Thread by @warriors_mom

The invasion of Iraq; There were no WMDs after all
 
Last week was the anniversary of our invasion of Iraq in search of WMDs and to remove Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti from power.  Many will suggest that had we been allowed to go on into Iraq during Desert Storm, it might have been all over then. But it seems the mission at that time was limited to the liberation of Kuwait. We can only wonder, “what if”?
 
Well, this invasion was the result of purposeful disinformation and we lost 4432 good men and women and the Iraqis lost probably 200,000 troops and civilians. I hate to say it, but seemingly for nothing.
 
Why?  Because the WMDs had been moved to Dawr az-Zawr, Syria. And who told us this? The officer who was in charge of it, Iraqi Air Force General Georges Sada. A Christian. And he later wrote all about it in his book, “Saddam’s Secrets.” We extracted him and he lives now in Oklahoma.
 
So how did this Perfect Storm of events come to pass? Let me tell you about it.
 
We have to go back to the Iran-Iraq War in the ‘eighties. Saddam’s scientists purchased biological agents from American Type Culture Collection in Rockville, MD.  I have a list of seventy purchases of anthax, plague, camelpox, botulinum toxin, and other infectious and communicable diseases that were sent from ATCC.
 
We also know he was on track to develop an atomic bomb to destroy Israel. The French had built a nuclear reactor, Osirak, and his scientists, Drs. Jafar, Sharistani, and Hamza were working on it. He had also hired Dr. Gerald Bull to build the SuperGun to launch it.  Each of those are stories in themselves.  Then one night a swarm of Israeli F-16s destroyed it.
 
We know that most of his chemical weapons were purchased from Russia. He was probably their best customer.
 
Then in 1986, Saddam’s valet and food taster, Kamil Hana Gegeo, introduced Samira Shabander to him.  Problem was, she was already married to one of his Air Force officers. He summoned the officer and told him to divorce Samira so he could marry her and Saddam would make him the president of Iraqi Airways.  Well, who could refuse an offer like that? Saddam was already married to his first cousin, Sajida, and she was the mother of his two sons, Uday and Qusay.  Granted that Islam allows four wives, but Uday was incensed. Two years later he crashed a dinner party given by Suzanne Mubarak and beat the man to death with a baseball bat. In front of many witnesses.  But Saddam’s sons are immune.
 
Saddam’s biological weapons program was headed by two women; Rihab Rashid Taha, PhD, Microbiology, University of East Anglia, UK, and Huda Ammash, MS, Texas Women’s College and PhD, Microbiology, University of Missouri. We called Taha ‘Doctor Germ’ and Huda Ammash ‘Mrs. Anthrax’.
 
Well, things going on inside Iraq began to be noticed and of concern to the neighboring countries.  And the war clouds were gathering. Information, misinformation, and disinformation was circulating and Saddam’s emissary to the United States, Tariq Aziz, was telling him that President George W. Bush was planning to invade Iraq.
 
On 4 June 2002, an earthen dam broke in Homa, Syria, and President Bashir al-Assad put out the call to the Red Crescent and anyone who could help to come to their aid. Saddam saw this as an opportunity to hide his WMDs in Syria. He ordered Iraqi Airways to reconfigure a 747 and two 727s for cargo.  They made fifty-six flights hauling WMDs to Dawr az-Zawr, Syria. This was arranged by Iraqi General Ali Hassan al-Majid al-Tikriti, whom we called ‘Chemical Ali’, and Bashir’s cousin, General Abu Ali.  Soon after, fifty trucks came down from Russia and emptied the ammo bunkers & hauled it all to Syria.
 
It was also known that General Mahdi Obeidi, MSCh, Colorado School of Mines, PhD, University of Swansea, headed the uranium diffusion enrichment part of the nuclear bomb program & fearing the International Inspectors, buried the plans & some parts in a fifty-gallon drum …

… under a lotus tree in his backyard. In fact, he wrote a book about it.  In 2003, CIA brought him and his family to safety in Virginia. They also sent in my friend, LtCol Rick Francona to bring out Dr. Khidir Hamza’s family. Rick had been General Schwartzkopf’s aide and translator in Desert Storm. He and I knew each other from before the war.  He was the Air Attache’ in Baghdad and I was across the Gulf in Saudi Arabia.
 
So now, the icing on the cake.  In 1999, an Iraqi named Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi walked into Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst, their federal intelligence agency asking for asylum for information.  The BND agreed only if what he had to tell was worth it. He claimed that he had worked as a chemical engineer at a plant that manufactured mobile biological weapons laboratories. It was located at Djerf al-Nadaf near Baghdad and disguised as a birdseed processing plant. Further, he said that he worked for Drs. Huda Ammash and Rihab Taha. The BND deemed his information to be factual, but never let any of our intelligence people talk to him. We got only written reports.
 
President George W. Bush and his staff bought it. Former general and now Secretary of State Colin Powell was sent to the United Nations with this information to create a coalition of countries to invade Iraq. CIA provided him a Power Point presentation that was convincing.
 
So, what was Rafid’s motive for this big lie? One, he wanted to get rid of Saddam, but worse still, he had stolen cash and parts from Babel TV which was owned by Uday Hussein. He could see a baseball bat in his future.
 
The decision was made to invade Iraq and confiscate all of Saddam’s WMDs.  Tariq Aziz warned Saddam that this was real.  Saddam decided to send Samira and their son, Ali, to Lebanon for safekeeping. He sent her with about a million dollars, maybe more.  Saddam had at least ten billion dollars stashed in banks all over the world and he felt that if he could not win this war he would flee to Russia where Samira and Ali could join him.
 
Now this part is a bit sketchy, but I am pretty sure it is true.  The invasion began and Saddam found he could not escape so he went into hiding.  Samira ran out of money and went to an Internet Café in Baalbek, Lebanon and called Saddam on his secret number.  National Security Agency picked up that call and GPS’ed his location and Army Rangers found him hiding underground on a friend’s farm. My buddy, Al Martin, who is a member of the VFW in Danville’s son was one of the Rangers. In fact, he was one of three Rangers that shaved Saddam and cut his hair.
 
And, as for our man of deception, Rafid al-Janabi, what happened to him? The Germans granted him asylum and citizenship and last I heard he was living on the dole in a flat in Karlsruhe.  Watching his six.

Harold K. Strunk, DrPH
 
Captain, USN Ret.

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