Al-Arabiyah Reports on Audio Recordings of Saddam, Aides on WMD
Al-Arabiyah airs rare recordings for former Iraqi President Saddam Husayn. The US Central Intelligence Agency has found in Iraq the recordings, which date back to the 1990's. The recordings document some 12 hours of conversations between Saddam Husayn and some former officials about dealing with the international teams in charge of inspection for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
[Begin recording] [Unidentified Al-Arabiyah announcer] More than 12 hours of audio recordings of conversations between ousted Iraqi President Saddam Husayn and his senior aides, which date back to the mid 1990's, have become public for the first time. They bring focus once again to the controversy over whether the former Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction.
The Central Intelligence Agency had found the recordings in Baghdad. After verifying the authenticity of the recordings, the CIA handed them over to the FBI, which tasked Bill Tierney, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, with translating the recordings. Tierney, however, soon leaked the recordings to ABC Television, because he thought that the US Administration was mistaken for keeping them secret.
[Tierney in English, with superimposed translation into Arabic, translated from Arabic] In view of my experience in weapons inspection and my military experience, I realized the importance of these recordings.
[Announcer] In one recording, Saddam speaks about a terrorist blow that could be dealt to the United States on its territory.
[Saddam, in progress] Terrorism targeted the Americans before 2 August. In the future, terrorism will be practiced by using weapons of mass destruction. We might in the future see a car-bomb causing a nuclear explosion in Washington, for example. The explosion could be biological or chemical. This will come, but not from Iraq.
[Announcer] In the same context, there is a comment by Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz about accusing Iraq of terrorism.
[Aziz] This device is very simple. Any biologist can manufacture a bottle of germs and drop it in a water tank and kill 100,000 people. This is not necessarily done by a state. You should not accuse a state. Individuals can do such a thing.
[Announcer] In another recording, Saddam expresses regret for not bombing Israel with more Russian-made Scud missiles before the end of the Gulf war.
[Saddam] [Words indistinct] Before the end of the war, we could have fired them on Israel's head.
[Announcer] In another audio recording, there is a conversation between Saddam and his son-in-law Husayn Kamil, showing the collusion of the Iraqi leadership in misleading the UN inspectors regarding Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction.
[Kamil] We have not clarified the type of weapons, quantity of materials we imported, the size of our production, or the extent of usage. It was all incorrect.
[Announcer] Husayn Kamil asks the ousted president about the information that should be revealed about Iraq's nuclear weapons.
[Kamil] As for the nuclear weapons, we say that we revealed everything. In the nuclear aspect, we have...
[Announcer, interrupting] This is followed by a proposal from Kamil that Iraq should not disclose the weapons of mass destruction it has.
[Kamil] I want to go back to this issue: Shall we reveal everything? If we remain silent...
[Announcer, interrupting] In another recording, Saddam's aides pledge to continue developing weapons of mass destruction after Saddam orders them to do that.
[Unidentified speaker] They cannot break our will no matter how long it takes. We feel that, despite their pressure through surveillance, time is not on their side. No matter how long it takes [words indistinct].
[Announcer] Saddam answer by promising them victory.&a mp;nb sp;
[Saddam] God willing, they will lose. The important thing is that they have been defeated in the moral and human aspect. You will win everything, God willing.
[Announcer] While some believe that these recordings will rekindle the debate over the soundness of the US decision to launch war on Iraq, political analysts underestimate the importance of the information contained in these conversations. They claim that Saddam and his aides had these conversations recorded deliberately in order to give the impression that they possessed weapons of mass destruction, which did not exist in reality.
[Begin recording] [Unidentified Al-Arabiyah announcer] More than 12 hours of audio recordings of conversations between ousted Iraqi President Saddam Husayn and his senior aides, which date back to the mid 1990's, have become public for the first time. They bring focus once again to the controversy over whether the former Iraqi regime possessed weapons of mass destruction.
The Central Intelligence Agency had found the recordings in Baghdad. After verifying the authenticity of the recordings, the CIA handed them over to the FBI, which tasked Bill Tierney, former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, with translating the recordings. Tierney, however, soon leaked the recordings to ABC Television, because he thought that the US Administration was mistaken for keeping them secret.
[Tierney in English, with superimposed translation into Arabic, translated from Arabic] In view of my experience in weapons inspection and my military experience, I realized the importance of these recordings.
[Announcer] In one recording, Saddam speaks about a terrorist blow that could be dealt to the United States on its territory.
[Saddam, in progress] Terrorism targeted the Americans before 2 August. In the future, terrorism will be practiced by using weapons of mass destruction. We might in the future see a car-bomb causing a nuclear explosion in Washington, for example. The explosion could be biological or chemical. This will come, but not from Iraq.
[Announcer] In the same context, there is a comment by Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz about accusing Iraq of terrorism.
[Aziz] This device is very simple. Any biologist can manufacture a bottle of germs and drop it in a water tank and kill 100,000 people. This is not necessarily done by a state. You should not accuse a state. Individuals can do such a thing.
[Announcer] In another recording, Saddam expresses regret for not bombing Israel with more Russian-made Scud missiles before the end of the Gulf war.
[Saddam] [Words indistinct] Before the end of the war, we could have fired them on Israel's head.
[Announcer] In another audio recording, there is a conversation between Saddam and his son-in-law Husayn Kamil, showing the collusion of the Iraqi leadership in misleading the UN inspectors regarding Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction.
[Kamil] We have not clarified the type of weapons, quantity of materials we imported, the size of our production, or the extent of usage. It was all incorrect.
[Announcer] Husayn Kamil asks the ousted president about the information that should be revealed about Iraq's nuclear weapons.
[Kamil] As for the nuclear weapons, we say that we revealed everything. In the nuclear aspect, we have...
[Announcer, interrupting] This is followed by a proposal from Kamil that Iraq should not disclose the weapons of mass destruction it has.
[Kamil] I want to go back to this issue: Shall we reveal everything? If we remain silent...
[Announcer, interrupting] In another recording, Saddam's aides pledge to continue developing weapons of mass destruction after Saddam orders them to do that.
[Unidentified speaker] They cannot break our will no matter how long it takes. We feel that, despite their pressure through surveillance, time is not on their side. No matter how long it takes [words indistinct].
[Announcer] Saddam answer by promising them victory.&a mp;nb sp;
[Saddam] God willing, they will lose. The important thing is that they have been defeated in the moral and human aspect. You will win everything, God willing.
[Announcer] While some believe that these recordings will rekindle the debate over the soundness of the US decision to launch war on Iraq, political analysts underestimate the importance of the information contained in these conversations. They claim that Saddam and his aides had these conversations recorded deliberately in order to give the impression that they possessed weapons of mass destruction, which did not exist in reality.
posted by Marko at 2/22/2006 03:44:00 AM
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