More From Saddam’s Archives

I haven’t heard much about Project Harmony lately. The pace of document release has been very slow, and, while I’m sure many people have been reviewing and translating the documents from Iraqi intelligence and the Taliban, I haven’t seen much reported about it.

One person who has been translating documents is “jveritas” at Free Republic. A number of the documents he’s translated are ones that we and others have already reported on. Some, though, are new, at least to me. This is one of several that are interesting:

Secret and Confidential

Committee Meeting

16/9/1998

Following the meetings of the committee formed per the Presidential-Secretary order numbered 1392 on 11/8/1998, and the committee achieved its meeting on 16/9/1998 and below is the most important of what the meeting included:

1. Review the previous meeting and what was achieved from measures related to the documents that were obtained… Where the documents that does not have a reason to exist (became no value) were destroyed and keeping the portion (in safe place) that the committee believe that its needs will be revealed in the future… and the task was done under very tight and very detailed security measures and that operation lasted (7) seven continuous days.

2. Through the meetings of the committee with a number of the specialized staff that worked previously in the Prohibited Programs (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical, and Rockets) the following was found:

A. There are still a number of different documents with the Senior Staff that worked on the previous Prohibited Programs. The committee with continue to verify the non existence of any Special Document with the concerned people.

B. It was clear that there is another branch committee from the Industrial Committee headead by Dr. Mahdi Shakr Ghali that currently evaluate the Researches That Cannot Be Declared (Researches with relation to the previous Prohibited Programs) through presenting the Specialized Staff that ask to evaluate its researches, to conclusion related to these researches. This is an important subject and it is dangerous in case these information are leaked one way or another. We suggest that one of the specialized in our committee represented in that committee or these researches will be presented to our committee before approving it.

Signature… General, Engineer Hoosam Ahmad Amin Committee Chairman 16/9/1998

Signature… Mr. Moothana Mohamada Ahmed The Representative of the Intelligence Apparatus

Signature… Mr. Maatook Abel Al Satar The Representative of the Atomic Energy Organization.

This document refers to a heroic, around the clock effort to destroy documents relating to Iraq’s WMD programs that I have also seen mentioned in the audiotapes of meetings in Saddam’s office. While there is some ambiguity in the last paragraphs, the document does seem to imply that Iraq’s WMD progams were ongoing as of late 1998. Some of the ambiguity might perhaps be resolved if others could check the translation. The document can be found here; the quoted language is at pp. 63-64.

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