15Dec03-AP-Iraqi Missile Scientist Says He's Been Working With British Military and Had Not Fled to Iran
By Dafna Linzer Associated Press Writer
Published: Dec 15, 2003
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - An Iraqi scientist who headed Saddam Hussein's missile program has been meeting with the British military in Iraq and he said he didn't flee to Iran as believed by U.S. weapons hunters.
Modher Sadeq-Saba al-Tamimi said in an interview with The Associated Press that he tried several times to reach the American teams searching for weapons of mass destruction. Once, in July, he asked a friend who had already met with American missile experts to set up a meeting for him but the Americans never showed up. Later, he said, his British handlers assured him that they had discussed his case with the CIA, and he didn't need to worry about reaching them.
But it appears the messages didn't get to weapons hunters, who told The Associated Press last month that they believed Modher had gone to Iran and said they never interviewed him.
On Nov. 16, AP reported the U.S. weapons inspectors' comments that they were concerned Modher was providing expertise to the missile program in Iran, a country identified by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The military officers assigned to the search, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they believed he crossed the Iraq-Iran border on foot after U.S. forces took Baghdad in the spring. The information was based on human intelligence. Colleagues of Modher said in recent interviews that they hadn't seen him since the war. They said they too believed he was in Iran.
Dr. Modher, as he is called by his colleagues, told AP in an interview at one his several residences in Iraq that he has not left Iraq for years. Modher, who has three wives and 14 children, said he stayed in one of his homes, located on the Iranian border, between March and May. His account couldn't be independently confirmed
After the AP story ran in November, Modher said he asked his British handlers to spread the word he was still inside Iraq.
"I gave all my information to the British liaison office," he told AP last week. "We had more than 25 meetings."
Within a week of the AP story, Modher was interviewed by a four-person team from the U.S. weapons search, he said. He identified the only member of the team that he knew as an American named John Larrabee who worked previously as a chief missile inspector for the United Nations during the 1990s.
Larrabee did not return an e-mail message seeking comment. A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed Larrabee is working for the weapons hunt but declined to say whether he interviewed Modher.
Members of the weapons teams wouldn't comment on any meeting, saying such confirmations put the teams and Iraqis they meet in danger. In an October report to Congress, the head of the weapons search said two Iraqis were shot, and one was killed, for cooperating with the search.
Kenneth Gerhart, a Pentagon spokesman who is working with the weapons hunt, wouldn't talk about Modher's case saying: "We do not discuss intelligence or operational matters."
Britain's Ministry of Defense declined comment as well. And messages left for one of Modher's British handlers weren't returned.
According to Modher, he and Larrabee had a five-hour meeting at Baghdad's convention center, the primary meeting point for Iraqis and members of the U.S.-led occupation authority.
Modher said he remains in contact with the British officials who gave him a military identification pass in July which says he is "cooperating" with the coalition. He showed the pass, along with letters from other military officials working with Iraq's new defense ministry, to AP.
Modher is considered to be Iraq's top missile expert. He was the father of the Iraqi Al-Samoud program and worked on Scud missiles like the ones that hit Israel and Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War.
U.N. inspectors destroyed the Al-Samouds on the eve of the U.S.-led war in March because several of them tested beyond the 93-mile range limit set by the U.N. Security Council after the 1991 Gulf War.
Modher argued then, and now, that the missiles were designed in keeping with the council restrictions.
AP-ES-12-15-03 1417EST
Copyright 2003 Associated Press
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