The Danger is More Than the Nexus Between Terrorist Groups and State Actors

1) WMD Saddam “Didn’t Have:” Charles Deulfer, head of the CIA weapons inspection team in Iraq, announced the discovery of as many as a dozen bombs filled with mustard gas and sarin. “We’re not sure how many more are out there.” In May, the U.S. found two chemical bombs in Baghdad; a roadside bomb containing chemicals that, when combined (as they would in an explosion) form sarin; and an improvised explosive device (IED, the bane of American soldiers in Iraq) containing mustard agent. U.S. officials have uncovered 8,700 weapons depots in Iraq and continue to find new ones.

1) WMD Saddam “Didn’t Have:” Charles Deulfer, head of the CIA weapons inspection team in Iraq, announced the discovery of as many as a dozen bombs filled with mustard gas and sarin. “We’re not sure how many more are out there.” In May, the U.S. found two chemical bombs in Baghdad; a roadside bomb containing chemicals that, when combined (as they would in an explosion) form sarin; and an improvised explosive device (IED, the bane of American soldiers in Iraq) containing mustard agent. U.S. officials have uncovered 8,700 weapons depots in Iraq and continue to find new ones. They estimate that the depots contain between 650,000 and 1 million TONS of arms.

Mr. Deulfer expressed concern that WMD and chemical expertise can be handed over to al Qaeda in Iraq or elsewhere. “What we are finding is that there are some networks that are seeking to tap into … this expertise and try to use it.”

2) Imminent Threat: In his 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush specifically discounted the “imminent threat” theory of Saddam’s WMD. “Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late.” We agreed then and still do.

So we take extremely seriously the warning of Mohammed El Baradei, IAEA head, when he talks about imminent threats, as he did this week. “The danger is so imminent … not only with regard to countries acquiring nuclear weapons, but also terrorists getting their hands on some of these nuclear materials.” A nuclear weapons expert examining al Qaeda documents said, “These are people who are thinking through problems in how to cause destruction.”

3) The Saddam-al Qaeda connection: Former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton, Vice Chairman of the 9-11 Commission, said, “(Vice President Cheney) is saying, I think, that there were connections between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s government. We don’t disagree with that. What we have said is … we don’t have any evidence of a cooperative, or a corroborative relationship between Saddam Hussein’s government and these al Qaeda operatives with regard to the attacks on the United States. So it seems to me the sharp differences that … the media have drawn are not that apparent to me.” Us either.

JINSA is a big believer in the swamp theory of terrorists and the states that harbor and support them. It isn’t necessary for any terrorist group or any state supporter to be involved in any specific act of terror for them to share strategic goals. Religious and secular terrorists and state masters share a desire for power and seek the demise of democratic values embodied chiefly by the U.S. and Israel. So if there was no specific connection between Saddam and 9-11 (a negative proposition that has not been proven), not only would we not be surprised, we wouldn’t care much. The damage they have done and can do in tandem or in parallel should spur our efforts in this war they have declared and we have to fight.