My Next Book Purchase

Last night, I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He had a guest on there named Georges Sada. Mr. Sada was one of the top Generals in the Iraqi Air Force. In fact, he was the number two guy in the Iraqi Air force. He served under Saddam Hussein since he came to power more than two decades ago.

Mr. Sada has first hand knowledge of Iraq's WMD's and has written a book about it. As a pilot, he has flown WMD's in and out of Iraq himself, at the command of Hussein. He is not a particular fan of Hussein, but had to endure his reign for many many years. He knows pilots who personally flew WMD's (and related materials) out of Iraq and into Syria before the war started in 2003. He has intimate knowledge of Hussein's deception and intent to mislead the international community in regard to the banned weapons.

Apparently, they used commercial passenger planes to avoid scrutiny. The seats were taken out and the contraband was carried across the border.

(an excerpt from an article published by the New York Sun in January of this year:)

The pilots told Mr. Sada that two Iraqi Airways Boeings were converted to cargo planes by removing the seats, Mr. Sada said. Then Special Republican Guard brigades loaded materials onto the planes, he said, including "yellow barrels with skull and crossbones on each barrel." The pilots said there was also a ground convoy of trucks.

The flights - 56 in total, Mr. Sada said - attracted little notice because they were thought to be civilian flights providing relief from Iraq to Syria, which had suffered a flood after a dam collapse in June of 2002.

That article gives a little bit of insight into the issue. I want to read the entire book though. It sounds very interesting.

Anyone who watches Jon Stewart knows how critical he is of the Bush administration. He constantly criticizes this war effort and uses sarcasm to make it look like we had no business taking Saddam out (he does it in a very humorous way, I might add).

However, after hearing first hand from a very high level Iraqi General that the U.S. was correct in their assertion about WMD's, Stewart notably did not seem too impressed with the revelation. I'd say that Mr. Sada's comments were certainly enlightening, to say the least. He also glossed over the part where Mr. Sada made it very clear that he is thankful for the U.S. involvement in liberating his country from a tyrant. Frankly, I'm surprised that Stewart put this guy on his show, knowing that he was going to say complimentary things about this war and the U.S. I'm glad he did though. Stewart's audience needs a dose of reality. And who better to give it to them than an Iraqi who was involved from the inside?

Anyway, Kudos to Jon Stewart for giving the General airtime to tell his story. And I am going to buy this book to read the full story. I'll let you all know how it is. Read the article that I link to above in the meantime.