Tuesday, April 15, 2003
2003-04-15 07:48 GMT: Former UN weapons chief backs US claims Syria concealed Iraqi weapons - report (Via Instapundit)
(in full)SYDNEY (AFX) - Former chief UN weapons inspector Richard Butler backed US claims that Syria helped conceal Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, saying he saw evidence of this, he told ABC Radio.
The former Australian diplomat said he had seen intelligence when he headed the UN team in Iraq from 1997 until 1999 which seemed to indicate Syria had helped keep Iraq's weapons of mass destruction hidden.
"I was shown some intelligence information, from overhead imagery and so on, that the Iraqis had moved some containers of stuff across the border into Syria," Butler was quoted as saying on ABC Radio.
"We had reason to believe that those were containers of chemical weapons and perhaps some other weapons.
"I don't believe the Iraqis wanted to give them to Syria, but I think they just wanted to get them out of the territory, out of the range of our inspections. Syria was prepared to be the custodian of them," he said.
The former Australian diplomat said he had seen intelligence when he headed the UN team in Iraq from 1997 until 1999 which seemed to indicate Syria had helped keep Iraq's weapons of mass destruction hidden.
"I was shown some intelligence information, from overhead imagery and so on, that the Iraqis had moved some containers of stuff across the border into Syria," Butler was quoted as saying on ABC Radio.
"We had reason to believe that those were containers of chemical weapons and perhaps some other weapons.
"I don't believe the Iraqis wanted to give them to Syria, but I think they just wanted to get them out of the territory, out of the range of our inspections. Syria was prepared to be the custodian of them," he said.
