Iraq Smuggling Nukes in Aid to Syria

The London Times reports that Iraq is smuggling nuclear arms parts on aid flights that are carrying relief supplies to Syria from Baghdad, after a Syrian dam collapse killed 20 people and left 30,000 homeless. So far, Iraq has sent 24 planes containing aid to Syria and smuggled back arms parts on the return journeys. Intelligence reports say that at least one of the returning planes was filled with spareparts for “flow-forming machines,” which are used to produce components for uranium-enrichment systems. Enriched uranium is a major component of nuclear weapons. Similar flow-forming machines in Iraq were destroyed by the UN weapons supervision program after the 1991 Gulf War.

Other equipment smuggled back to Baghdad includes tank parts and spare parts for Iraqi air force planes. According to an intelligence source, “This smuggling operation was organized at the last minute, exploiting the window of opportunity that opened up as a result of the humanitarian relief operation.”

We now know that President Bush has already decided to try to bring down Saddam Hussein and signed an intelligence order early in 2002, directing the CIA to begin a comprehensive, covert program, using lethal force if necessary, to capture him.

The presidential order directs the CIA to use all available tools, including increased support to Iraqi opposition groups. The CIA is directed to give groups both inside and outside of Iraq money, weapons, equipment, training and intelligence information. There will be increased efforts to collect intelligence information from anti-Hussein elements within the Iraqi government. The CIA may use U.S. Special Forces teams of the kind that were used in Afghanistan. They would be authorized to kill Hussein if they were acting in self-defense. Says one source, ?It is not a silver bullet, but hopes are high and we could get lucky.?

CIA Director George J. Tenet says the CIA effort alone?combined with economic and diplomatic pressure?without an actual military invasion, has only a 10 to 20% chance of success. The CIA says that any covert action should be seen as ?preparatory? to a military strike so the agency can identify targets and build relationships with alternative future leaders if Hussein is ousted.

Ever since September 11, it?s seemed likely that one day we will wake up and see headlines in our daily paper that we?ve overthrown Iraq and captured (or killed) Saddam Hussein. The European press has been writing about it as an inevitability for months now. The Bush administration has never wavered in its determination to bring down Saddam, despite the fact that it has been proved that the anthrax attacks did not originate from him and he played no part in the 911 scenario.

In an April 4 interview with Bush, British journalist Trevor McDonald asked him, ?Have you made up your mind that Iraq must be attacked??

?I made up my mind that Hussein needs to go,? Bush replied. ??The policy of my government is that he goes.? Two weeks later, Bush announced, ?If we wait for the threats to fully materialize, we will have waited too long.?

While Bush?s beliefs and pronouncements can seem simplistic at times, it?s a relief to see that he doesn?t feel the need to formulate any kind of politically-correct ?excuse? to go after a dangerous dictator like Saddam.

In the interview with McDonald, Bush said, ?The worst thing that could happen would be to allow a nation like Iraq, run by Saddam Hussein, to develop weapons of mass destruction, and then team up with terrorist organizations so they can blackmail the world. I?m not going to let that happen.? When asked how he planned to prevent this, Bush said, ?Wait and see.?

On June 15 Dreamland, we talked with William Henry about Hussein?s belief that he is the reincarnated 5th century BC Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar?and how this belief may influence his actions against the West. To listen to this show, click ?Listen Now? at the top of our homepage.

Today we have Christian fundamentalism fighting Islamic fundamentalism, but did you know that World War II was a religious war as well? Read the secrets behind the battles in ?Unholy Alliance? by Peter Levenda and listen to Peter on Dreamland June 22,click here.

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