August 24, 2004
4-9 Iraqi WMD scientists killed before they could talk to us
Iraqi arms scientists killed before they talk
Anti-coalition forces have killed a prominent Iraqi chemical-weapons scientist whom U.S. investigators were questioning at Abu Ghraib prison, in an attempt to unravel the mysteries of Saddam Hussein's arsenal.
The scientist's death is not the first such killing, and it has some U.S. analysts wondering whether there is a pattern and also whether the Iraqi insurgents had incredibly good intelligence and a deadly aim — or were just lucky.
[...]
The death is at least the fourth hostile-fire killing of Iraqi scientists who had been talking to the ISG [Iraqi Survey Group]. There have been press reports that as many as nine have been slain.
One of the country's most prominent nuclear scientists, Majid Hussein Ali, was found dead earlier this year, shot twice in the back. He had been questioned by the ISG.
[Wasn't this "Chemical Ali?" I didn't realize he'd been offed with all the whirl of war news!--Jen]
David Kay, who led the weapons search until he resigned in December, said in October that two scientists, whom he did not name, cooperating with the ISG were killed.
"We think it was because, in fact, he was engaged in discussion with us," Mr. Kay said of one of the killings.
[...]
Rep. Steve Buyer, Indiana Republican, has called on the Bush administration to better publicize the killings as proof that Saddam loyalists are still hiding something.
"I want the world to be informed that these individuals are being assassinated, and it's not because they have a new cooking recipe," Mr. Buyer said.
The ISG has yet to find stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction that Saddam once possessed and had used on Iranian soldiers and his own citizens. But some Bush officials suspect that the weapons are hidden in Iraq or were moved across the border to Syria.
...or maybe even moved into Iran, I would add.
We know Saddam had them and we know we've found very few WMDs since we took control of Iraq, so the mystery remains, Where are they???
I'll sleep a little easier when they're found and acounted for not just because it will exonerate President Bush, but because I'll know they can't be used on our troops in country or on us here at home!
