Ba'ath Party Offices In Aadhamiyya Used To Conceal Sensitive Military Material
Source: UK Government paper, released 17 December 1998
Summary of Reports
During the last months of 1997, the Iraqi authorities moved sensitive military material by night to a large shed within the compound of the Shu'ba Aadhamiyya offices of the Ba'ath party in the Aadhamiyya district of Baghdad. The shed is normally used to house military uniforms.
The compound is not guarded by the Ba'ath party as is usually the routine but by members of the Istikhbarat Wazira Al-Dakhiliyya (Ministry of Interior Security and Information Service) who also guard other sensitive sites and prisons. A Lt-Colonel SARDAR from the Istikhbarat Wazira Al-Dakhiliyya is in charge of supervising security at the site.
The compound can only be reached by a narrow one-lane side road which is the second road on the right as you leave Atna Square heading towards the bridge to Mansur district. The shed within the compound is large and unmistakable.
The Source also said that the WMD equipment was hidden in a shed made of bricks and with a flat roof. The only entrance was through the building housing Lt Colonel SARDAR's office. The shed was medium sized (over fifty metres square and ten metres high) and rectangular. It housed military uniforms, boots etc and was lit by neon lights.
The WMD material was kept in a cellar below the shed, down approx six steps and about the same size as the shed itself. A thick steel door (3 x 3 metres) in the floor of the shed led to the cellar. A special hook was needed to move the door, and this was kept by Lt Colonel SARDAR.
The WMD equipment was kept in large wooden boxes, about 2 metres by 2 metres by 1.5 metres. The boxes were locked with expensive foreign made locks sealed with red wax, and had something written in a foreign language on them. The source thought this language was English, and believed that there may have been around ten boxes in total although he could not commit himself to a number. There were parts of dismantled missiles in the boxes.
The boxes would still be there. Lt Colonel SARDAR was still working on the compound, as SARDAR's only job had been to supervise these boxes and he was too senior to stay if they had been moved.
Map showing area around Ba'ath Party offices, and WMD concealment location
GIF image 19K
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