Patrick McConnell Blog

Fox News: “Are Saddam Hussein’s WMDs Now in Hezbollah’s Hands?”

On the July 21 edition of Fox News’ The Big Story, during a report on the”scary ‘what ifs’ ” surrounding the current conflictbetween Israel and Hezbollah, host John Gibson, along with Fox News’ The Big Story Weekend Edition host JulieBanderas, speculated onwhether there was any truth to the baseless reports and statements fromunidentified “experts” that Saddam Hussein’s allegedstockpile of weapons of mass destruction was secretly transported to Syriaprior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and “might have been put inthe hands of Hezbollah.” Throughout the segment, the onscreen text read: “Are Saddam Hussein’s WMDs Now in Hezbollah’s Hands?”

During the report, Banderas endeavored to “separatefact from fiction.” Not mentioned at any time during the segment was thefact that the Iraq Survey Group’s final report, commonly known as the Duelfer report,included no evidencethat any secret transfer of weapons from Iraq to Syria had ever taken place.

From the July 21 edition of TheBig Story with John Gibson:

GIBSON: It has been claimed byseveral individuals that Saddam Hussein smuggled his weapons of massdestruction out to Syriabefore the U.S. invaded Iraq. Now,one report suggests these WMDs might have been put in the hands of Hezbollah inorder to strike Israel.Here, now, the host of The Big Story Weekend Edition, JulieBanderas. So, what dowe know?

BANDERAS: All right, John. Well,this just adds to the “what ifs” — I mean, scary “what ifs.”You know, what if Hezbollah had chemical weapons? While, it’s,of course, purely speculative right now, it is a definite possibility, and sois the possibility of Israeli troops carrying out ground invasions into Lebanon.We’ve been watching them massing up and lining up along the Lebanonborder today. But if they do go in, the worry is: What awaits them on the other side?

Now, you may remember yesterday AlJazeera television airing an interview with Hassan Nasrallah — he’s theleader of Hezbollah — and he warns, “We have a number of surprises upour sleeves.” What’s he talking about? What does that mean? Well,John, there’s widespread concern that could mean weapons of mass destruction.

So, here’s what we do know. OK, let’s try to separate fact from fictionhere. Syriadoes have chemical weapons. Six months ago, in fact, former Iraqi general GeorgesSada told Foxthat Saddam Hussein had his WMD program flown out of Iraqand into Syria before weinvaded Iraq.General Sada also says it was flown out on a series of 747 flights. Civilianaircraft were used; theseats were taken out, replaced with chemical weapons. That means thedocumentation, the test equipment, the production equipment, everything andanything that had to do with Saddam Hussein’s WMD program was flown to Syria.

And we also know this. As you know, Iran,it funds Hezbollah, giving them over $100 million a year. Iran wants nuclear weapons; Iran supports Syria. Some experts say if Hezbollah has any WMDs and uses them thatthey’ll probably trace back to Iraq,possibly, and keep Syria’shands clean of this.

GIBSON: Yeah.

BANDERAS: Could you imagine thatpossibility?

GIBSON: Well, Syria’s hands wouldn’t be clean, butsure, it’s a possibility, especially if that stuff was taken out of Iraq and into Syria. Julie Banderas, thank youvery much.