Ted Re...I don't think they are. I think you are making it up as you go along.
In any case, I trust the Germans and don't think your evidence to the contrary stands up to logic.
Really. You actually think that German companies could have sold Iraq, 50% of its nuclear machinery, and 50% of Iraqs equipment to make chemical WMD, and you somehow believe the German gov. had no idea. Wrong. Here is a portion of the Copngressional record, going bach as far as 1989, warning the German gov. of massive sales by its corporations.
fas.org
At least we will know where to put the blame. If the day comes when the terrorist nations use the weapons of hell against us or other enemies, at least we will know that.
At first, we will try to evade the truth. We will say it is the fault of our friends and allies who sold those mad-men the material for the chemical weapons, the missiles and the nuclear technology.
But eventually we will have to face reality: the blame belongs to us, the Government and people of the United States. We knew, and could have stopped it, but did not.
About 40 West German companies are suspected by Washington of shipping chemicals and technology for chemical warfare to a Libyan plant and other Middle Eastern countries. German companies helped Libya, Syria, Iraq and possibly Iran build missile capability.
China is sending missiles to Libya. A Swiss company negotiated with Iran to build a poison gas plant.
We know Pakistan, and probably India too, has received clandestine help from abroad in preparing its nuclear weapons capability. Pakiston is an American ally and India a democracy important to us.
But perhaps someday far less friendly regimes will rule in Islamabad or New Delhi. Then we would live in fear that nuclear weapons capability could be transferred to bitterly hostile nations.
The principal target for the chemical weapons--the Libyan plant alone will produce 40 tons a day for warfare--of course would be Israel.
But the terrorist nations showed, during the Iran-Iraq war, that they will use chemical weapons against each other and their own people.
So it is easily conceivable that countries that deliberately blow up civilian airliners might one day raise the terror level by planting and exploding a chemical weapon somewhere in the West. The Ayatollah would regard it an act of special piety.
Americans look on drowsily. Is the danger on another planet? American specialists on terrorism and weaponry are astonished at the public passivity.
American Governments have not provided leadership. The Reagan Administration sent more than 250 polite complaints to the West Germans about nuclear aid to Pakistan and chemicals to Middle Eastern countries.
But the protests were usually secret. Our German allies either buried or routinely denied them.
Now, that Swiss company finally agrees that helping Iran build a poison gas plant would not be a delicate thing to do.
The West Germans got around to arresting the former director of the company that built the Libyan plant--the same company that, in January, Bonn indignantly denied was doing anything of the sort.
Well, that's nice. But all those other complaints Washington made to Germany, what happened to them and how were investigations carried out?
But it is not useful to blame the Germans or Swiss or Chinese. Obviously they do not consider selling chemical weapons or missiles to terrorist nations that bad; matter of values.
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Not enough for you. Here is another recent article from Der Spiegel, on what German Intelligence knew.
web.ask.com
IRAQI BALLISTIC MISSILE AND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (WMD) THREATS REEMERGE
50 AL HUSSEIN MEDIUM RANGE BALLISTIC MISSILES (MRBM) ABLE TO CARRY CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS (CBW) WARHEADS NOW
IRAQI MISSILES ABLE TO HIT EUROPE BY 2005
Recent reports in the Israeli and German press show that the threat from Iraqi ballistic missiles, some possibly armed with WMD, is reemerging. These are the first reliable reports for well over a year to be this specific about these threats.
But they are consistent with most public analyses of the Al Hussein MRBM force and WMD programs Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was able to retain after the 1991 Gulf War, despite the inspections by the United Nation's Special Commission (UNSCOM). (UNSCOM was established after the US-led coalition defeated Iraq in the 1991 Desert Storm campaign.) These reports are also consistent with most analyses of Iraq's ballistic missile and WMD programs since Iraq succeeded in evicting UNSCOM inspectors in December 1998 and subsequently keeping them out.
For our coverage of these issues see, most recently, "Iraq's Remaining WMD capabilities: An Overview" (February 23, 1998) and earlier stories. An informed and balanced insider's account of UNSCOM's work is provided by UNSCOM's former Chief Weapons Inspector, Scott Ritter, in Endgame- Solving the Iraqi Problem Once and For All, (Simon and Schuster, New York: 1999). He describes UNSCOM's considerable achievements, despite massive Iraqi obstruction, in locating and destroying Iraqi stocks of ballistic missiles and WMD, plus the plants to produce them. But he also describes Iraq's ability to retain a significant proportion of these weapons and manufacturing capabilities and to increase these once UNSCOM inspections ceased - a breakout capability.
Iraq's 50 Al Husseins
From Israel, the MENL News Agency carried a detailed report of a Feb. 23 presentation by Uzi Rubin, a member of the National Security Council and former head of Israel's Homa anti-missile defense program to the Israel Annual Conference on Aerospace Sciences. Rubin is an internationally respected authority on Missile Threats and Responses (MTR) so his statements are extremely credible.
He said that Iraq has concealed 50 Al Hussein missiles, an Iraqi-modified version of the Soviet Scud B Short-Range Ballistic Missile (SRBM). The Al Hussein is an MRBM with a range of over 400 kilometers and Iraq fired some 92 Al Husseins at Israel and Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. Rubin said that "There is a shortfall of about 50 missiles which are probably stashed somewhere - Scud derivatives… Assuming Saddam or a Saddam-like regime makes a comeback, they will go back into the missile business in a big way." By "shortfall", Rubin meant the difference between the number of Al Husseins Iraq was estimated to possess at the end of the Gulf War and the number whose destruction UNSCOM had verified.
Rubin added that, "If the Iraqis are not deprived [of their ballistic missiles] and there isn't an effective [UNSCOM] inspection regime, Iraq can turn into the most serious threat to Israel…. Syria has the largest arsenal of ballistic missiles but Syria, how can I say it, is now engaged in the peace process." Iraq's defense industry is developing ground-to-ground missiles with a range of 150 kilometers; the limit set by the UN. But, "They are keeping their engineering staff busy with development of missiles that is [are] purportedly short-range, The minute the [UN] inspections are lifted these short-range missiles will turn into long-range missiles." Iraq would then become the greatest threat to Israel.
On Syria, Rubin noted that it has the largest missile arsenal in the Middle East, with about 500 deployable SRBMs that can attack Israel. and "The Syrians are investing heavily in missile technology," But he minimized the Syrian threat in light of U.S.-mediated efforts to reach an Israeli-Syrian peace settlement.
On Iran, Rubin made the unusual admission that Israel has been surprised by Teheran's progress in missile development. "Iran is perhaps the most bitter disappointment, they moved much faster than we thought." He added that while Iran's defense minister said the Shahab-3 is targeted at Israel, Iran's missile program is probably intended to counter Iraq and Iran is working on the Shahab 4 with a range of 2,000 kilometers.
Rubin's well informed comments on Iran's missile programs track with our own assessments (see our "Shahab 3 Deployed in Iran; Other Developments" (May 21, 1999). His admission that Iran's missile program had "moved much faster than we [Israel] thought" was unusual, because the Israeli defense and intelligence establishments are among the most efficient in the world and are seldom surprised. Rubin's statement also underlines one of the key findings of the 1998 Report of the US Rumsfeld Commission. This was that the ballistic missile programs of countries hostile, or potentially hostile to the US could emerge much more quickly than the US intelligence agencies had previously predicted. Since the US was much farther away from these countries than its allies, this finding meant that these allies, including Israel, would face such threats even faster than expected. (See our "Developments Highlight US Commission's Warning on Emerging Missile Threats" (July 24, 1998) and "Key Findings of the Rumsfeld Commission" (July 24, 1998).
In a related development, on Feb. 23 the Israeli Air Force Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Eitan Ben-Eliahu told a press conference at the Asian Aerospace 2000 trade show that Israel was concerned about the growing number of ballistic missile posing a threat to the Middle East in general and Israel in particular, "There is another threat in the Middle East, the threat is ballistic missiles. Our strategy, as well as our politics and tactics have to be changed to be adaptive [to these threats]. The number is growing and the ranges of these missiles is getting longer."
Iraqi Missiles and Nukes Able to Hit Europe by 20005
From Germany, the Deutsche Presse-Argentur and the respected Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that on Feb. 23 the Head of the Office of the Federal Chancellor, Frank-Walter Steinmer, who also supervises the foreign intelligence service, the BND, presented a report to the Cabinet on the proliferation of WMD and ballistic missiles. The report stated that "The massive efforts of Third World nations to acquire atomic, biological and chemical (ABC) weapons and missiles are viewed with mounting concern."
But the report singled out the Iraqi and Iranian WMD and missile programs as an "alarm signal" for Europe. By 2005 Iraq was expected to have ballistic missiles with a range of 3,000 km, able to hit targets in Europe and Central Asia and nuclear weapons and might be able to fit nuclear warheads to its missiles. Iraq was also developing a WMD and missile program, including the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons. Germany was the main target for Iraqi and Iranian efforts to acquire the means to manufacture these weapons in the form of dual-use (civil and military) technology.
This German assessment tracks with our own and further underlines the assessment of the growing threats posed by Third World nations acquisition of ballistic missiles and WMD. This report also further underlines the threats posed by the Iraqi and Iranian programs.
However, this report also raises the question of why the major European powers are doing so little to respond to these threats? They are making major efforts to prevent the acquisition of missile and WMD technologies, but with, perhaps inevitably, limited success. At the same time, the UK and France are willing to sell versions of the Apache cruise missile to friendly powers outside Europe, even though this technology may leak to potentially hostile, or hostile, powers. The major European powers are also reluctant to acquire missile defense systems (except for the short-range Patriot PAC-3 being acquired by Germany and the Netherlands). Meanwhile, France is leading European opposition to the US deployment of a limited National Missile Defense (NMD) system to protect against attacks by Third World rogue states. (See "MP Laments UK Response to Missile Threats", October 1, 1999.) |
