Oh man…I wanna give you a big smooch!

source:

Since 17 March 2003, the IAEA has not been in a position to implement its mandate in Iraq under resolution 687 (1991) and related resolutions.During the period covered by this report, the IAEA has continued to consolidate, restructure and further analyze the information collected by it since 1991, with the objectives of: identifying lessons learned, securing data in paper and electronic archives for improved future access and maintenance of knowledge, and developing strategies for future Security Council mandated nuclear verification in Iraq, should the Security Council direct the Agency to do so.

The origin of the information obtained with respect to Iraq during the period covered by this report remained principally open sources (for example commercial satellite imagery of facilities and sites formerly monitored under the IAEA´s ongoing monitoring and verification (OMV) plan). Since March 2003, satellite imagery for 141 of the 175 locations identified by the IAEA as primary sites (sites that formerly contributed to Iraq´s clandestine programme or had technical capabilities of some value for the resumption of a nuclear programme) has been reviewed and assessed with a view to detecting and cataloguing changes that have occurred to the infrastructures of those sites. This assessment has revealed significant dismantling and removal activities at 37 of the most capable sites since March 2003. In the course of this assessment, the IAEA also focused on areas where destroyed equipment from the former nuclear programme had been stored or discarded. Satellite imagery has indicated that at least one site containing buried contaminated rubble has been extensively excavated.

Just a lil more food for thought..:)

We do know through imagery that the Russians were transporting something outta the Baghdad area to Syria during the pre-invasion timeframe…

Umm its really about money, i give you a prime example. In 1974 an Iraqi delegation went to France to purchase a nuclear reactor. It was a 40-megawatt research reactor that sources in the IAEA told should cost no more than $50 million. But the French deal ended up costing Baghdad more than $200 million. The French-controlled Habbania Resort project cost Baghdad a whopping $750 million, and with the same huge profit margin. With these kinds of deals coming their way, is it any surprise that the French are so desperate to save Saddam’s regime?

I agree with you that Russia didnt have a good reason to allow saddam such weapondry, other than money.

You said

“Sure, the Russians are down for making money and employing their lot of atomic scientists to spread atomic energy to other countries, but they don’t want nukes in the hands of folks like Saddam. How easily he turns on people is evident in his treatment of Kuwait.”

Russia expertise in concealment processes. Also known as “dual use” equipment and their advanced covert activities taught Iraq how to have a covert WMD program with the excuse of ” No this equipment is used for civilian purposes.” Then after inspectors leave. They restart R&D. Plus Russia has EU programs. Im sure this advice and covert training isnt cheap.

Iraq, in my view, had its own “Sarindar” (Sarindar, meaning “emergency exit”.) plan in effect direct from Moscow. It certainly had one in the past admittingly Gen. Yevgeny Primakov had deep ties with saddam. In the late 1970s, Gen. Primakov ran Saddam’s weapons programs. After that, he was promoted to head of the Soviet foreign intelligence service in 1990, to Russia’s minister of foreign affairs in 1996, and in 1998, to prime minister. What you may not know is that Primakov hates Israel and has always championed Arab radicalism. He was a personal friend of Saddam’s and has repeatedly visited Baghdad after 1991, quietly helping Saddam play his game of hide-and-seek.

… Got that people? Scooter Libby was not the first person to tell a reporter that Lyin’ Joe Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. It seems to me that sort of makes the Plamegate thing a whole new ballgame. It’s going to be interesting, to say the leas…

What interest does Russia or France have in Iraq developing WMD?

We know the French were short sellers on atomic energy in Iraq. They were at first rather helpful in developing atomic energy, but they turned sour awfully fast when the Israelis alerted them to Iraq’s centrifuge program.

Russia too has zero interest in assisting another country in their attempts to acquire WMD, specifically nuclear weapons. Sure, the Russians are down for making money and employing their lot of atomic scientists to spread atomic energy to other countries, but they don’t want nukes in the hands of folks like Saddam. How easily he turns on people is evident in his treatment of Kuwait.

Concerning the “where did the WMD go” question, Frontpage Mag has an interview with a DIA agent named Bill Tierney. Here is how Tierney answers the question.

FP: Ok, so where did the WMDs go?

Tierney: While working counter-infiltration in Baghdad, I noticed a pattern among infiltrators that their cover stories would start around Summer or Fall of 2002. From this and other observations, I believe Saddam planned for a U.S. invasion after President Bush’s speech at West Point in 2002. One of the steps taken was to prepare the younger generation of the security services with English so they could infiltrate our ranks, another was either to destroy or move WMDs to other countries, principally Syria.

Don’t know the credibility of this website, but it appears the owner was trying to finesse Rand Beers’ 30-year CIA career by saying he was a “30-year intelligence veteran” who held several positions throughout the government (…i.e., as a detailee). Why is this relevant? Because if Beers was in fact CIA, then he becomes a key candidate to be Seymour Hersh’s “former high-level CIA official” source. And it means Hersh was being clever in the way he covered the description of Rand. And it means Rand knows the identities of the Niger document forgers. Joe Wilson, by the way, has claimed to be a good friend of Rand per other online websites.

“Rand Beers

Rand Beers is a former Special Assistant to President Bush and Senior Director for combating terrorism. Beers is a 30 year-plus intelligence veteran who has held various positions in the State Department’s Bureau of Political Military Affairs. Additionally, he has served three times on the National Security Council staff and was Deputy Political Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. Beers resigned in March of 2003, five days before the start of the Iraq War, and is currently the National Security Advisor for John Kerry’s campaign. Beers received a BA from Dartmouth and an MA from the University of Michigan.”

http://www.truthuncovered.com/interviews.php

Are you referring to my post?

SBD

Well, it would seem that since the Libby indictment didn’t really resonate with the public that the Plamegate matter would slide into the fringe of media coverage as the opening stages of the trial are still well into the future. However, the revelat…

Richard Nixon is surely roaring with laughter in his coffin. Bob Woodward, the journalist that with colleague Carl Bernstein discovered the Watergate scandal in the ‘70s, is involved in the so-called Plamegate, the investigation carried on by Patrick…

“…I testified under oath…about small portions of interviews I conducted with three current or former Bush administration officials…”

Was Rand Beers the “former” official who leaked to Woodward the name Valerie Plame ? He’d have been in a key position to have personally worked with her on WMD…as well as the famous Oct 2002 NIE…as well as the President’s SOTU speech. Over the past few months I haven’t seen much blogging about Rand and what his role may have been in the Democratic Party’s flaming over Novak’s Plame article.

Which is curious! Beers quit the administration five days before the Iraq Invasion and a few weeks later joined the Kerry Campaign.

He would have been in a great position to help Kerry torpedo Bush.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_Beers

I can’t find the link right now, but the other night I was reading up on Rand and he seemed to have spent much of his career “in the intelligence field”, but couldn’t tell if that meant “employed” by CIA but detailed to NSC or simply the field of intelligence as it relates to national security from his positions on the NSC. Later today I’ll try to find that link…

If Beers HAD been an employee of the CIA, then he could very well have been Seymour Hersh’s unidentified “former high-level CIA official” who was a source for Hersh’s March 24 and October 20, 2003 New Yorker articles. HE could have been the source who claimed to have knowledge that it was a bunch of disgruntled, retired CIA officers who forged the Niger documents in order to setup and ultimately defuse the Bush Administration’s march to war.

Maybe that was one of the factors behind why he quit… If indeed Beers was Hersh’s source, then the next question would be HOW he found out about the forgery caper…

The Washington Post has a blockbuster story for PlameGate junkies – Bob Woodward was told of Valarie Plame by an unamed official who was not Karl Rove, and not Lewis Libby, but who was, in fact, the first official to discuss Plame with a reporter:
Was…