Interesting interview from the Mukabarat. I would note that it's clear that everybody lied to everybody in this regime, we'll be a while piecing together the evidence. The reports from Iraqi generals seem to indicate that Saddam told each general that the next commander over had the WMD. There's also an interesting tidbit which I've highlighted, which is bound to create nervousness in certain quarters:
Mukhabarat Agent: Iraq had no WMD
By MATTHEW GUTMAN
Baghdad
Whatever Saddam Hussein's CIA interrogators manage to squeeze out him, it will not be an admission of concealing weapons of mass destruction, said a former Mukhabarat colonel who provided a rare glimpse of the inner workings of Saddam's brutal security apparatuses.
The dreaded Mukhabarat, an Iraqi version of the CIA and FBI rolled into one, was Saddam's secret police and primary spy network. The agent who asked to be identified only by the initials A.M., granted The Jerusalem Post a three-hour interview on Wednesday.
Concern that Saddam had actively concealed deadly weapons of mass destruction served as one of primary reasons' for the Coalition forces' invasion of Iraq in March.
"In 1991 we were very close to developing a nuclear weapon, but had nothing at the time of the [March 2003] war, after so many years of [UNSCOM] inspections," said the agent, adding, "they destroyed everything."
In interrogations, Saddam is reported to have said that the US and Britain "dreamed up" the WMD in order to invade Iraq.
But British Prime Minister Tony Blair vigorously denied the claim Tuesday, saying that since Hussein was toppled last April, US inspection teams have uncovered what he called "massive evidence" of efforts by the former regime to develop WMD. He said the US-led inspectors -- the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) -- must continue their work.
Blair said that "massive evidence of a huge system of clandestine laboratories, workings by scientists, plans to develop long-range ballistic missiles," have been found but not yet published.
Yet if Saddam is holding back, said A.M., an officer in the counter-espionage desk of the Mukhabarat, his CIA interrogators might only be able extract intelligence through psychological pressure, and deception.
Saddam would not respond to torture, or blackmail against his family. "That would only make his resistance harder," said the agent.
It would be best, he said, "if Saddam were deceived, tricked into believing that he is not helping his interrogators. Psychological tools, will work best to break him."
It seems that his CIA interrogators and A.M. agree. According to reports from Washington, Saddam's CIA interrogators forced him to watch anti-Saddam rallies that erupted in Iraq's streets after the announcement of his capture, as well as video clips of bodies being exhumed from mass graves.
The goal said the officials, was to provoke Saddam into bursting out with unguarded statements.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday characterized Saddam's posture towards his interrogators as "resigned." Other reports hinted that Saddam is returning to his blustering self.
According to the Mukhabarat agent, Saddam was fooled by maniacally sycophantic commanders and bodyguards who deceived him into believing that Iraq, stands a fighting chance against the American onslaught.
Ironically it was one of these very same trusted body-guards that likely betrayed his master on the way to receiving the $25 million reward for Saddam, said A.M.
Only one of Saddam's trusted body-guards – almost all of whom are loyal tribe members – would have the kind of access and foreknowledge of Saddam's next moves to deliver the fallen leader, he said.
A.M. corroborated information from Governing Council sources that Saddam was indeed the primary financier of the resistance. Much of the resistance, said the agent, one of whose tasks was to monitor and control the internal enemies, pinned its hopes on Saddam. Without him as a rallying point the resistance will slowly die down.
It appears that the Fedayeen Saddam, a vicious paramilitary force run by Saddam's eldest son Uday, has spearheaded the terrorist campaign using the alliances Saddam built up with terrorist groups from Ansar Al Islam to Al-Qaida to groups based in Syria as proxies.
One Governing Council source called Iraq prior to the war, "the Ivy League of terrorist schools in the world, every terrorist who was anybody had ties here."
One thing perturbing to A.M. and other Governing Council security sources, is that Saddam was found with a cache of only $750,000. They suspect that other chucks of cash might be stashed away in other hideouts, or among Saddam's lieutenants.
And the insurgents terrorist attacks did not abate Wednesday. A huge explosion rocked Baghdad Wednesday morning when a truck filled with explosives rammed into a fuel tanker, killing at least 10 people according to deputy Interior Minister []. The driver of the truck was apparently headed for a south Baghdad police station. Four Iraqi police stations have been targeted since the capture of Saddam killing as many as 40 Iraqis.
Abu Mustafa also shed light onto how Saddam's paranoia and ignorance filtered down through the ranks of his top security organizations. He categorized "Iran as the number one threat," but Israel as "the number one enemy." Its national motto to create a Jewish State "from the Nile to the Euphrates," and its "occupation of Palestine" explains everything.
A.M. revealed a secret underworld constructed by Saddam in which talent always played second to tribal hierarchy. Those of Saddam's Al Bu Nasr tribe "shot like bullets to the top." Faulty intelligence and mismanagement plagued the organization, though its reputation for brutality remained intact long after the end of the war.
The Mukhabarat, under Saddam's orders, kept dozens of foreign nationals on the payroll. The tons of Mukhabarat files rescued from the Mukhabarat headquarters just ahead of the looters in early April proves that ministers of Western nations were also on Saddam's payroll, said Entifadh Qanbar, spokesman for the INC. Though the identities of these people would be revealed soon, he offered no names.
In the Mukhabarat, there was no retirement, no resignation, and no early pension; the result of all of these was death. After the fall of the regime, despite a courtship by other parties such as the INC and the Iraqi National Accord, some Mukhabarat agents fared badly.
It was an agency that bred its agents for brutality. A.M. noted that he studied sports education and had played much basketball as a student. When this reporter noted the size of his hands, the agent responded, "they were good for basketball, but for torture too." He chuckled, but it was unclear whether he was joking or not.
The Mukhabarat's reputation for cruelty spawned seven vigilante murders of the agencies members in the month of October. Five of the men gunned down were close friends of A.M.
Consequently, many of the agents fled back to their towns, such as Tikrit, Falluja, Mosul, during the war.
A.M. was fearful that divulging information will earn him a revenge attack by former Mukhabarat. More than anything the interview revealed that Saddam's terror-inspiring iron hand still looms over many.
Abu Mustafa was among the first of the regime to realize that his boss, Saddam was doomed. He stood guard at the south gate to the city on April 7th and watched a seemingly endless column of Abrams tanks churn towards him. This, even as Information Minister Muhammed Al Sahaf professed that the "Americans are burning in their tanks."
Armed with a Browning pistol and an AK-47, Abu Mustafa ordered the crack Emergency Forces under his command to fight and then flee. It took him four days to return home to his family, where has stayed ever since.
jpost.com |
