Iraq - Saddam planned WMD attack on US

On Thursday I posted about the tape recordings of Saddam discussing Iraq's WMD's, including, chemical, bio and nuclear.

ABC News reported:

One of the most dramatic moments in the 12 hours of recordings comes when Saddam predicts — during a meeting in the mid-1990s — a terrorist attack on the United States. "Terrorism is coming. I told the Americans a long time before Aug. 2 and told the British as well … that in the future there will be terrorism with weapons of mass destruction." Saddam goes on to say such attacks would be difficult to stop. "In the future, what would prevent a booby-trapped car causing a nuclear explosion in Washington or a germ or a chemical one?" But he adds that Iraq would never do such a thing. "This is coming, this story is coming but not from Iraq."

Which sounded odd to me. Why would Saddam make such a statement? After all, he had used chemical weapons on his own people and the Iranians. Why not his greatest enemy?

The BBC as usual picked out this part of the tapes and downplayed the rest. The BBC headline read "Saddam 'predicted US terror raid' "

And the BBC echos ABC in that Saddam said a WMD attack would not come from Iraq.

Now comes news that ABC's translation might not be entirely accurate.

"They came up with something different on a key element regarding terrorism in the United States," Tierney insisted.

In the "Nightline" version of the 1996 recording, Saddam predicts that Washington, D.C., would be hit by terrorists. But he adds that Iraq would have nothing to do with the attack.

Tierney says, however, that what Saddam actually said was much more sinister. "He was discussing his intent to use chemical weapons against the United States and use proxies so it could not be traced back to Iraq," he told Hannity.

In a passage not used by "Nightline," Tierney says Saddam declares: "Terrorism is coming. ... In the future there will be terrorism with weapons of mass destruction. What if we consider this technique, with smuggling?"

Here again, in order to use WMDs one must first posses them.

I'm betting the BBC won't report any of this.
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