An Iraqi General Comes To Branson

A 417MAG.COM EXCLUSIVE: Read our interview with Saddam Hussein's former air force general, Georges Sada. He'll be in Branson in April for the Arise World Missions Conference.

General Georges Sada is the hero of Helen and Chuck Todd’s escape from Baghdad, using his pull in the Iraqi defense ministry to provide 417-land missionaries with a way out of Baghdad in April 2004.

In April 2007, Sada visits Branson for the Arise World Missions Conference. Held April 4 to 7, the conference will feature Christian missionaries working in China, Jordan, India and elsewhere. They will discuss world events “from the Biblical perspective” and missions opportunities “in the ‘hot spots’ of the world.” Free reservations for the event are available by calling 866-733-4737.

Sada’s story is remarkable. An Assyrian Christian born in northern Iraq, he trained as a fighter pilot in the U.S. and the Soviet Union. From 1958 to 1986, and then again in 1990 and 1991, he served in Iraq’s air force. He was one of Saddam Hussein’s key advisors.

He’s best known to Americans for Saddam’s Secrets, a book in which he claims that Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to Syria via civilian aircraft in 2002. Yet this assertion—which, if proved, would let the Bush administration off the hook for starting the Iraq war—hasn’t been demonstrated to be factual. “We have not been able to verify the claims made in General Sada’s book,” Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, told The New York Sun in March 2006.

Today, Sada directs the Iraqi Institute of Peace, is active in Iraq’s evangelical Presbyterian church and works to promote Iraq’s restoration. He spends a lot of time in Amman, Jordan, where he gave 417 Magazine an exclusive interview by cellphone January 18. —Gregory Holman

Q. You were in the Iraqi air force for decades, surviving a long time as a Christian in a Baathist state. Yet in TV interviews like the one with Jon Stewart last year, you’re this happy, grandfatherly man. You’re cracking jokes about facing down a dictator. Where do you get that sense of humor?
A. [Laughs]. Well, you see I am a fighter pilot. We fighter pilots have to have a sense of humor. I was always trying to do good work…. I loved the air force, I was a man who loved duty, loved his people. I worked very hard. I think everyone respected me, gave chance to continue. I was a Christian believer in a Muslim air force. I had to be the ambassador of all Christians in the world in this Muslim country. I always try to appear in a very good shape. That’s what happened, what saved me. Again, Greg, with all that, I don’t want to make it all about me. Jesus Christ was helping me. I always looked to Jesus as my first example.

Q. You’re going to speak to a Christian world ministry conference in Branson in April. What will be your message to the people there?
A. Well, uh, you know, everything is developing now in Iraq. I will tell about Iraq, how things are going on and how the Christians are doing… many Christians fled from Basra, Baghdad, Mosul up north to Kurdistan…. Every day in Iraq is different; every day, change may happen. Now, President Bush is not that happy about Prime Minister al-Maliki and the Iranians are dealing in Iraq.

Q. What was your reaction to Saddam Hussein’s execution?
A. Well, you see when you look to Saddam Hussein, he was… I had been working with him 1958 up to 1991. I knew how much he had done in the country. His crimes in the country. He killed many Iraqis, even in his own party, clerics, Sunni, Shiite, Kurds. He was a tough dictator. We Christians don’t want anyone to be killed, but Iraqi law had many items to execute. I was not not surprised when it happened. But even when ordered to hang a man, he should be hanged in the proper way. He is a human being. I was expecting, hoping the executioners would behave in a better way.

Q. What is your greatest hope for your country?
A. … I’m still working in the process of peace… In February there is going to be a big conference with the Christians, Shia, Kurds, Sunni, everyone, at a conference in London. We are trying to achieve peace. [Only with] negotiations, only then can we have a safe Iraq. Only then. Without that, it is very difficult to have peace. Lots of things are developing every day. Lot of intereference from Iran. They are developing nuclear weapons. Iran and Syria are trying to interfere. We [Iraq] should also develop ourselves and our processes. Only then can we achieve something.

Q. Do you stand by your claims that weapons of mass destruction were transferred to Syria in 2002?
A. Oh yes, of course. I mean, that will—I will always say WMDs were in Iraq, used against the nation, used against Kurds, thousands killed by chemical weapons. In ’98, ’99, 2000, 2001, Iraq continued developing weapons. Last time, they were transported to Syria, that’s why they didn’t find them. But still, American forces found in 2006, 500 rockets of chemical weapons with mustard gas, sarin, now in the hands of the Americans. The weapons were there, Saddam used them, but now I think many things are more serious… Iran and [its] interference and Iran possessing nuclear weapons.

But please, when you are writing this article, always, always… we are people who look for the peace. We look to the political process and the military, both together, used in a very good way. And of course, participating—all the people of Iraq, in the political process.