000 more.

[mjh345]

Cloud the issue all you guys want to, but the clear fact of the matter is that Bush made the case to go to war in 2003 based on "reliable intelligence" that WMD's existed AT THAT TIME in 2003.

That was clearly FALSE!!!

Bush and his Administration have admitted that fact; I find it hard to believe, and would question the objectivity of those of you who still make excuses.

There are incompetent, and or crooked BOOBS all over the place in govt. It seems ther are many who won't admit and will continue to rationalize a BOOB strictly because of his supposed party affiliation. Nothing will change until this changes.

I voted for Bush in 2000, because I am a Conservative and he claimed to be one. He proved in 4 years that he was NOT a conservative; {either that or they changed the definition}. I would have voted for anyone BUT him in 2004.


This could be due to a variety of reasons, some of nefarious reasons, and some innocent reasons.

Regardless of the motivation for getting this most crucial decision wrong it clearly shows he missed the most important decision of his career. The U.S.A. is clearly the worse off for it.

Before you guys jump on me and bash this post, please tell me what happened under Bush that makes you feel he was conservative.

Then givew me your best shot. I promise NOT to run to the moderators

[Roger Perry]

Of course, the fly in this "ointment" is that Hussein USED WMD's on his own people.


RK

I never denied that Hussein used WMD on his own people. They were supplied to him by the United States.

[Roger Perry]

[quote=BrianW;751626]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack for example
The Halabja poison gas attack , also known as Halabja massacre or Bloody Friday, was an incident that took place on March 16, 1988 BB43 (before Bush 43).
The Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as act of genocide on March 1, 2010. The attack killed between 3,200 and 5,000 people and injured around 7,000 and 10,000 more.[/quote]

How does that number compare to the 4,000 plus U.S. service men and women that have been killed in Iraq and the thousands that have been maimed or wounded? How does that number compare to the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children that have been killed, maimed or wounded since the start of the invasion in 2003?

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...VR5&FORM=LKVR4

[BrianW]

...They were supplied to him by the United States.

Just give credit where credit IS due.
Again from Wiki- The know-how and material for developing chemical weapons were obtained by Saddam's regime from foreign firms.
The largest suppliers of precursors for chemical weapons production were in
Singapore (4,515 tons),
the Netherlands (4,261 tons),
Egypt (2,400 tons),
India (2,343 tons), and
West Germany (1,027 tons).
One Indian company, Exomet Plastics (now part of EPC Industrie Ltd.) sent 2,292 tons of precursor chemicals to Iraq. The Kim Al-Khaleej firm, located in Singapore and affiliated to United Arab Emirates, supplied more than 4,500 tons of VX, sarin, and mustard gas precursors and production equipment to Iraq.[23]
The provision of chemical precursors from United States companies to Iraq was enabled by a Ronald Reagan administration policy that removed Iraq from the State Department's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. Leaked portions of Iraq's "Full, Final and Complete" disclosure of the sources for its weapons programs shows that thiodiglycol, a substance needed to manufacture mustard gas, was among the chemical precursors provided to Iraq from US companies such as Alcolac International and Phillips. Both companies have since undergone reorganization and Phillips, once a subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum is now part of ConocoPhillips, an American oil and discount fossil fuel company, while Alcolac International has since dissolved and reformed as Alcolac Inc