French Helped Conceal WMD from UN Inspectors

Iraq Will Use Banned Weapons, Ex-Inspector Says

By JIM SLOAN [email protected]
Published: Apr 3, 2003
TAMPA - A former U.N. weapons inspector says Iraq has nuclear and chemical weapons, and won't hesitate to use them if things get desperate.
``Saddam Hussein is out to win,'' said Bill Tierney, who helped conduct weapon inspections in Iraq in 1997 and 1998. ``He will try to inflict casualties without weapons of mass destruction. If that doesn't work, then the time comes to use what you've got.''

Tierney was recruited for the previous U.N. inspection team in 1997 while working for U.S. Central Command, where he analyzed possible targets in case the United States decided it had to go into Iraq again.
Fluent in Arabic, he also once interrogated al-Qaida and Taliban suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Speaking at a Kiwanis Club meeting Wednesday in Tampa, Tierney predicted U.S. forces will eventually uncover Saddam's chemical labs - and even an underground plant for producing enriched uranium - in and around Baghdad.
``These weapons are going to be there,'' he said. ``Absolutely. Without a doubt. Period.''

The Iraqis often stymied inspectors by quickly moving mobile chemical labs, helped by the French, who leaked them U.N. lists of potential inspection sites, Tierney said.

It got so bad, he said, that inspectors came up with three lists - a fake one for the French, another fake list because the French suspected the first list was phony, and a ``real'' list.

``The French provided heads-up information to the Iraqis the entire time of the inspections,'' he said. ``They were playing both sides against the middle.''

Tierney's career with Central Command unraveled after he came under fire for praying with a nervous Iraqi defector. He resigned after critics accused him of violating a Central Command directive prohibiting religious proselytizing.

He now works for a local firm that does background checks on companies and individuals.

Despite Saddam's denials, Tierney said, the Iraqi leader has always embraced jihad, or ``holy war,'' especially after getting his ``clock cleaned'' confronting U.S. forces in conventional warfare during Operation Desert Storm.

``I'm here to tell you we were fooled,'' Tierney said. ``We thought Osama bin Laden was too holy to sully himself with the likes of Saddam Hussein.''

Eventually, he said, ``There is going to be a wealth of evidence that he [Saddam] spent his time recruiting, training and employing'' unconventional fighters, including al-Qaida.

Tierney said the United States must steel itself against Saddam's accusations of Iraqi civilian casualties and ``deal decisively'' with the dictator.
``There's too much at stake,'' he said. ``Thank God for George Bush for summoning the courage to go and do what it takes to win.''