'Saddam ordered chemical attack on Israel'

General who served as no. 2 official in Iraq's air force reveals in new book how he personally convinced former president not to bombard Israeli population centers, claims weapons of mass destruction were moved into Syria before U.S. invasion

The man who served as the no. 2 official in Saddam Hussein's air force said that the former Iraqi president personally instructed him to equip combat aircrafts with chemical bombs and drop them on large population centers in Israel.

The Iraqi general, Georges Sada, made the charges in a series of lectures and interviews over the past few days ahead of the release of his new book "Saddam's Secrets."

Sada, who served as the national security advisor to Iraqi Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, also claimed that two of his pilot friends had told him how they transferred the Iraqi chemical weapons to Syria before the American invasion began.

Sada, 65, spoke about the plan to bombard Israel with chemical weapons during a lecture he delivered as part of the Ambassador Christian-based speakers' agency. Sada, a devout Christian, said that Saddam had instructed him to equip 96 jet aircrafts made in Russia with mass destruction weapons.

He claimed that a number of other security people were present while Saddam gave the instruction.

The Iraqi general said that he was the one who convinced Saddam that the Iraqis were incapable of carrying out the mission and asked him to avoid bombing Israel with chemical weapons.

Sada said he explained to Saddam that the Iraqi pilots fly "blindly," while the Israeli air force "has eyes", referring to more advanced military equipment that can spot enemy aircrafts before they reach their destinations.

In an interview to the New York Sun, Sada said Iraq moved weapons of mass destruction into Syria before the war by loading the weapons into civilian aircrafts in which the passenger seats were removed.

"There are weapons of mass destruction gone out from Iraq to Syria, and they must be found and returned to safe hands," he said, adding that he was confident they were taken over.

'Assad's cousin involved in weapon transfer'

Sada told the Sun that the pilots of the two airliners that transported the weapons of mass destruction to Syria from Iraq approached him in the middle of 2004, after Saddam was captured by American troops.

"I know them very well. They are very good friends of mine. We trust each other. We are friends as pilots," Sada said of the two pilots.

He declined to disclose their names, saying they are concerned for their safety. But he said they are now employed by other airlines outside Iraq.

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, 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.

Sada said that the Iraqi official responsible for transferring the weapons was a cousin of Saddam Hussein named Ali Hussein al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali." The Syrian official responsible for receiving them was a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad who is known variously as General Abu Ali, Abu Himma, or Zulhimawe.

During an interview with the Sun in April 2004, U.S. Vice President Cheney was asked whether he thought that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction had been moved to Syria. Cheney only replied that he had seen such reports.