Gaffney gives ‘just the facts’ on Iraqi WMD

In the wake of the recent revelation of a National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) report about the discovery in Iraq of some 500 chemical weapons, the House Armed Services Committee took testimony from military intelligence and civilian experts about the threat posed – both before and after Iraq’s liberation – by these and other weapons of mass destruction (WMD) amassed by the regime of Saddam Hussein. Center for Security Policy President Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. joined former weapons inspectors David Kay and Terence Taylor as non-governmental witnesses.

Mr. Gaffney prefaced his remarks by stating that Saddam Hussein’s WMDs were but one of three things that, in combination, made the removal of his regime from power in Iraq necessary. The other two factors were the Iraqi despot’s "absolute and ruthless control over the resources of his oil-rich nation" and "his support for international terrorists."

Mr. Gaffney’s testimony drew on the 2004 findings of the Iraq Survey Group, which – despite concerted efforts by critics of the Bush Administration and its liberation of Iraq to obscure a number of the ISG’s most important conclusions – established that Saddam maintained active chemical and biological weapons programs until he was toppled, programs that he intended to greatly expand once sanctions were lifted. Of particular concern was the Group’s discovery that the despot’s henchmen had plans to place sarin nerve gas and sulfur mustard in "perfume sprayers and medicine bottles which they would ship to the United States and Europe ."

In his prepared remarks and in response to questions from Committee members, Mr. Gaffney dismissed as absurd the notion that Iraq was a "WMD-free zone" prior to 2003. He also challenged assertions by some that the 500 chemical munitions thus far found were harmless and somehow not among the weapons of mass destruction that Saddam was obliged to destroy, and that constituted a potential threat to the United States and other freedom-loving nations.

In fact, as the hearing clearly established, the toxic nature of the agents in these aging munitions still makes them extraordinarily dangerous, and potentially useful to terrorists. What is more, the sizeable numbers in which these weapons have been discovered suggests that they – like other of Saddam’s WMD and associated activities – were deliberately concealed, rather than "misplaced," to say nothing of non-existent.

Mr. Gaffney called on Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte to cease resisting calls by leading Members of Congress such as the House Armed Services Committee’s Vice Chairman Rep. Curt Weldon (who chaired today’s hearing), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Pete Hoekstra and Senator Rick Santorum, for a more complete declassification of the NGIC report. He also urged the Congress and the President to make a far more concerted effort to educate the American people and foreign audiences about the true nature of this War for the Free World and its stakes, including those that militated the forcible overthrow of a WMD-armed and terrorist-sponsoring Saddam Hussein.