Jewish World Review / Nov. 5, 1998 /15 Mar-Cheshvan, 5759
Saddam's a ticking
time bomb
LIKE THE WATCH in the famous
ad, Saddam Hussein keeps on
ticking! Iraq's Führer has just
announced that despite his
promise a few months back, he
won't allow any more United Nations
inspections of Iraq's weapons stores.
What's more, Saddam is again demanding that
the international inspectors who've been
battling Iraqi obstruction to ferret out Saddam's
hidden chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons programs leave Iraq immediately.
That is, unless the UN lifts the economic
sanctions placed on Iraq precisely because it
remained armed to the teeth and still was
threatening its neighbors even after the Gulf
War of 1991.
Washington has responded with predictable
verbal fury. We've heard that angry song
before. Problem is, the last time we threatened
military might if Saddam didn't allow
inspections, we did nothing. Some threat!
Brutish Saddam respects only force.
Milquetoast responses merely embolden him.
Saddam also has pals in high places —
particularly in Europe and particularly in
France and Russia — which just can't wait to lift
sanctions so they can make lucrative new deals
with Iraq like they did before the Gulf War.
Saddam is convinced that no matter what he
does, UN sanctions will be history by the year
2000. Of course, lifting sanctions still won't
make it legal for Saddam to rearm Iraq. But
that won't stop the Butcher of Baghdad. He has
already begun a concerted effort to establish a
clandestine procurement network that will
enable him to obtain and import military
equipment, including raw materials and parts
for weapons of mass destruction.
In fact, the week before Saddam announced he
was tossing out the UN inspectors, a senior
Mideast intelligence source tipped me off that
Saddam has chosen his northern neighbor
Turkey as the hub for illicit military
procurement. The person charged with running
the covert project, the source says, is no one
less than Iraq's recently appointed ambassador
to Turkey, Faruk Hijazi.
Hardly a career diplomat, Hijazi is actually the
deputy chief of Iraq's powerful general
intelligence apparatus and the director of its
brutal but effective Mukhabarat — secret
service. The sources say Hijazi was responsible
for setting up the highly developed system of
brokers and global front companies that
already helps Saddam bypass the general
embargo.
Saddam's crooked sons, Uday and Qusay, who
direct the program and pocket a good chunk of
its profits, are among Hijazi's closest friends. He
also has another series of interesting ties — to
major arms dealers in the former Soviet Union
and to Osama Bin Laden, the wealthy
Saudi-born Islamic extremist who's financing
the rash of anti-American terrorist bombings
round the world. According to the sources,
Hijazi and Bin Laden have met face to face.
So why has Saddam targeted Turkey? Well for
one thing, the clandestine supply route he has
used until now, Jordan, has been increasingly
closed off, thanks to Jordan's King Hussein.
Moreover, Turkey's geographical position
makes it a perfect pipeline for overland
smuggling of equipment and goods from both
East and West.
Even the presence of the Kurds in the region
doesn't seem an obstacle. Some are newly
realigned with Saddam. And in any case,
money talks. At one point, the Iraqis were
smuggling oil to Asia with the help of the
Iranians — their deadliest enemies.
Hijazi once was named Iraqi ambassador to
Canada. Wisely, Ottawa turned him down
because of his intelligence links. Let's hope the
Turks are as smart. And let's hope that when
Bill Clinton threatens Saddam with force, this
time he'll mean
By Richard Z. Chesnoff
JWR contributor and veteran journalist
Richard Z. Chesnoff is a senior correspondent at US News
And World Report and a columnist at the NY Daily News.
10/29/98:
Pollard's Release
Is a Key to Peace Deal
10/15/98:
Hawkish Sharon May
Bring Home the Dove of
Peace
10/07/98:
Flake of Araby Won't
Make Deal on Pan Am 103
8/25/98: Embarassed to be a journalist
8/24/98: Clinton Sent Right Message With Those Missiles . . .
8/17/98:
Fair Settlement
For Survivors of
the Holocaust
7/27/98: When hopes collide with reality
7/22/98: A lesson about peace ...in Auschwitz
7/15/98: What Hitler tried todestroy, the 'Net helped put back together
7/8/98: Love -- and leave -- thy neighbor
4/9/98: The US Navy's two faced Pollard policy
4/2/98: A breakthrough in Lebanon?
3/30/98: Full rights for all Israelis?
2/27/98: America's Schindler
1/30/98: A last chance for the Mideast?
1/11/98: The Moment for Restitution Has Arrived