Iraqi General Sada gives inspiring talk in Blairsville
By FRANK BRADLEY Sentinel writer

Chuck Honaker and Casey Taylor make up the Honor Guard. Both are veterans of the Iraqi War. Taylor is getting ready to be reassigned to Afghanistan.

Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) before the Iraqi invasion, Iraqi Air Force General Georges Sada told a large audience gathered at the House of Prayer Church Family Life Center on Sunday.

"They (WMD's) were used against my nation, killing 5,200 people," he said.

Sada said the reason those WMD's were not found was because they had been flown out of Iraq into Syria the previous year under the guise of humanitarian relief when a dam collapsed there in the summer of 2002 flooding a large region.

Sada told about a thousand persons attending the Blairsville gathering that Saddam had two commercial jets converted into cargo jets, in order to carry raw materials and equipment that he had stockpiled for WMD projects. He said the passenger sets and the whole inside of the planes were stripped to make room for hundreds of tons of chemicals and other materials that were sent to Damascus. In all, the two planes flew 56 sorties carrying the materials to Syria, Sada said, adding that he had been told of this by one of the Iraqi captains who flew the mission.

Dana Nelson

General Sada said before the United States/United Kingdom invasion, Saddam realized he would have a large number of his aircraft destroyed by missiles and consequently had them flown to Iran, so they could be used later. He said after Iraq fell to the allied forces, the Iraqi government asked for the planes to be returned, and the Iranians denied they ever had them.

For several years, General Sada served in the Iraqi Air Force, later becoming a top advisor to Saddam Hussein. He was an ace pilot, who had trained at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, as well as in Russia. He said he first met Saddam in 1965 after he had driven a new Chevy from Texas to a New York port, and then from France to Baghdad. In 1986, Sada was a two-star general and second in command of his nation's air force. He was asked why he was not a member of the Baath Party, and told his superiors that since the requirement to be a member was to be a Arab and a Muslim, that he could not swear to that since he was an Assyrian and a Christian.

Tony Hunter

Sada said he was forced to resign.

He told his audience that he was the first officer to be called back in 1990 after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq. He said he advised Saddam to withdraw, but that Saddam did not take his advice. He said he was in the underground bunker of Saddam and had been sleeping in Saddam's apartment, but that he got up from a deep sleep to check on operations in another part of the bunker just before U.S. missiles hit the bunker. He said when he went back to the apartment, there was a huge concrete block that had fallen and flatten the bed that he had been sleeping in.

Sada said at some point, Saddam called him in and told him that he had disagreed with him on 18 separate occasions. He said at the time, he thought he was finished on the spot. Instead, Saddam put his arm on his shoulder and told him that on every occasion, Sada had been right. Sada said he thought, "Thank You Jesus."

General Georges Sada and Dr. Terry Law following their talk at The House of Prayer in Blairsville.

Sada said he never told Saddam that he was wrong. Instead he would tell him, "I have some ideas that are different from your other advisors, which I will tell you if you will permit me."

He said Saddam never perceived him as a threat to him, since he was not an Arab nor a Muslim, Saddam knew he would not kill him, not replace him. Sada said Saddam used Christians selectively because he could trust them. He said Saddam used a Presbyterian Christian from Chicago who was the overseer of all the food preparation for Saddam and his family.

Sada said when the American and British pilots bombed the Iraqi air defense, a number of pilots were shot down. There were 23 in all, and Saddam had them turned over to Sada to be responsible for them. He said on the third day after this first Persian War, he received an order from one of Hussein's sons to have the pilots executed. Sada argued with him the the rights according to the Geneva Convention prevented him from doing so.

Chuck Honaker says farewell to General Sada.

As a result of that action, Sada was arrested and held prisoner, but Saddam eventually changed his mind about the executing the prisoners because of the likely retaliation against him and his family.

Appearing with General Sada was Dr. Terry Law, who is the founder of World Compassion, a Christian humanitarian organization.

Law is credited with getting an article included in the new Iraqi Constitution guaranteeing freedom of religion, human rights and rights for women.

While the new constitution was being hammered out, Law appeared before the president and asked why someone in the U.S. was free to become a Muslim or free to convert to any other religion, and it was not allowed in Iraq. Instead, it was generally understood that for a Muslim to convert to Christianity meant a death sentence on him or her. Dr. Law asked General Sada if he had ever known of a Muslim converting to Christianity before the recent change in the Iraqi Constitution. General Sada said in the many years he had lived there, he was not aware of any Muslim who had done so.

Dr. Law said before the change in the constitution, there had only been five Christian churches in Baghdad. Today, there are 25, he said, with the largest on with more than 1,000 members. Law said that 1,600 Muslims had converted to Christianity in the past four years.

In his final comments to the gathered congregation in Blairsville, General Sada said, "We are Christians and we want peace. You will not have peace unless you maintain force and power. Your troops have done a great job in my country. What you are doing there is the best way of how to deal with terrorists. Send forces after them, where ever they are. Don't let them come here (the U.S.) and then fight them.

The audience gave General Sada a standing ovation.

After Sada's talk, I asked some who attended what they thought.

"I am now confident that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," Dana Nelson told me.

Tony Hunter said he found the talk by Sada enlightening. "He's been a lot of help in bringing the Christian believe to the Middle East," he said.

Vernon Scharer, who said he is a regular member of the House of Prayer and on its Missionary Committee, said, "It really opens your eyes. There's just a lot of these facts you don't get in the news."

Pastor Jerry Helton welcomed the attendees prior to General Sada's talk. Also, the church choir sang a number of spiritual songs.

Among the attendees were Governor Zell Miller, Representative Charles Jenkins, Senator Chip Pearson, Sole Commissioner Lamar Paris and others.

General Sada's presentation was made possible through the support of area businesses including, President Jimmy Tallent of United Community Banks, President Jeff Patterson of Chatuge Bank Shares, The Ridges Resort, Brasstown Valley Resort and Windstream.