Published on Tuesday,
April 13, 2004 by the Mehr News Agency (Tehran, Iran)
New Reports on U.S. Planting
WMDs in Iraq
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0413-02.htm
BASRA -– Fifty days after
the first reports that the U.S. forces were unloading weapons
of mass destruction (WMD) in southern Iraq, new reports about
the movement of these weapons have been disclosed.
Given the recent scandals
to the effect that the U.S. president was privy to the 9/11 plot,
they might try to immediately announce the discovery of weapons
of mass destruction in Iraq in order to overshadow the scandals
and prevent a further decline of Bush's public opinion rating
as the election approaches.
Sources in Iraq speculate
that occupation forces are using the recent unrest in Iraq to
divert attention from their surreptitious shipments of WMD into
the country.
An Iraqi source close to the
Basra Governor's Office told the MNA that new information shows
that a large part of the WMD, which was secretly brought to southern
and western Iraq over the past month, are in containers falsely
labeled as containers of the Maeresk shipping company and some
consignments bearing the labels of organizations such as the
Red Cross or the USAID in order to disguise them as relief shipments.
The source, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, added that Iraqi officials including forces loyal
to the Iraqi Governing Council stationed in southern Iraq have
been forbidden from inspecting or supervising the transportation
of these consignments. He went on to say that the occupation
forces have ordered Iraqi officials to forward any questions
on the issue to the coalition forces. Even the officials of the
international relief organizations have informed the Iraqi officials
that they would only accept responsibility for relief shipments
which have been registered and managed by their organizations.
The Iraqi source also confirmed
the report about suspicious trucks with fake Saudi and Jordanian
license plates entering Iraq at night last week, stressing that
the Saudi and Jordanian border guards did not attempt to inspect
the trucks but simply delivered them to the U.S. and British
forces stationed on Iraq's borders.
However, the source expressed
ignorance whether the governments of Saudi Arabia and Jordan
were aware of such movements.
A professor of physics at
Baghdad University also told the MNA correspondent that a group
of his colleagues who are highly specialized in military, chemical
and biological fields have been either bribed or threatened during
the last weeks to provide written information on what they know
about various programs and research centers and the possible
storage of WMD equipment.
The professor also said these
people have been openly asked to confirm or deny the existence
of research or related WMD equipment. A large number of these
scientists, who are believed to be under the surveillance of
U.S. intelligence operatives, have claimed that if they refuse
to comply with this request, they may be killed or arrested on
charges of concealing the truth if these weapons are found by
the Bush administration in the future.
He said that the Iraqi scientists
believe their lives would be in danger if they decline to cooperate
with the occupation forces, especially when they recall that
senior U.S. officer Michael Peterson once said, "Iraqi scientists
are at any case a threat to the U.S. administration, whether
they talk or not."
A source close to the Iraqi
Governing Council said, "In the meantime, many suspect containers
disguised as fuel supplies have been moved about by some units
of the U.S. special forces. The move has been carried out under
heavy security measures. Also, there are unofficial reports that
the containers held biological and bacteriological toxins in
liquid form. It is possible that the news about the discovery
of the WMDs would be announced later."
He also said that such mixtures
had been used by the Saddam regime in the 1990s.
The source added that some
provocative actions such as the closure of Al-Hawza periodical
by U.S. administrator Paul Bremer, the secret meetings between
his envoys with some extremist groups who have no relations with
the Iraqi Governing Council, the sudden upsurge in violence in
central and southern Iraq, a number of activities which have
stoked up the wrath of the prominent Shia clerics, and finally,
the spate of kidnappings and the baseless charges against the
Iranian charge d'affaires in Baghdad are providing the necessary
smokescreen for the transportation of the WMD to their intended
locations.
He said they are quite aware
that the White House in cooperation with the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) has directly tasked the Defense Department to hide
these weapons. Given the recent scandals to the effect that the
U.S. president was privy to the 9/11 plot, they might try to
immediately announce the discovery of weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq in order to overshadow the scandals and prevent a further
decline of Bush's public opinion rating as the election approaches.
"