Tony
Blair Opened the Door and Now I'm Kicking it Down
By Allan P. Duncan OpEdNews.com
July 19, 2003
During the press conference at the White House this past Thursday, Great
Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair made a statement that opened the door
on a subject that he shouldn't have touched.
"And one interesting fact, I think, people don't generally know, in
case people should think that the whole idea of a link between Iraq and
Niger was some invention: In the 1980s we know for sure that Iraq
purchased around about 270 tons of uranium from Niger. So I think we
should just factor that into our thinking there."
Since Blair chose to open the door I'm now going to kick it down.
What Blair didn't tell you is the little known story of a Saudi Arabian
diplomat named Muhammad al-Khilewi who defected from his country and
sought political asylum in the United States in 1994.
Mohammad al-Khilewi was second-in-command of the Saudi mission to the
United Nations when he defected and he brought along 13,000 secret
documents with him.
The documents allege that during the 80's Saudi Arabia paid Iraq 5 billion
dollars to build a nuclear weapons program with the promise that Iraq
would give Saudi Arabia some of the weapons once they were built.
The Saudi/Iraq nuclear pact was also supposedly known by the CIA, which
apparently didn't put a stop to the funding until the first Gulf War broke
out in 1991.
So if Tony Blair is right about Iraq buying about 270 tons of uranium from
Niger, was it the Saudis who actually funded the purchase?
al-Khilewi's documents also exposed the allegation that Saudi Arabia had
funded Pakistan's nuclear weapons program with an agreement that if
Saudi Arabia was attacked, Pakistan would strike back with the
weapons that the Saudi's had funded.
For those of you who were not aware, the US chose the side of Iraq during
its war with Iran in the 80's and the Reagan/Bush administrations armed it
to the teeth.
Every time I hear someone from the current Bush administration cite the
fact that Saddam had chemical and biological weapons and used them on his
own people, I harken back to the little known "Iraqgate"
Scandal.
During Iraqgate, the US supplied Iraq with chemical and biological agents
that Saddam would end up using to build his Weapons of Mass Destruction
Program. The US was fully aware that Iraq gassed the Kurds by the
thousands in the late 80's but turned a blind eye and rewarded Saddam with
billions of dollars in US funds even after the horrific genocide of his
own people became public.
So my point is, that Bush and Blair can't have it both ways. They need to
think before they make statements that don't tell the whole story. If
they're going to continue to bash Iraq, they need to at least be honest
about the role of the United States and one of our closest allies Saudi
Arabia, in creating the monster that Iraq developed into during the
Reagan/Bush years.
I've always felt that it was important to check things out myself before I
venture an opinion on something and these are some of the resources I
checked out to educate myself and formulate my own opinions on the above
subjects.
To read more about Mohammad al-Khilewi's defection and how the Saudis
funded Iraq's nuclear weapons program please check out
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/saudi/
Saudi Arabia Special Weapons
http://www.jonathanpollard.org/1998/090098.htm
Mohammed Al Khilewi: "Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Kill Me"
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/content/?011015fr_archive01
Royal Mess
To Read more about how the United States armed Iraq during the Reagan/Bush
Administrations check out
http://www.webcom.com/~lpease/collections/hidden/teicher.htm
The Teicher Affidavit
To read more about how the United States supplied Iraq with chemical and
biological agents check out
The Riegle Report
http://traprockpeace.org/reiglereportintroduction.html
U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Staff Report on U.S. Chemical and Biological Warfare-Related Dual-Use
Exports to Iraq
http://traprockpeace.org/reiglereportChapter1.html
Chapter 1. Iraqi Chemical and Biological Warfare Capability
Note: This is just a partial excerpt but a must read from this section
of the report. Also check out the last entry-West Nile Virus. I was under
the impression that this disease is relatively new to the US. I guess not
since the US shipped it to Iraq in 1985! APD :
U.S. Exports of Biological Materials to Iraq
The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs has oversight
responsibility for the Export Administration Act. Pursuant to the Act,
Committee staff contacted the U.S. Department of Commerce and requested
information on the export of biological materials during the years prior
to the Gulf War. After receiving this information, we contacted a
principal supplier of these materials to determine what, if any, materials
were exported to Iraq which might have contributed to an offensive or
defensive biological warfare program. Records available from the supplier
for the period from 1985 until the present show that during this time,
pathogenic (meaning "disease producing"), toxigenic (meaning
"poisonous"), and other biological research materials were
exported to Iraq pursuant to application and licensing by the U.S.
Department of Commerce. Records prior to 1985 were not available,
according to the supplier. These exported biological materials were not
attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction. According to the
Department of Defense's own Report to Congress on the Conduct of the
Persian Gulf War, released in April 1992:
"By the time of the invasion of Kuwait, Iraq had developed biological
weapons. It's advanced and aggressive biological warfare program was the
most advanced in the Arab world... The program probably began late in the
1970's and concentrated on the development of two agents, botulinum toxin
and anthrax bacteria... Large scale production of these agents began in
1989 at four facilities near Baghdad. Delivery means for biological agents
ranged from simple aerial bombs and artillery rockets to
surface-to-surface missiles."
Included in the approved sales are the following biological materials
(which have been considered by various nations for use in war), with their
associated disease symptoms:
Bacillus Anthracis: anthrax is a disease-producing bacteria identified by
the Department of Defense in The Conduct of the Persian Gulf War: Final
Report to Congress, as being a major component in the Iraqi biological
warfare program.
Anthrax is an often-fatal infectious disease due to ingestion of spores.
It begins abruptly with high fever, difficulty in breathing, and chest
pain. The disease eventually results in septicemia (blood poisoning), and
the mortality is high. Once septicemia is advanced, antibiotic therapy may
prove useless, probably because the exotoxins remain, despite the death of
the bacteria.
Clostridium Botulinum: a bacterial source of botulinum toxin, which causes
vomiting, constipation, thirst, general weakness, headache, fever,
dizziness, double vision, dilation of the pupils and paralysis of the
muscles involving swallowing. It is often fatal.
Histoplasma Capsulatum: causes a disease superficially resembling
tuberculosis that may cause pneumonia, enlargement of the liver and
spleen, anemia, an influenza-like illness and an acute inflammatory skin
disease marked by tender red nodules, usually on the shins. Reactivated
infection usually involves the lungs, the brain, spinal membranes, heart,
peritoneum, and the adrenals.
Brucella Melitensis: a bacteria which can cause chronic fatigue, loss of
appetite, profuse sweating when at rest, pain in joints and muscles,
insomnia, nausea, and damage to major organs.
Clostridium Perfringens: a highly toxic bacteria which causes gas
gangrene. The bacteria produce toxins that move along muscle bundles in
the body killing cells and producing necrotic tissue that is then
favorable for further growth of the bacteria itself. Eventually, these
toxins and bacteria enter the bloodstream and cause a systemic illness.
In addition, several shipments of Escherichia Coli (E.Coli) and genetic
materials, as well as human and bacterial DNA, were shipped directly to
the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission.
The following is a detailed listing of biological materials, provided by
the American Type Culture Collection, which were exported to agencies of
the government of Iraq pursuant to the issuance of an export licensed by
the U.S. Commerce Department:
Class III pathogen
Date : May 2, 1986
Sent to : Ministry of Higher Education
Materials Shipped:
1. Bacillus Anthracis Cohn (ATCC 10) Batch # 08-20-82 (2 each)
Class III pathogen.
3. Clostridium botulinum Type A (ATCC 3502) Batch# 07-07-81 (3 each)
Avirulent, suitable for preparations of diagnostic antigens.
7. Clostridium tetani (ATCC 9441) Batch# 03-84 (3 each) Highly toxigenic.
8. Clostridium botulinum Type E (ATCC 9564) Batch# 03-02-79 (2 each)
Agglutinating type 2.
12. Bacillus Anthracis (ATCC 14185) Batch# 01-14-80 (3 each) G.G. Wright
(Fort Detrick) V770-NP1-R. Bovine anthrax,
Class III pathogen
13. Bacillus Anthracis (ATCC 14578) Batch# 01-06-78 (2 each)
Class III pathogen
23. Clostridium botulinum Type A (ATCC 25763) Batch# 8-83 (2 each)
Class III pathogen
24. Clostridium botulinum Type F (ATCC 35415) Batch# 02-02-84 (2 each)
Date : September 29, 1988
Sent to : Ministry of Trade"
Materials Shipped:
1. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 240) Batch#05-14-63 (3 each)
Class III pathogen
2. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 938) Batch#1963 (3 each)
Class III pathogen
5. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 8705) Batch# 06-27-62 (3 each)
Class III pathogen
8. Bacillus anthracis (ATCC 11966) Batch# 05-05-70 (3 each)
Class III pathogen
9. Clostridium botulinum Type A Batch# 07-86 (3 each)
Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control has compiled a listing of
biological materials shipped to Iraq prior to the Gulf War. The listing
covers the period from October 1, 1984 (when the CDC began keeping
records) through October 13, 1993. The following materials with biological
warfare significance were shipped to Iraq during this period:
Date : April 21, 1986
Sent to : Officers City Al-Muthanna, Quartret 710, Street 13, Close 69
House 28/I,
Baghdad, Iraq
Materials Shipped:
1. 1 vial botulinum toxoid (non-infectious)
Date : March 10, 1986
Sent to : Officers City Al-Muthanna, Quartret 710, Street 13, Close 69
House 28/I,
Baghdad, Iraq
Materials Shipped:
1. 1 vial botulinum toxoid #A2 (non-infectious)
Date : May 21. 1985
Sent to : Basrah, Iraq
Materials Shipped:
2. West Nile Fever Virus
Allan Duncan is
a Social Worker who lives in New Hope, PA. This
article is copyright by Allan Duncan ADuncan282@aol.com
originally published by opednews.com
Permission is granted to forward this or to place it on a website as long
as the article is included intact, including this statement.
|
