Un officier irakien admet avoir fourni une information sur les armes de destruction massives irakiennes
fpfre.peopledaily.com.cn/200312/08/fra20031208_64344.html

Les déclarations anglo-américaines controversées affirmant que l’Irak possédait des armes de destruction massive auraient pour origine une information transmise par un officier irakien, le lieutenant-colonel al-Dabbagh.

Dans l’interview qu’il a accordée au Sunday Telegraph, le 7 décembre 2003, al-Dabbagh, qui commandait une unité de la ligne de front avant la guerre en Irak, a révélé qu'il avait transmis aux services de renseignements britanniques l'information top-secrète sur le déploiement, par l'ancien régime irakien, d’armes de destruction massive qui auraient pu être utilisées, en moins de 45 minutes, dans les combats contre les troupes de la coalition.

"Je suis le responsable pour la fourniture de cette information ", a signalé l'officier âgé de 40 ans, qui était un commandant d'une unité de l'armée de l'air irakienne dans le désert de l'ouest, dans une interview exclusive accordée à Sunday Telegraph.

Al-Dabbagh, qui est devenu aujourd'hui un conseiller du Conseil de gouvernement irakien, a insisté que l'information sur les armes de destruction massive irakiennes était correcte, ajoutant que des commandants locaux avaient reçu l'ordre d'utiliser ces armes uniquement sur l'ordre personnel de Saddam Hussein.

Il a déclaré au journal qu'il croyait que les armes interdites étaient cachées à des endroits secrets en Irak. Les forces de la coalition n'ont pas encore réussi de trouver les traces de ces armes depuis mars.

Une porte-parole du Premier ministre britannique Tony Blair a refusé de commenter sur le reportage, mais a demandé aux personnes concernées de fournir toute information qu'elles jugeaient utile.

Richard Dearlove, chef du service secret britannique M16, avait affirmé, lors d'une enquête sur la mort de l'expert britannique en armements, David Kelly, que l'information sur la capacité de l'Irak d'utiliser en moins de 45 minutes des armes de destruction massive, provenait d'une seule source "crédible et solide" qui servait dans l'armée irakienne.

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Report: Source of Iraq Arms Claim Emerges

By MICHAEL McDONOUGH

Associated Press Writer

December 7, 2003, 8:22 AM EST

LONDON -- An Iraqi officer has identified himself as the source for a British claim about Saddam Hussein's weapons that sparked a controversy marked by the death of a British government arms expert, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The Sunday Telegraph said Lt. Col. al-Dabbagh identified himself as the source for the British government's assertion that Iraq could have deployed chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes of a decision to do so. The paper gave the officer's surname only, citing fears for his safety if he was fully identified.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's office declined to comment on the newspaper report, which was featured in early editions published late Saturday.

"We're not prepared to comment but we urge all those involved to provide the Iraq Survey Group with whatever information they believe they have," a spokeswoman for Blair's office said on customary condition of anonymity. The ISG is the coalition body searching for Saddam's alleged chemical or biological weapons.

The 45-minute claim was in a government dossier published in September 2002. A British Broadcasting Corp. report later accused the government of "sexing up" the dossier to make a more convincing case for military action. Government weapons adviser David Kelly apparently committed suicide in July after being identified as the source for the BBC report.

Kelly's death prompted a judicial inquiry that scrutinized the workings of Blair's government and its use of intelligence in the buildup to the U.S.-led war. A report from the inquiry is expected early next year.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that al-Dabbagh was the former head of an Iraqi air defense unit in the country's western desert. It said he had spied for the Iraqi National Accord, a London-based exile group, and provided reports to British intelligence from early 2002 on Saddam's plans to deploy weapons of mass destruction.

Al-Dabbagh said cases containing chemical or biological warheads were delivered to front-line units, including his own, in late 2002, the paper reported. He said they were designed to be launched by hand-held rocket-propelled grenades, and did not know what exactly the warheads contained.

The government's September dossier said that "Iraq's military forces are able to use chemical and biological weapons, with command, control and logistical arrangements in place. The Iraqi military are able to deploy these weapons within 45 minutes of a decision to do so."

The head of the MI6 spy agency, Sir Richard Dearlove, told the inquiry into Kelly's death that the 45-minute warning in the dossier came from an "established and reliable source," quoting a senior Iraqi military officer who was in a position to know the information.

The Sunday Telegraph said al-Dabbagh believed he was the source for that claim.

"I am the one responsible for providing this information," he was quoted as saying. "It is 100 percent accurate.

"Forget 45 minutes, we could have fired these within half an hour," al-Dabbagh added. He said the weapons were not used because most of the Iraqi army did not want to fight for Saddam.

The newspaper said al-Dabbagh works as an adviser to the Iraqi Governing Council and said he has received death threats from Saddam loyalists.

It reported that Iyad Allawi, the head of the Iraqi National Accord and a prominent council member, confirmed that he had passed information from al-Dabbagh on Saddam's weapons to British and American intelligence officials in the spring and summer of 2002.

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press


Iraqi troops given chemical arms, claims ex-colonel

By Benedict Brogan and Jack Fairweather in Baghdad

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/08/wirq08.xml

(Filed: 08/12/2003)

Saddam Hussein's front-line units were provided with rocket-propelled grenades armed with chemical or biological weapons for use against allied troops, a former Iraqi colonel claims.

Lt-Col al-Dabbagh's description of the "secret weapon" issued on the Iraqi dictator's orders appeared to back Tony Blair's claim that weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed an imminent threat to British interests.

He told The Sunday Telegraph he commanded an air-defence unit in the western desert and claimed to be the source of the intelligence used by MI6 and the Prime Minister to bolster the case for war.

He insisted that the weapons of mass destruction could have been deployed in half an hour, faster than the 45 minutes made famous by the Government's controversial dossier on Iraq's WMD.

He claimed they were not used because the bulk of the Iraqi army chose not to resist the allied advance. "If the army had fought for Saddam Hussein and used these weapons there would have been terrible consequences," he said.

However, in Baghdad last night there were doubts expressed about his version of events. His commanding officer said that he had no knowledge of his men being supplied with WMD warheads.

A senior Iraqi general in charge of air defences during the war, who was part of a committee that reported directly to Saddam on the supply and training of air defence units, said: "This lieutenant colonel wanted to scare the Western world."

The general, who would not give his name, conceded that authority may have been bypassed but said the frontline troops he visited were in a shambolic state and were unlikely to have received any additional weapons.

"We were very low on equipment," he said. "There certainly wasn't any talk of chemical warheads."

Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, told Sky News: "The claim is that battlefield weapons of mass destruction were available.

"That's not what the Government told us at the time. The Government told us that WMD could be deployed in 45 minutes and that was a misleading claim."


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Mis en ligne le 29 décembre 2003 sur le site www.upjf.org