http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/12886.htm
SADDAM COLONEL MAKES CHILLING CONFESSION
By ANDY GELLER
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December 8, 2003 -- An Iraqi colonel has confirmed that Saddam Hussein had secret weapons of mass destruction - and revealed that front-line commanders were given warheads that could be launched against coalition forces within 45 minutes.
Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh told London's Telegraph he was the source of the British government's claim - later repeated by President Bush - that Saddam could launch a biological or chemical attack in 45 minutes after the order was given.
"I am the one responsible for providing that information," the colonel said.
Al-Dabbagh, 40, who headed an Iraqi air defense unit in the western desert, said he provided British intelligence with the tip that Saddam possessed WMD warheads that were designed to be launched by hand-held rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Cases of the warheads - known by Iraqi officers as "the secret weapon" - were delivered to front-line units, including his own, toward the end of last year, he said.
The 45-minute claim was included in a dossier of Saddam's crimes that was used to justify British involvement in the war in Iraq.
President Bush repeated the claim in discussions with congressional leaders on Sept. 26, 2002, and in a radio address two days later.
The claim created a firestorm of controversy when Dr. David Kelly, a bioweapons expert with the British defense ministry, committed suicide after it was revealed he told the BBC that the government included the claim to "sex up" the dossier. The whole affair sparked a number of probes into Tony Blair's government.
Al-Dabbagh, now an adviser to Iraq's Governing Council, said the warheads were to be used by Saddam's Fedayeen paramilitaries and units of the Special Republican Guard when the war reached "a critical stage."
The cases of warheads, which came from a several factories on the outskirts of Baghdad, were delivered by the Fedayeen under the cover of darkness, he said.
Local commanders were told they could only use them on Saddam's personal orders.
"We were told that when the war came we would only have a short time to use everything we had to defend ourselves, including the secret weapon," he said.
Al-Dabbagh said the only reason the weapons were not used was because the bulk of the Iraqi army did not want to fight for Saddam.
"The West should thank God that the Iraqi army decided not to fight," he said.
The colonel said he believes the WMD were hidden in secret locations by the Fedayeen and are still in Iraq.
"Only when Saddam is caught will people talk about these weapons," he said.
In Iraq, meanwhile, a soldier from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division was killed yesterday and two others in his unit were wounded when rebels detonated a bomb as a their convoy drove through the center of Mosul.
SADDAM COLONEL MAKES CHILLING CONFESSION
By ANDY GELLER
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
December 8, 2003 -- An Iraqi colonel has confirmed that Saddam Hussein had secret weapons of mass destruction - and revealed that front-line commanders were given warheads that could be launched against coalition forces within 45 minutes.
Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh told London's Telegraph he was the source of the British government's claim - later repeated by President Bush - that Saddam could launch a biological or chemical attack in 45 minutes after the order was given.
"I am the one responsible for providing that information," the colonel said.
Al-Dabbagh, 40, who headed an Iraqi air defense unit in the western desert, said he provided British intelligence with the tip that Saddam possessed WMD warheads that were designed to be launched by hand-held rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Cases of the warheads - known by Iraqi officers as "the secret weapon" - were delivered to front-line units, including his own, toward the end of last year, he said.
The 45-minute claim was included in a dossier of Saddam's crimes that was used to justify British involvement in the war in Iraq.
President Bush repeated the claim in discussions with congressional leaders on Sept. 26, 2002, and in a radio address two days later.
The claim created a firestorm of controversy when Dr. David Kelly, a bioweapons expert with the British defense ministry, committed suicide after it was revealed he told the BBC that the government included the claim to "sex up" the dossier. The whole affair sparked a number of probes into Tony Blair's government.
Al-Dabbagh, now an adviser to Iraq's Governing Council, said the warheads were to be used by Saddam's Fedayeen paramilitaries and units of the Special Republican Guard when the war reached "a critical stage."
The cases of warheads, which came from a several factories on the outskirts of Baghdad, were delivered by the Fedayeen under the cover of darkness, he said.
Local commanders were told they could only use them on Saddam's personal orders.
"We were told that when the war came we would only have a short time to use everything we had to defend ourselves, including the secret weapon," he said.
Al-Dabbagh said the only reason the weapons were not used was because the bulk of the Iraqi army did not want to fight for Saddam.
"The West should thank God that the Iraqi army decided not to fight," he said.
The colonel said he believes the WMD were hidden in secret locations by the Fedayeen and are still in Iraq.
"Only when Saddam is caught will people talk about these weapons," he said.
In Iraq, meanwhile, a soldier from the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division was killed yesterday and two others in his unit were wounded when rebels detonated a bomb as a their convoy drove through the center of Mosul.
