August 16, 2004

Iraqi WMDs - update

An interesting article in the Washington Times (hat tip to Bill at INDC Journal): bq. Saddam agents on Syria border helped move banned materials Saddam Hussein periodically removed guards on the Syrian border and replaced them with his own intelligence agents who supervised the movement of banned materials between the two countries, U.S. investigators have discovered. bq. Two defense sources told The Washington Times that the ISG has interviewed Iraqis who told of Saddam's system of dispatching his trusted Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) to the border, where they would send border inspectors away. bq. The shift was followed by the movement of trucks in and out of Syria suspected of carrying materials banned by U.N. sanctions. Once the shipments were made, the agents would leave and the regular border guards would resume their posts. bq. "If you leave it to border guards, then the border guards could stop the trucks and extract their 10 percent, just like the mob would do," said a Pentagon official who asked not to be named. "Saddam's family was controlling the black market, and it was a good opportunity for them to make money." Interesting - we already knew about the truck convoys that left for Syria just before coalition forces invaded but this fact, that Saddam removed the normal Iraq boarder guards and replaced them with his own IIS people only furthers the suspicions that the WMDs are alive and well and living in Syria. Posted by DaveH at August 16, 2004 7:16 PM