Letter to the Editor

Your view: Weapons exist

Thursday, March 23, 2006

The last month has shed serious light on the controversy as to whether or not Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction when the coalition invaded Iraq in 2003. Saddam's voice on audiotape (confirmed by modern technology) along with the testimony of top Iraqi generals reveals that Hussein did indeed have WMD along with an ongoing program to expand their capability. President Bush did not "lie", and the world's intelligence information of the time turns out to have been correct after all.

General Georges Sada's information is the most serious regarding the potential consequences of another terrorist attack on America. General Sada was one of Saddam's top military advisors and was the top pilot in the Iraqi Air Force. He is one of the few men who has ever disagreed with Saddam and lived to tell about it. Interestingly, Georges Sada is an Assyrian Christian rather than an Arab Muslim. He rose to prominence due to his exceptional talent as a pilot.

In 2004, several of Sada's pilot friends who had previously served with him approached him. They were now working as civilian pilots in countries other than Iraq, thus they now felt they could speak freely without fear of reprisal.

These men personally flew two converted airliners full of weapons of mass destruction from Baghdad, Iraq to Damascus, Syria before the U.S. invasion. They made 56 flights, and there were ground convoys into Syria as well.

Sada knows these men personally. Their information is not second hand, and he believes these men are telling the truth. Sada's revelation has now been confirmed by a second Iraqi general, Ali Ibrahim. I encourage every reader to obtain Sada's book, "Saddam's Secrets."

Columnist Pat Boone now writes the following:

"Facts known are growing more numerous, and from reputable sources, but they now include:

1.) That the United States has uncovered a lot of Saddam Hussein palace audiotapes--now authenticated by FBI methodology--with discussions by familiar voices like Tariq Aziz and others including Saddam himself about what to do with their WMD stockpiles and resources.

2.) That Russian Spetsnaz (special forces) units helped Saddam's military in secreting away--mostly into Syria--WMD that had first been purchased from Russia. Former Undersecretary of Defense John Shaw recent declared after lots of inquiry that their goal had been to erase any signs of involvement in Saddam's WMD programs...

3.) That two different former high-ranking Iraqi military officers--General Georges Sada...and Ali Ibrahim...both assert that Saddam possessed stockpiles of WMD and transported them out of Iraq by converted...passenger jet and by land to be hidden inside Syria.

"...It is the mainstream news media's duty to point unblinkingly to the fact of Saddam's WMD being smuggled into Syria...Tell your friends and neighbors, 'There were WMD in Iraq!'"

I agree with Pat Boone. It IS the duty of the mainstream news media to mention information like that given by Georges Sada. I have yet to see anything about Sada and Ibrahim's testimony concerning WMD in Syria on CBS, NBC, or CNN. ABC mentioned a little bit about the tapes, but nothing about Sada and Ibrahim.

Here is the situation. If Sada is correct, then we are in the exact same position we were in before we invaded Iraq. The WMD are being harbored in a terrorist sponsoring State (Syria) with the possibility they could be used in an attack on America. This is why President Bush went to war with Iraq in the first place, to attempt to prevent this scenario from occurring.

It is no secret that the mainstream news media is politically biased against Bush. It has become blantant in recent years (remember "Rathergate"). It is time to quit playing politics. Which is worse, having to admit you were wrong about President Bush and Iraq's WMD, or being silent and allowing a terrorist attack to occur with those WMD, killing perhaps hundreds of thousands of Americans? The major news media will have blood on their hands if the latter scenario occurs. To not speak out against evil is to be complicit with it. This is not the time or place to play Sergeant Schultz and loudly proclaim "I KNOW NOTHING!!!" just so you won't appear to support President Bush. American lives are possibly at stake. We must hold Syria accountable. Insurgents pour through the Syrian border daily to try to kill our troops in Iraq. General Georges Sada is credible. Syria must be dealt with militarily, and the country scoured for WMD. We can't take any chances, the stakes are far too high.

Scott Coatney