Iraqi Defector Tells of Secret Weapons Sites

Voice of America, December 21, 2001

An Iraqi civil engineer who fled the country in August claims he worked inside at least 20 secret storage facilities for chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

Thursday's New York Times printed an interview of Adnan Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri.

He told the Times the Iraqi government hired him to repair floors and walls in secret rooms hidden in government buildings, underground wells, under Saddam Hussein Hospital in Baghdad, and in President Saddam's private palaces.

Interviewed in Bangkok last week, Mr. al-Haideri described the rooms as production and storage facilities for weapons of mass destruction.

He also told the newspaper that money is no object in Iraq's quest to build such weapons, saying the government has built numerous labs in case known locations are attacked.

Mr. al-Haideri says he was jailed in January on what he called trumped-up charges of fraud. He says he bribed his way out of jail and fled the country in August with the help of the Iraqi National Congress, Iraq's largest opposition group.

The New York Times says U.S. officials have twice interviewed Mr. al-Haideri. It says the officials have refused to comment.

The newspaper also says it is impossible to verify Mr. al-Haideri's claims. But former chief U.N. weapons inspector Richard Butler says his account seems plausible.

Iraq claims it scrapped its weapons programs years ago, but refuses to let international inspectors back into the country to verify that claim.

The United Nations has said it cannot lift 11-year old economic sanctions against Iraq until it can certify that Baghdad is no longer building weapons of mass destruction.

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