Nearly a year after U.S. weapons inspector Charles Duelfer first revealed their existence, Congress has decided to investigate a "large collection" of recordings of Saddam Hussein as he presided over meetings with his top military commanders - evidence that could yield key answers about what the Iraqi dictator did with his weapons of mass destruction.
The New York Sun reported Tuesday that the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is studying 12 hours of the recordings, although committee chairman Peter Hoekstra declined to describe for the paper the nature of the conversations or their context.
In April 2005, however, Iraq Survey Group chief Charles Duelfer announced the stunning find on the CIA's web site, saying: "A large collection of audiotapes from Revolutionary Command Council meetings chaired by Saddam is being translated and reviewed."
In an addendum to Duelfer's final CIA report that was overlooked by the press [except for NewsMax], Duelfer said: "These [tapes] will provide great insight into the decision making of the former Regime on a range of key subjects."
After revealing the existence of the secret Saddam tapes, the top weapons searcher emphasized that media reports claiming that he had concluded that Iraq didn't have WMDs before the war were wrong.
"Some uncertainties remain and some information will continue to emerge about the WMD programs of the former Regime," Duelfer said. "Reports cited in the Comprehensive Report concerning the possible movement of WMD or WMD materials from Iraq prior to the war remain unresolved."
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