Iraqi Exiles Claim Saddam “Hiding Weapons in Mosques”
U.N.
car passes an Iraqi soldier in front of the United Nations
quarters in Baghdad
LONDON,
November 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Iraqi dissidents are
claiming that Saddam is hiding weapons and documents inside schools,
hospitals and mosques, a U.K. newspaper reported Sunday, November 17.
The
Telegraph said that Dr. Ayad Alawi, leader of the Iraqi National
Accord (INA), an opposition group with good contacts within the
regime, said that the regime was moving documents and materials from
weapons laboratories and a ballistic-missile site into hospitals,
schools and mosques in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk.
The
concealment operation, according to the Telegraph, “is being
coordinated by Brig Gen Walid Al-Nasri, a trusted aide from Saddam’s
home region of Tikrit who reports directly to Qusay Hussein,
Saddam’s second son and head of his powerful State Security
Organization.”
U.N.
arms inspection agency chief Hans Blix was scheduled to fly to Baghdad
on Monday morning, November 18, with the head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El-Baradei.
He
said the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission
(UNMOVIC), which he heads, was ready to conduct inspections anywhere,
even in mosques.
“There
are no sanctuaries,” Blix said, but added: “We are aware of
religious sensitivities ... and are not instructed to carry out
provocative inspections.”
