Posted by
Regimeofterror.com on Wednesday, April 04, 2007 6:03:20 PM
Iraq’s former embassy in Greece added to list of Hussein's international terror outposts
A recent story in the Greek news outlet Ekathimerini, pointed out to Regimeofterror.com by Dr. Laurie Mylroie,
reported on previously undisclosed evidence implicating Saddam
Hussein’s regime in international terrorism aspirations. The report
reveals an incident in which a number of items were secretly removed
from Iraq's embassy in Greece during the run up to the invasion of Iraq
in 2003. The items removed fit a pattern of behavior but also raise a
number of questions.
Ekathimerini reported that it had been made aware of "a
joint operation by Greek and US secret service officers in March 2003
(which) led to the seizure of a large cache of explosives from the
basement of the Iraqi Embassy in Athens."
The types of explosives reportedly discovered were particularly noteworthy .
"Sources said a raid on the embassy unearthed explosive materials, car
bombs, detonators, several guns and dozens of rounds of ammunition.
Much of the material was “ready to use” while some was too old to be of
any value, according to sources who said all the material was destroyed
within a few weeks of discovery."
The presence of car bombs, explosives and the other materials in
this instance would indicate that Hussein's Iraq had used it's Greek
embassy just as it had used it's embassy's in the Philippines, Jordan, Prague, and Yemen
in recent years, as a hub for terrorism. This is to say nothing of
Iraq’s planned international terror attacks in London (as reported on
page 53 of the Iraqi Perspectives Project) or the attempted bombing attack by Iraqi operatives in Bahrain during the runup to the invasion of Iraq (Senate Intelligence Report: Phase II).
This discovery follows Iraq’s modus operandi of using their
embassies and diplomatic privileges as cover for hiding and moving
weapons/explosives/equipment abroad for potential terror attacks.
These were not the first time Iraq had dipped its toe in the waters of
international terrorism. In 1998, in what some viewed as a possible buildup to war between the U.S. and Iraq, U.S. News and World Report cited intelligence officials saying over 30 teams of terrorists,
each team consisting of 2 to 3 men had been dispatched by Baghdad in
1991 and indicated that similar attacks may take place against U.S. interests again in 1998 in the case of a war with the U.S.. (It
should also be noted that those in the intelligence community were said
to be split during this time period as to whether or not Iraq had
already dispatched similar teams of terrorists at this point.) The men,
who were disguised as businessmen, used Iraq's diplomatic pouches to
move automatic weapons, explosives and timers to embassies around for
planned attacks.
Former deputy director of the State Department's counterterrorism office during the Gulf War, Larry Johnson, told U.S. News and World Report in the same piece that car bombs, assassinations and hostage taking were "likely scenarios."
With the discovery of Greece as a front in Iraq’s pre-invasion
international terrorism attempts maybe Americans will even one day be
made aware of what the other 6 or 7 countries are which U.S. government officials told the Washington Post's Walter Pincus were targeted anti Western bombings by Iraqi Intelligence.
Saddam Hussein , Iraq, terrorism