[antimedia] antimedia: Intelligence gathering on the eve of war

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Posted by antimedia:
Intelligence gathering on the eve of war
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1153893871.shtml


   This is part two of the story of Dave Gaubatz and his work uncovering
   WMD in Iraq. ([1]Part 1 reveals Dave's background and his sterling
   qualifications for the work he was tasked to do in Iraq.)
   In February of 2003, before Operation Iraqi Freedom began its initial
   push across the Kuwaiti border into southern Iraq, Dave Gaubatz and
   five other intelligence agents were already positioned in eastern
   Saudi Arabia, mere miles from the Iraqi border. Their mission was to
   sneak into and out of Iraq and gather intelligence about Iraqi
   preparations for the coalition invasion.
   Riding specially equipped ATVs capable of traveling 70 mph through the
   desert and armed with nothing but 9 mm pistols, M-16 rifles and more
   courage than most men will ever muster, Gaubatz and his fellow agents
   made several forays into Iraq, gathering intelligence that was
   indispensable to the invading force about to cross the border. (In
   fact, [2]his performance reports [pdf] credit him with preventing mass
   casualty incidents with the accuracy and detail of his reports.)
   On April 1, 2003, after Baghdad had fallen, Gaubatz flew into An
   Nasiriyah on a C-130 and established a base of operations to gather
   intelligence from Iraqis. Traveling in pairs, driving SUVs and armed
   as they were before the war began, Gaubatz and his agents roamed all
   over southern Iraq and all the way to Baghdad, cultivating sources as
   they went, getting the lay of the land and uncovering information
   vital to the occupying forces.
   (You may recall that An Nasiriyah was the scene of the fateful ambush
   of the mis-directed 507^th Maintenance Company and the capture and
   rescue of Pfc. Jessica Lynch. Gaubatz was to later play a role in that
   story as well, entering the hostile city in the early daylight hours
   leading a 15 man team and [3]rescuing [pdf] the entire family of the
   Iraqi lawyer who had risked his life to provide information to US
   troops about Lynch's location.)
   While in southern Iraq, Gaubatz uncovered information about WMD stored
   in four bunkers; three near An Nasiriyah and one near Umm Qasr. These
   bunkers were [4]built under riverbeds, with thick walls of concrete,
   filled with WMD, sealed and then covered with water again. Although
   Gaubatz doesn't know for certain what is contained in the bunkers, he
   told me they may contain mustard gas, sarin, anthrax and long-range
   missiles that were forbidden under UN resolutions.
   Thousands of gas masks and chemical suits were found [5]in and around
   Nasiriyah, and no one has explained why they were there. Gaubatz was
   told by his sources that Saddam had intended to use chemical weapons
   against the coalition forces. (The speed of the invasion may have
   prevented this from happening.) The bunkers near An Nasiriyah and Umm
   Qasr may well have been placed there to supply the munitions for such
   an attack.
   The recent discovery of [6]a maze of concrete bunkers in southern
   Lebanon, undetected by spy satellites and intensive human intelligence
   should dispel the notion that Saddam couldn't possibly have built
   these four bunkers without being discovered. In fact, [7]numerous
   Russian MIGs and other planes were discovered in western Iraq,
   completely buried in the sand of the desert.
   Four Iraqis have provided sworn affidavits attesting to the
   information that Gaubatz wrote about in his reports. One Iraqi stated
   in an affidavit, "When I tried to look into it, the security personnel
   told me that if I spoke about what I saw, they would find me and would
   slit my throat and cut my tongue out." This same Iraqi attested to
   "missiles in Umm Qasr with WMD ready to use on U.S. Forces before the
   war."
   Despite all this, no one ever bothered to follow up on Gaubatz's
   multiple reports of WMD bunkers in southern Iraq. The reasons for this
   failure will be the subject of my next article.

References

   1. http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1153798086.shtml
   2. http://www.davegaubatz.com/files/Award_During_pdf_1_.pdf
   3. http://www.davegaubatz.com/files/Gaubatz_Denton_Chronicle_Sep-18-2004.pdf
   4. http://www.davegaubatz.com/photo_album.html
   5. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,82182,00.html
   6. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3278675,00.html
   7. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3116259.stm