(IBD) Syria's Chemical Weapons Came From Saddam Hussein's Iraq

[Daniel John Sobieski]

War On Terror: As the regime of Bashar Assad disintegrates, the  security of his chemical arsenal is in jeopardy. The No. 2 general in Saddam  Hussein's air force says they were the WMDs we didn't find in Iraq.

King Abdullah of neighboring Jordan warned that a disintegrating Syria on the  verge of civil war puts Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons at risk of falling  into the hands of al-Qaida.

"One of the worst-case scenarios as we are obviously trying to look for a  political solution would be if some of those chemical stockpiles were to fall  into unfriendly hands," he said.

The irony here is that the chemical weapons stockpile of Syrian thug Assad  may in large part be the legacy of weapons moved from Hussein's Iraq into Syria  before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

If so, this may be the reason not much was found in the way of WMD by  victorious U.S. forces in 2003.

In 2006, former Iraqi general Georges Sada, second in command of the Iraqi  Air Force who served under Saddam Hussein before he defected, wrote a  comprehensive book, "Saddam's Secrets."

It details how the Iraqi Revolutionary Guard moved weapons of mass  destruction into Syria in advance of the U.S.-led action to eliminate Hussein's  WMD threat.

As Sada told the New York Sun, two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to  cargo planes by removing the seats, and special Republican Guard units loaded  the planes with chemical weapons materials.

There were 56 flights disguised as a relief effort after a 2002 Syrian dam  collapse.

There were also truck convoys into Syria. Sada's comments came more than a  month after Israel's top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Moshe Yaalon,  told the Sun that Saddam "transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to  Syria."

Both Israeli and U.S. intelligence observed large truck convoys leaving Iraq  and entering Syria in the weeks and months before Operation Iraqi Freedom, John  Shaw, former deputy undersecretary of defense for international technology  security, told a private conference of former weapons inspectors and  intelligence experts held in Arlington, Va., in 2006.

Read More At IBD:  http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/071912-618875-syria-chemic...

[June Gagnon]

Really, how many times do we have to repeat ourselves, to get anyone to remember "what really happened"?  Early on, before we even entered Iraq, GW took to the air to announce that we "were going in" and we would remove those (WMD's) chemical weapons (that he had received "security details" about)!  A lot of us watched the videos, from our own drones, showing large 18 and 20-wheel trucks, moving those WMD's"out of Iraq", but the "left-wing snipers and "lamestream media propaganda machine" accused the Bush administration of lying about that intelligence! NO, it was NOT a lie and here is your proof; that only leaves us to wonder how many of those same WMD's still remain in Iran??

[Juanita Holloway-Walters]

We knew this at the time. The convoy of 18 wheelers from Iraq to Syria before we invaded was well documented. Not to mention the ships that left and were silent running. Of course the WMD existed and why our government decided to cover up the fact that the WMD went to Syria is a mystery to me.

[James Walls]

Seek the truth and you shall find him--Not it as many may say. The answer to seeking the truth is no where on earth or within mankind.

Government officials say it is okay to lie a little bit to help the cause, we all do it.-----That very well may be true--They all do it---If they are stretching the truth than they are LIARS and GOD is not in them. A lie is a lie regardless of the size, small, little or big. GOD said if you lie --YOU ARE A LIAR.

[James Walls]

People will imagine or suspect that many trucks or planes will be needed to move chemical weapons.---Depends on what the weapons really are. If you have a few 55 gallon barrels of nerve gas, mustard gas or sarin gas, how many bombs can you load with these chemicals.

Preloaded weapons is very dangerous for a military to preload bombs or other devices when they can do it prior to using them. Missles can be armed by changing the warheads and ammunition can be done the same way.

Chemicals in a barrel can be destroyed by burning them. I imagine a truck load of 55 gallon barrels would hold enough chemicals to destroy the world. Imagine this stuff getting into the ground water or into the soil where we grow our food. Where would we grow our food if we destroyed the planet. Can a country store enough food to last for thousands of years in order for the chemicals to disappear if they ever do. Some of these chemicals can never be destroyed, like the nuclear fuel coming out of the reactors---We store it underground and let the next generation worry about it.---We are not very good stewards of GODS planet he created for us to live on.

[Charles E Papp]

I always thought that the weapons we looked for had migrated to Syria. Of course the liberal press would only give lip service to this. It was much more popular and liberal to blame Bush and accuse hime of lying.

[Archie C B]

It is plausible to believe that these type of weapons will come to America for use against those that oppose the future pro Islamist, pro communist-anti capitalist gov administrations by way of the southern border. There are radicals in Canada to be concerned about as well. Some may already be here just this side of the border buried? There are drug cartel(s) members on this side of the southern border; Cali, AZ, NM. Texas, already admitted by the Federal Gov officials. They sit in the mountains along our southern borders watching and supposedly directing drug smugglers (weapon smuggles as well?) across the deserts to certain destinations like Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, etc. It has been established hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Muslims have been crossing our borders along with Mexican, South Americans and other groups of unknowns for decades. They are many here in our cities free to move about without the threat of arrest and deportation. I bet they haven't assimilated either. I'm under the belief some of those at those occasions might be Hezbollah intelligence radical Islamist who may-might launch these type of chemicals on America cities-an it's citizens. Whose to say that isn't in our future considering this administration and the radical democrat party?

[Gene Szymanski]

The IDIOTS in the middle east are hell bent on destroying the world. I honestly believe this.

[ROSIESRANTS]

THIS IS NOT NEWS TO ME. I READ ABOUT THIS AFTER SADDAMS' TWO SONS WERE INVOLVED IN TRANSPORTING THE TRUCKS TO SYRIA, DIDN'T HEAR ABOUT THE 56 FLIGHTS THOUGH.  SOUNDS LIKE AN AWFUL LOT OF WMDS.  I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THEY HAVE " MADE IN IRAQ" STAMPED ON THEM JUST TO EXONERATE GEORGE W. BUSH SINCE WE WERE TOLD BY ALL MAJOR HEADS OF STATE& OUR OWN INTEL THAT HE STILL HAD THOSE WEAPONS LOCKED UP SOME WHERE BUT WE NEVER FOUND THEM.  OF COURSE NOT SADDAM HAD 6 MONTHS TO MOVE ALL THAT STUFF OUT BEFORE WE MOVED ON IRAQ.  REMEMBER????

[Sherry Kay Benson]

So that's where the weapons of mass destruction went. The intelligence was right. I knew it all along!

[Winona Lee Wacker]

Oh, yes, Colin Powell--the traitor!  He came to this country as an immigrant, got all the goodies the American Dream can give, served very honorably, then threw the people who gave him his chances under the bus!  I am very happy his favorite BBQ place outside Gate 7 at Fort Campbell burned!  Now, we don't have to bother with his odor any more!