Saddam's Sacked Bodyguard: I know where the weapons are...
DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive Interview
As a member of the elite trusted group of five to six men sworn to defend the Iraqi ruler with their lives, he claims to know where Iraq's weapons of mass destruction are hidden - and points to three sites.
...
DEBKA-Net-Weekly's intelligence experts who went over the transcript of the interview portrayed Jassem as a typical Middle East VIP bodyguard, essentially a simple man who, for the most part, told the truth. Content that our experts found to be inaccurate has been expunged. In brief, he claimed that Saddam had concealed his prohibited weapons in a tunnel complex under the main streets of Baghdad, the sand dunes in Ouja, near Tikrit - where they are stored in mobile bunkers that can be buried deeper by the flick of a remote control - and in the Hawala district of Tikrit.
...
There was a rule that anyone who gave false information would be punished. People I knew were indeed punished. They were Mukhabarat. My whole family was in the security services. One relative was in military intelligence, but they took me to be interrogated and beat me severely nonetheless - although my whole family served in the security services. And I was put in jail. I was beaten with a metal club. They accused me of passing information and told me that because I signed a document, I had to be executed. They showed me the paper I signed. I told them I had not passed any information. Someone betrayed me. They were very violent.
...
Where are the weapons of mass destruction?
In the desert. It is a vast expanse, and they have cameras...the minute someone approaches, such as UN personnel, they move to another place. Tikrit is closest to the site. Weapons are also located in Baghdad.
There's a place called Ouja, near Tikrit. It's a peninsula of sand dunes. I saw with my own eyes bunkers that move from place to place inside the dunes, underground. It is simply unbelievable. It is done by remote control.
...
There's another site in Baghdad; someone very close to Saddam told me. He was drunk at the time. I brought my father along - we were invited to a function - and he told me that there is nothing inside the palaces; they do not contain weapons of mass destruction. There is a more important place, he said - Baghdad, not the palaces. Saddam built an entire area under the city's main streets, and that's where the weapons are. If they show me satellite photos, I can tell them what their first and second priorities should be. I know there's a third site, at Hawala, in Tikrit. I can steer them toward possible hiding places. They move from place to place. They should look in the Hawala area in Tikrit. If they show me pictures, I'll show them where to go.
» DEBKAfile - Saddam's Sacked Bodyguard: I know where the weapons are
Excerpt made on Friday January 31, 2003 at 01:32 PMThis discussion has been closed. No more comments may be added.