HT Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters is breaking with significant translations of the Saddam Regime docs.

RBT

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Saddam And Anthrax Operations

In yet another document captured by the Coalition from the files of the IIS, we have yet another piece of evidence that Saddam Hussein continued his pursuit of WMD. In document BIAP-2003-004552.pdf, we have a short memorandum announcing a transfer to a biological weapons program:

CENTER OF MANAGEMENT AND LAW / PRESIDENT

For that, we order Dr. Hazem Anwar Alnasery, assigned to the Health Department Center, and Dr Mothny Abas, president of the Central Health Testing Department, to be members of the Anthrax Operation Room. This order will not cancel the previous order assigned to Dr. Mostafa Fathee, president of the Central Health Testing Department and president of the Health Research Institute. Thanks.

Signed
Zohir Saeed Abd Elsalam
10/13/2002

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Dr. Germ Analyzes Aircraft BW Attack Requirements In 2002

For those who continue to reject evidence of Saddam Hussein's pursuit of WMD programs, the document released yesterday by the FMSO DocEx project makes it a much more difficult proposition. Document CMPC-2003-004346 reveals that Dr. Rehab Rasheed Taha, otherwise known as Dr. Germ, prepared an analysis in 2002 of how to spread biological weapons material using an aircraft as the medium, and how far they had advanced on the application:

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Iraqi Documents: Our Friends, The Russians (Updated And Bunped)

One of the reasons that the DoD may have sat on the captured IIS files without translating or releasing them, some speculate, was that the contents may embarrass some of our allies in the overall war on terror. One document released yesterday seems to support that analysis. According to document CMPC-2003-000878, the Russians gave more active support to Saddam prior to the March 2003 invasion than previously known — and they used Syria as a conduit for their materiel:

[...]

UPDATE and BUMP: Another look at our friends in Moscow comes in document CMPC-2003-001950, which details a meeting with the Russian ambassador in March 2003. The diplomats discussed the evacuation of Russian citizens from Iraq, but also discussed current American military assets deployed in the Gulf theater:

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Iraqi Documents: UNMOVIC Knew Of Renewed WMD Efforts

Continuing my review of the many documents released from the DocEx files over the last two days, I found yet another interesting piece of information regarding Saddam Hussein's pursuit of WMD. In a summary of a larger document, the translators found that Iraq had restarted its processing of castor-bean extraction, from which ricin can be developed — and that UNMOVIC discovered it in December 2002.

From CMPC-2003-003766-HT.pdf, with line breaks and emphases mine:

Ricin toxin is found in the bean of the castor plant. UNMOVIC inspections since December 2002 have verified that the bombed caster oil extraction plant at Fallujah III has been reconstructed on a larger scale.

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Saddam's Idea Of Diplomatic Pouches

Another DocEx document has a strange take on diplomacy under Saddam Hussein's brutal regime. A top-secret roster of Iraqi Intelligence Service projects for 2003 shows some interesting, inventive, and disturbing initiatives that only the American invasion stopped. From CMPC-2003-005745.pdf:

# Use of diplomatic briefcases as an explosive device that can not be detected using an X Ray device

# Sabotaging airplane fuel

# Development of a research project for self igniting chemical mixtures to be used in acts of sabotage

# Project for camouflaging a long range explosive device using a stick [or crutch]

[...]

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Iraqi Documents: Kuwaiti POWs Used As Human Shields

This story has been reported before, but the captured IIS documents contains the actual orders from Qusai Hussein directing the Republican Guard to take Kuwaiti prisoners illegally held for twelve years and use them as human shields at strategic locations. Document CMPC-2003-012666.pdf shows the brutal callousness that became the hallmark of the Hussein family:

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Iraqi Gen. Sada along with Terry Law will be speaking in Spokane, WA on Sunday July 16th, 2006.

They will speak during services at the First Church of the Open Bible at the 8:30 & 11:00 AM.

For more info see the church's website:

http://www.fcobspokane.org/

HT Powerline

This just went up at Powerline.

RBT

*****

Iraq Was Hiding Chemical Weapons Facilities in 1999

The conventional wisdom about Iraq's WMD programs is that they were moribund after the First Gulf War, and the hundreds of chemical weapons that have been found in Iraq are merely detritus which was most likely lost or forgotten by Saddam's government. That narrative flies in the face of a great deal of physical and documentary evidence, much of which we have discussed on this site. But a newly-translated Project Harmony document, CMPC-2003-00011084-HT-DHM2A.pdf, provides some of the most definitive evidence yet that Saddam's government continued its illicit weapons programs long after the conclusion of the Gulf War.

This document is a letter from the Director of the Criminal Department, Na'man Ali Muhammad, to the Director of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, dated September 4, 1999:

Mr. Muhammad indicated that the International Inspection Committee would be inspecting the Al-Rashad location, among other locations, looking for non-conventional weapons and other chemical agents. He added that the following procedures were implemented on the fifth month of this year [TC: May 1999] in order to prevent disclosure of the locations:

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and Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters has this related piece:

HT Capt Ed at Captain's Quarters

Project Harmony Documents Show Chemical 'Projects' In 2003

The translated documents from the captured IIS files have even more information on Saddam Hussein's activity in WMD research and development. BIAP-2003-003057.pdf has the agenda from a January 21, 2003 meeting that involves chemical projects scheduled for implementation in the coming year:

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HT Spook86 at In From th Cold

Spook86 pins the tail on the donkey re our "friends" the Russians and the Chinese.

RBT

*****

Our Friends in Beijing (and Moscow)

Less than 48 hours after the North Korean missile launches, our erstwhile freinds in Beijing and Moscow are (predictably) being less-than-helpful on the issue. When the U.N. Security Council took up the matter yesterday, both Russia and China quickly reiterated their opposition to tough action against Pyongyang.

Beijing, which has long been North Korea's closest ally and biggest trading partner, issued a statement that avoided direct criticism of Kim Jong-il regime. Instead, China appealed for "calm" (apparently, the required first statement in any official PRC announcement on any global crisis), while expressing "serious concern" about "what had happened." (Yawn).

The language from Moscow was equally benign. Russia's UN envoy, Valery Churkin, called the missile tests a "deplorable development," but stopped short of supporting new sanctions against North Korea. Instead, both China and Russia reportedly favor a U.N. presidential statement on the issue. Presidential statements are non-binding, and are considered even weaker than UNSC resolutions. I'm sure the boys in Pyongyang are positively quaking in their boots at that prospect. Lest we forget, a long line of dictators, thugs and despots have ignored scores of U.N. resolutions against their regime. Given the likely "impact" of such toothless actions, a U.N. presidential statement literally isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

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*****

HT The American Thinker

Where was Kim's exploded ICBM pointing?

Douglas Hanson writes that it’s unlikely that Kim Jong Il exploded his own long-range missile after 42 seconds yesterday. True, with one possible exception: if it was on course to a real target. Ballistic missiles have predictable trajectories soon after launch—- that’s why they’re ballistic—- and the US Goverment must know roughly where Kim’s 9,300 mile Taepodong 2 was heading.

If it was bound for Japan, Okinawa, or US Navy vessels at sea, Kim could have destroyed it 42 seconds into flight quite deliberately, like a boxer pulling his punch to send the message: This one could have landed right on you, sucker.

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*****

HT The American Thinker

Why multiple NoKo missile launches?

Just a small observation. Why did the North Koreans fire multiple missiles today? They know that we have a layered anti-missile defense, ranging from Aegis cruisers near the coast of North Korea to catch missiles in the slow boost stage, to developing mid-flight and near-target anti-missile systems. What they don’t know is how effective those are, nor how good they are at distinguishing between killer missiles and decoys. The cheapest way to defeat an anti-missile system is to fire multiple missiles at it. That’s what they did today.

The one country that is not being held responsible is China. But China could exercise immense influence on North Korea – if it chose to. It has not done so. Chances are that the Chinese military knew all about the today’s probes of allied defenses, and that they were watching and analyzing the results. China has secretly enabled North Korean proliferation to Iran, hoping that the United States and its allies will be drawn into a Middle East conflict that will expose our Pacific flank.

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*****

HT Wizbang - several bloggers are now linking to this added tidbit.

Failed North Korean Taepodong-2 Missile Pointed at Hawaii?

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This just in from Ray Robison. He has a new piece now up at FoxNews.

RBT

*****

Trail Leads to Iraq as Supplier of Pre-9/11 Manual for Arab Operatives In Afghanistan

Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Ray Robison


An Arab regime, possibly Iraq, supplied how-to manuals for Arab operatives working throughout Afghanistan before 9/11, and provided military assistance to the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

That's the most likely conclusion drawn from an apparent training manual unearthed in captured Iraqi government computer files translated and analyzed exclusively for Fox News, and made public for the first time.

The document, apparently written before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, could bolster the Bush administration's contention that Saddam Hussein was providing support for Islamic extremists who were plotting against America.

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Read it All!

Update:

HT Mark Eichenlaub of Regime of Terror (New Site)

Mark has this companion piece.

*****

Ray Robinson’s piece for FOX News may shed light on possible pre 9-11 training of Afghan terrorists by Iraqi military officers

The value of Ray Robinson's recent piece for FOXNews.com can be better evaluated by reviewing other events from the same time period that are available through open sources. For instance, much is known about Iraq’s motives and position at the time. Particularly, in 1998-99, Iraq was the subject of ongoing international attempts to inspect the country for WMD’s and the U.S. State Dept. and others revealed that internal and external pressures had laid the foundation for Iraq’s desire to rebuild its international terrorist infrastructure. The topic of Iraq’s motivations is a topic and article unto itself, so for now I will refer readers to a previous post in which I reviewed some of those factors.
The Taliban’s hosting of al Qaeda had also brought international pressures on Afghanistan that hadn’t previously existed. Both parties were under increasing U.N./U.S. led international pressure and may have had increased motivation for cooperation at the time.

Regarding the actual document, one of the first things that jump out is the author’s determination in keeping the nature of the work secret. Although the “Arab” government mentioned in the document is unknown, Iraq’s efforts to keep any mention of al Qaeda top-secret have been exposed in post-war official Iraqi documents. Particularly, the high priority secrecy revealed in the 1998 documents recovered by Inigo Gilmore and Mitch Potter and the 1993 documents reported by 60 Minutes and the Washington Times. If this document was authored by an Iraqi official, it matches up with how other Iraqi paperwork regarding al Qaeda has been handled.

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Tomorrow Americans will celebrate the Fourth of July. While we are BBQ'ing and visiting with friends and relatives, let's take a moment to reflect on we are celebrating and be thankful for our brave men and women who are in harm's way perserving our freedom and way of life.

Also see these thoughts from:

Michelle Malkin, Atlas Shrugs, The Moderate Voice, OPFOR, California Yankee and lastly from the WSJ Opinion Journal via Instapundit

UPDATE

Here's some more worth a read:

Real Clear Politics via Austin Bay, The American Thinker, Jihad Watch, Powerline, Dr. Sanity, Hot Air, and finally this anthology at PJM via Roger L. Simon.

And whatever you do don't miss this excellent post at Flopping Aces:

America’s First War with Islamic Terror


RBT

*****

A True Hero from another War
Riverside Press-Enterprise - March 31, 2006

Korean vet repaid debt to America with his heroism - America's newest Medal of Honor recipient Tibor Rubin
[Palm Springs, CA]

Tibor Rubin, 76, was liberated from a Nazi death camp by the U.S. Army. He was so greatful to his liberators that after he immigrated to America he enlisted as a "G.I. Joe" to serve in the Korean War. He was sent to the front lines where he fought heroically and was later captured, serving three years as a prisoner of war.

[...]

RBT has yet to read similar stories by the MSM from the Iraq War. If it wasn't for the firsthand accounts of citizen jounalists like, Michael Yon, and the Milblogs no one would ever know of the gallantry of the American men and women serving in this war.

[...]

The MSM from its biased reporting and naivete is aiding and abetting the enemy. The MSM is perversely rooting for the enemy like some underdog against an imperial invading army. This is no Sunday afternoon football game. There can be no appeasing this enemy. There is no moral equivalence to the enemy's religous cultlike ideology.

This is an enemy that seeks to subjugate us, to destroy our very way of life, and to take away our most cherished value - FREEDOM!

[...]

It is crucial to win the GWOT, that the American people hear these stories of valor. As President Bush so rightfully said, this war is of Good vs. Evil. We are in a clash of civilizations and cultures. A modern one that recognizes the free will of men and women, against a Medieval ideology of fascism that seeks our total destruction.

RBT would challenge the MSM to investigate why Iraqis continually lineup in large numbers at military and police recruiting sites when the enemy bombs them repeatedly? Partial answers can be found in Iraq Gen. Sada's new book, Saddam's Secrets and in Tibor Rubin's personal story.

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RBT has written previously that it is time for our generation to suck it up, put down our caffe lattes, quit the whinning, and win this war decisively like our fathers and mothers did before us:

[This essay was prompted by Judge Young's sentencing remarks in the Shoebomber case in recognition of the sacrifices of The Greatest Generation to perserve our freedom]

FREEDOM - Thx to The Greatest Generation for Preserving It

To Sherry and all my family,

After reading Sherry’s post on Judge Young's sentencing statement to the "shoe bomber," it gave me a moment to reflect on the freedoms we do have as Americans. It also reminded me to say thanks to all of you, “The Greatest Generation.” You endured the horrors of evil of the 20th Century. It was your self-sacrifices, sense of purpose, and perseverance that preserved the freedoms we enjoy today. We of the generations that followed often take these freedoms for granted and fail to give you the thanks you deserve. We have not been personally challenged as you were by the threat of global evil. The Cold War while threatening was abstract and distant.

The whiners and snivelers of our generations must appear as ungracious wimps and whooshes. Yes, we are a spoiled and complacent lot and forget the precious gift you gave us. We have not experienced the pain and hardships you lived through. WWII was already past history to be read in our schoolbooks. WWII has no collective visceral memory for us. We have no first hand experience. You did not dwell on it and shielded us from its impact. You didn’t consider yourselves as heroes. You picked up and got on with life. While the Vietnam War is still fresh in our memories some thirty years later, WWII ended less than a decade before we were born and has less of an impact. Our collective memory only is of grainy film clips and those few first-hand stories you told us on rare occasion.

We demand instant gratification, super-human perfection, are quick to find fault and lay blame instead of solutions, and will equivocate on all things to achieve these ends. We too, of course, want it done by yesterday. And yes, if you please, it must be done in an antiseptic and politically correct manner, lest we offend anyone or give us queasy stomachs. Yes, we often stand for nothing and everything at once. We are unlike your generation who understood the difference between, RIGHT and WRONG, and GOOD and EVIL. You lived by these principles day by day. You are not swayed by situational ethics. You stood firm and resolute in what you held dear and believed in.

As President Bush said, we are again facing a new struggle of GOOD verses EVIL. Our very way of life and culture is threatened by the spread of radical Islamic extremism. The world’s equivocation on this new cancer has only emboldened our enemy in their religious zeal to kill or convert every one of us. Radical Islamic extremism is no enlightened religion, as we know it. Radical Islamic extremism as some call Islamofascism, is an ideology that favors, dictatorial government, centralized control of private enterprise, repression of all opposition, and extreme nationalism all rolled up into a theocracy. The priest, clerics, and seers of this movement have found in their own interpretations of the Koran, justification for their actions and the slaughter of innocents. Their quest is to “open up” other unbelieving lands to the enlightenment of Islam and to right the right wrongs they suffered of centuries past. In other words to conquer and impose Islamic theocracies. This extremism is a religious-like cult, a failed culture, and a false religion that is still locked in time in the 12th and 13th Centuries.

[...]

The media has failed us, in its duty to inform and educate the American people, with its shallow infotainment coverage of the War On Terror. The people need creditable reporting, so we can make intelligent decisions in the upcoming presidential election. Some in the media believe the American people are too stupid to understand the complexities of the day’s stories. There is little drive or reward for excellence in reporting that is driven by a sense of duty and responsibility. The media has drifted into pandering for audiences and avoids hard stories. Hard news stories require a lot of time, effort, and resources. Hard news coverage requires a commitment to educate the people, report the facts without editorializing and sensationalizing, provide details as to the credibility of its sources, and then let the people from the story, form and draw their own opinions and conclusions. I would strongly caution information providers and their media conglomerates never to underestimate the intelligence and creativity of the American people.

[...]

Islamofascisim is a great danger facing the world. It is time our generations, suck it up and realize what is at stake here. It’s time to put aside our café lattés and cafe mochas, and realize America is at war. This is not another Vietnam. We must win this war. Loosing is not an option. Our Country was deliberately attacked without provocation by Islamofascisim terrorists. The great oceans no longer provide us safe haven from the “crazies” of the world. The “over there,” is now “here” in our homeland. Many innocent lives were lost, for who we are, for what we believe, and for what we stand, whether under God or not – FREEDOM! We must be resolute and decisive. As President Bush so correctly said, we are a tolerant people but once aroused, we are a fierce adversary.

We can no longer bury our heads in the sands, as this cancer will continue to grow if we don’t swiftly excise it. We must shake ourselves from our comfortable complacency, become actively involved, and quit Monday morning quarterbacking and support our valiant troops who are defending our freedom. The media needs to report objectively. The true foreign correspondents of this war are those brave soles that report (blog) from their neighborhoods from within these repressive regimes. The media need to quit rooting for the enemy as if they were the underdogs in some Sunday football game. This only emboldens our enemy and puts our military at further risk. Call the murdering SOBs for what they really are and not the rebels, insurgents, freedom fighters and other creative non-pejorative words. The media needs to bring the intense light of the free world on these repressive regimes that will implode under its scrutiny.

[...]

This war will not be won on the battlefield alone. We must unite both left and right to crush this new enemy that seeks to destroy us. The support of a united America and the free world is critical. There can be no appeasement for fanatical tyrants, who rule by fear, torture, genocide, deceit, and perversion of culture and religion to remain in power. Islamofascism must be crushed as a failed ideology lest its charismatic leaders continue to draw new recruits with the BIG LIES. The free world will no longer tolerate, “Final Solutions.” This is a war of ideology and culture, the free will of men, and GOOD vs. EVIL.

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Ht Strategy Page

Strategy Page posted a review of General Sada's book yesterday. As the reviewer notes, General Sada says:

. . . he has seen Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, and that at least some of them were moved to Syria


This has been RBT's humble opinion for several years.

RBT

*****

Saddam's Secrets: How an Iraqi General Defied and Survived Saddam Hussein

by Georges Sada with Jim Nelson Black

Brentwood, TN: Integrity Publishers. Pp. 315. Map. $24.99. ISBN:1-59145-404-2.

Georges Sada was a general in the Iraqi Air Force during Saddam Hussein's regime. That alone is going to make his story worth listening to. It is also one that should be taken with a grain of salt, since this is his side of the story. That said, Sada is a man whose biography seems to check out, and who has served in the transitional government of Iraq.

Sada's book is an interesting study in how Saddam Hussein operated. Short version: The former dictator of Iraq was a bad guy. Sada's story is one that initially seems very much at odds with some of the stories that have come out in the past about Saddam's tolerance (actually, his lack thereof) for ideas that he disagreed with. And yet, despite Saddam's penchant for shooting the bringers of bad news, Sada apparently not only gave frank advice and refused to join the Baath party, in 1991, he defied Saddam Hussein's order to execute prisoners of war during Desert Storm and lived to tell about it.

Sada has told his story very well, and some of the claims he makes are incredible. We find out that he has seen Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, and that at least some of them were moved to Syria (a view shared by Lieutenant General Michael DeLong, Deputy Commander of Central Command, in his memoirs from 2004 and by Israeli general Moshe Yaalon). Is it for real, or is it just a bunch of smoke?

[ed note: My emphasis and slight formating corrections from the original]

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