There’s been a lot written about the defection of Saddam’s son-in-law, Hussein Kamel,
in 1995.I happened to be filling in as the Senior Intelligence Officer for Navcent and was privy to his initial “debrief information.” Much has been made of his statement that he had ordered the destruction of Iraq’s missiles.
What is hardly ever mentioned in media stories and what stood out the most for me at the time was he also said Iraq retained missile blueprints and molds for production as well as a couple of missile launchers.
When asked why they were retaining launchers he stated: “it is the first step to return to production. All blueprints for missiles are in a safe place.” To my Geeky mind, that confirmed what I suspected, if Iraq no longer had WMD they were trying to retain the capability so they could reconstitute their military after the UN sanctions were lifted.
Shortly before we put troops on the ground in 2003 I was interviewed and asked if I thought Saddam would use WMD on our forces. I replied it depended on whether Iraq wanted to win the battle or the war. I said if I was him, I wouldn’t use WMD and if I still had blueprints and/or launchers or other WMD related equipment, I’d get rid of it then the U.S. and its allies would look like idiots. There is precedence for this. During the first Gulf War when it became apparent Iraq could not maintain air superiority they sent the remains of their aircraft to Iran. It was a curious choice since they had engaged in a long, nasty war with that nation in the not so distant past.
The lack of understanding of all of this by the general public is the reason why I chose to blog and write articles on national security policy. Gail Harris is a Senior Truman Security Fellow.
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