U.S. shifts tack in search for Iraqi weapons
No 'smoking gun': Its credibility at stake, Pentagon turns to more subtle evidence
Peter Goodspeed
National Post, with files from news services
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
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Irked by their failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the U.S. military is preparing to dismantle the special task force that spearheaded an urgent search for Saddam Hussein's secret arsenal.
White House and Pentagon officials say they will scale back military searches for a "smoking gun" that proves Iraq possessed a deadly supply of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Instead, a new group of scientists, computer and legal experts will seek far broader documentary evidence of Iraq's weapons program as part of a larger "Iraq Survey Group" that will also investigate everything from potential war crimes to terrorist connections with al-Qaeda.
The change marks a dramatic shift in emphasis, from hopes of finding stockpiles of banned weapons of mass destruction to merely trying to confirm claims Saddam's regime had the capability to produce such weapons.
It also takes place amid a major reorganization of the U.S.-led post-war administration inside Iraq.
Paul Bremer, a career diplomat and counterterrorism expert, yesterday replaced Jay Garner, the retired lieutenant-general, as head of the U.S. administration running Iraq. Barbara Bodine, the U.S. official charged with running Baghdad and central Iraq, has also been recalled after less than three weeks on the job, as U.S. officials struggle to restore order and basic government services, such as power and water, in the wake of the war.
But it has been the U.S.-led military coalition's failure, despite seven weeks of intense searching, to find a single outlawed chemical, biological or nuclear weapon that has begun to erode the credibility of Washington's policy in Iraq.
Before the war, George W. Bush, the U.S. President, and Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, were adamant Saddam Hussein had large supplies of weapons of mass destruction and posed an imminent threat. British intelligence reports claimed Saddam had hundreds of rockets and bombs capable of being armed with chemical and biological agents that could be launched on as little as 45 minutes notice.
Yet Iraq never used a weapon of mass destruction during the war, and special U.S. and British military teams that have been scouring Iraq have failed to come up with any trace of the alleged weapons.
The U.S. military created the 75th Exploitation Task Force specifically to hunt for weapons of mass destruction during and after the war.
Made up of teams of specialists, including biologists, nuclear scientists and special forces troops, armed with highly sophisticated detection equipment, the task force has surveyed 75 of 90 designated high-priority sites and failed to find anything approaching a "smoking gun."
Seven military teams of six specialists each have been sweeping across Iraq since early April, armed with radiation dose-meters and portable chemical and biological detection gear.
Whenever suspicious materials are found, two "mobile exploitation teams" with more sophisticated equipment are dispatched to analyze and collect samples that are then sent to two U.S. military labs for more scientific tests.
Since the war began, there have been several false alarms and inconclusive finds.
Suspected chemical weapons in metal drums turned out to be pesticides. Suspicious white powder turned out to be explosives. And suspected sarin and mustard gas turned out to be rocket fuel.
Most recently, U.S. troops seized two trailers they found near the northern city of Mosul, which they believe were equipped as mobile biological weapons labs.
The trailers were equipped with air compressors, fermenters and refrigeration units and could be used to produce either peaceful pathogens or deadly germs for weapons. U.S. officials say they have not yet determined if they were used for biological weapons.
High-ranking Iraqi officials in U.S. custody have consistently denied Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction, claiming they destroyed their weapons stocks in 1991 after the first Gulf War.
U.S. officials hope to glean more details of Iraq's weapons program from captured Iraqi commanders and have begun promising rewards to Iraqis who produce information leading to the discovery of illegal weapons.
Yesterday, coalition forces took into custody Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha, a top Iraqi scientist dubbed "Dr. Germ" for her work in creating weapons-grade anthrax, officials said.
But U.S. officials who rejected United Nations inspectors' pleas for more time to uncover Iraq's weapons program are now starting to sound like Hans Blix, the chief UN inspector, who repeatedly argued it would take time to find any hidden weapons.
Iraq probably never had a "big arsenal" but may have possessed a lot of material and "dual-use technology" that could be fashioned into weapons, Condoleezza Rice, U.S. National Security Advisor, told reporters yesterday. "It was a sophisticated deception program and it will take some time to untangle that, but we will," she said.
In the meantime, members of the 75th Exploitation Task Force have been told they will disband next month. Their hunt will be picked up by 2,000 members of the Iraq Study Group, headed by U.S. Major-General Keith Dayton, deputy-director of U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency.
The new investigation group will include scientists, interrogators, intelligence analysts and about a dozen former UN weapons inspectors.
pgoodspeed@nationalpost.com
hmmmmmmmmm....how ironic!!!
No 'smoking gun': Its credibility at stake, Pentagon turns to more subtle evidence
Peter Goodspeed
National Post, with files from news services
Tuesday, May 13, 2003
ADVERTISEMENT
Irked by their failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the U.S. military is preparing to dismantle the special task force that spearheaded an urgent search for Saddam Hussein's secret arsenal.
White House and Pentagon officials say they will scale back military searches for a "smoking gun" that proves Iraq possessed a deadly supply of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Instead, a new group of scientists, computer and legal experts will seek far broader documentary evidence of Iraq's weapons program as part of a larger "Iraq Survey Group" that will also investigate everything from potential war crimes to terrorist connections with al-Qaeda.
The change marks a dramatic shift in emphasis, from hopes of finding stockpiles of banned weapons of mass destruction to merely trying to confirm claims Saddam's regime had the capability to produce such weapons.
It also takes place amid a major reorganization of the U.S.-led post-war administration inside Iraq.
Paul Bremer, a career diplomat and counterterrorism expert, yesterday replaced Jay Garner, the retired lieutenant-general, as head of the U.S. administration running Iraq. Barbara Bodine, the U.S. official charged with running Baghdad and central Iraq, has also been recalled after less than three weeks on the job, as U.S. officials struggle to restore order and basic government services, such as power and water, in the wake of the war.
But it has been the U.S.-led military coalition's failure, despite seven weeks of intense searching, to find a single outlawed chemical, biological or nuclear weapon that has begun to erode the credibility of Washington's policy in Iraq.
Before the war, George W. Bush, the U.S. President, and Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, were adamant Saddam Hussein had large supplies of weapons of mass destruction and posed an imminent threat. British intelligence reports claimed Saddam had hundreds of rockets and bombs capable of being armed with chemical and biological agents that could be launched on as little as 45 minutes notice.
Yet Iraq never used a weapon of mass destruction during the war, and special U.S. and British military teams that have been scouring Iraq have failed to come up with any trace of the alleged weapons.
The U.S. military created the 75th Exploitation Task Force specifically to hunt for weapons of mass destruction during and after the war.
Made up of teams of specialists, including biologists, nuclear scientists and special forces troops, armed with highly sophisticated detection equipment, the task force has surveyed 75 of 90 designated high-priority sites and failed to find anything approaching a "smoking gun."
Seven military teams of six specialists each have been sweeping across Iraq since early April, armed with radiation dose-meters and portable chemical and biological detection gear.
Whenever suspicious materials are found, two "mobile exploitation teams" with more sophisticated equipment are dispatched to analyze and collect samples that are then sent to two U.S. military labs for more scientific tests.
Since the war began, there have been several false alarms and inconclusive finds.
Suspected chemical weapons in metal drums turned out to be pesticides. Suspicious white powder turned out to be explosives. And suspected sarin and mustard gas turned out to be rocket fuel.
Most recently, U.S. troops seized two trailers they found near the northern city of Mosul, which they believe were equipped as mobile biological weapons labs.
The trailers were equipped with air compressors, fermenters and refrigeration units and could be used to produce either peaceful pathogens or deadly germs for weapons. U.S. officials say they have not yet determined if they were used for biological weapons.
High-ranking Iraqi officials in U.S. custody have consistently denied Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction, claiming they destroyed their weapons stocks in 1991 after the first Gulf War.
U.S. officials hope to glean more details of Iraq's weapons program from captured Iraqi commanders and have begun promising rewards to Iraqis who produce information leading to the discovery of illegal weapons.
Yesterday, coalition forces took into custody Dr. Rihab Rashid Taha, a top Iraqi scientist dubbed "Dr. Germ" for her work in creating weapons-grade anthrax, officials said.
But U.S. officials who rejected United Nations inspectors' pleas for more time to uncover Iraq's weapons program are now starting to sound like Hans Blix, the chief UN inspector, who repeatedly argued it would take time to find any hidden weapons.
Iraq probably never had a "big arsenal" but may have possessed a lot of material and "dual-use technology" that could be fashioned into weapons, Condoleezza Rice, U.S. National Security Advisor, told reporters yesterday. "It was a sophisticated deception program and it will take some time to untangle that, but we will," she said.
In the meantime, members of the 75th Exploitation Task Force have been told they will disband next month. Their hunt will be picked up by 2,000 members of the Iraq Study Group, headed by U.S. Major-General Keith Dayton, deputy-director of U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency.
The new investigation group will include scientists, interrogators, intelligence analysts and about a dozen former UN weapons inspectors.
pgoodspeed@nationalpost.com
hmmmmmmmmm....how ironic!!!
