Zero Tolerance Watch, continued
Saddam hides arsenal in people's homes, according to the Times of London:
SADDAM HUSSEIN has ordered hundreds of his officials to conceal weapons of mass destruction components in their homes to evade the prying eyes of the United Nations inspectors.According to a stream of intelligence now emerging from inside Iraq, the full extent of the Iraqi leader’s deception operation is now becoming apparent. As the UN inspectors knock on the doors of the major military sites in Iraq, suspected of housing chemical and biological weapons and banned missiles, the bulk of the evidence is being secreted away in people’s homes...
Intelligence picked up from within Iraq and from electronic intercepts of Iraqi communications has revealed that scientists, civil servants and Baath Party officials have all been ordered to store key components of Saddam’s secret weapons of mass destruction programme in their homes.
Iraqi farmers have also been ordered to play their part, according to intelligence sources. One source said that farmers were being told to hide drums of chemicals among stocks of pesticides.
In each case, the scientists, officials and farmers are being warned that they and their families will face severe penalties if they fail to hide these stocks of chemicals and biological materials from prying UN inspectors. Computers and laptops containing vital information about the weapons of mass destruction programme are also being hidden in people’s homes
The evidence of this latest concealment ploy is judged to be so damning that...
...President Bush and Tony Blair are considering...
Not even. Their plan is much more subtle and ingenious. Here's the end of the sentence, what the article maintains Bush and Blair are daring to consider:
...making a personal appeal to the Iraqi officials involved to let the inspectors know what is going on.
A senior Whitehall official said Mr Blair was considering reminding people in Iraq that they all had the same obligations as their leader to be open with the UN inspectors. It is hoped that at least some of those ordered to hide evidence in their homes might have the courage to come forward.
I doubt even Saddam imagined that hanging on to his weapons of mass destruction was going to be such a cakewalk.
Incidentally, the article also notes some "startling facts" emerging from recently-gathered intelligence. Among them, the straight dope on the referendum last month, when Saddam was "supposedly given a 100 per cent “yes” vote for continuing in office."
Baghdad claimed it was also a 100 per cent turnout. However, intelligence emerging since then has revealed that only one in three people actually voted.