[Archives] PA hiding Saddam's arms secrets

By JAY BUSHINSKY -- The Jerusalem Post Thursday, November 6, 1997

JERUSALEM (November 6) - The Palestinian Authority's embassy in
Baghdad is being used as a repository for secret documents that
relate to Iraq's buildup of unconventional weapons, Iraqi
opposition sources said yesterday.PA hiding Saddam's arms secrets

By JAY BUSHINSKY -- The Jerusalem Post

JERUSALEM (November 6) - The Palestinian Authority's embassy in
Baghdad is being used as a repository for secret documents that
relate to Iraq's buildup of unconventional weapons, Iraqi
opposition sources said yesterday.

They said the site's diplomatic immunity evidently keeps the
documents beyond the reach of UN arms inspectors.

The documents relate to the purchase of raw materials required for
Iraq's manufacture and deployment of weapons of mass destruction,
a senior figure in the underground movement to overthrow President
Saddam Hussein said.

He attributed his knowledge of the documents' contents to "sources
inside Iraqi intelligence."

PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's political adviser Nabil Amr said, "I
have no idea about this information."

Asked if it was conceivable that the embassy could be used to hide
sensitive Iraqi documents, he declined to comment.

The PA embassy is situated in Arafat's private residence in
Baghdad, a heavily guarded palatial structure well inside a
compound.

"The material is in Yasser Arafat's house," the Iraqi exile said.
"It's a fact."

One of the Iraqi opposition groups' American sympathizers, who
worked with them in London from 1991 to 1994 and recently resumed
activity on their behalf in Washington, said the hidden documents
refer to Iraq's chemical weapons, VX nerve gas, "and possibly
nuclear arms."

Arafat's residence, "which has just been designated as the PA
embassy," he went on, has extraterritorial status and therefore "it
is difficult for the UN arms inspectors to make a fuss about it."

Speaking for the Iraqi opposition, the source said, "we have had
agents at the site who could see that the embassy building is used
to hide documents."

He said the nerve gas is stored in a solid state, "like salt," and
probably is deposited in the Iraqi desert.

The alleged existence of secret repositories which effectively are
off limits to the UN Special Commission (UNSCOM) was reported to
its British chairman, Richard Butler, in a confidential letter sent
by the Iraqi exiles on September 16. Its text contains these
passages:

"We learned certain information from sources in Baghdad which will
be of use to you.

"We believe there are documents regarding Iraq's weapons of mass
destruction hidden in St. Joseph's Church in the Dora district. The
church is on the main street across from the Assyrian market.

"There are also important documents being stored at the Baghdad
residence of President Yasser Arafat in the Jadiriya district."

The cordial relations between the PA and Saddam's regime are borne
out by a report in the Palestinian press this week that $100
million in aid from the Iraqi government is being blocked by the
UN.

Sources here believe Iraq is interested in exporting oil to the PA
through Jordan in addition to providing monetary assistance or as
a substitute for it, but this is being prevented by Israel. "It
could be a lucrative proposition for all the parties concerned," a
source said, "Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and the PA."

Elements of the Palestinian Police were trained in Iraq "and the
Iraqi government pays the PA for using camps on Iraqi soil," the
source went on, contending that Iraq has been actively involved in
preparing terrorists for missions which it initiates.

"Arafat never stopped his relations with Iraqi intelligence," a
Palestinian familiar with the inner workings of the PA said.

He said Arafat's reported meeting in Amman with Iraq's ambassador
on August 8 "actually was with a senior Iraqi intelligence officer.
The Iraqi Embassy was the logical venue, because Iraqi intelligence
personnel never stay in hotels when they are abroad."

MOHAMMED NAJIB adds:

Five Palestinian organizations sent a joint message to Saddam
yesterday stating their opposition to American "aggression" against
Iraq. They also called on the UN to lift its sanctions.

The message was signed by representatives of Fatah, the PFLP,
DFPLP, Popular Struggle, and the Arab Liberation Front.