SADDAM/SYRIA/WMD/DAM

I've come across a new wingnut meme about the absent WMD: Saddam moved them all to Syria in 2002 under the guise of giving aid to victims of a dam break. Searching the WJS, WAPO, NYT, LAT and Christian Science Monitor in 2002 for "Syria" and "dam," I found three references to the dam break:


THE WORLD; Syrian Dam Collapses; Villages Flood; [HOME EDITION]
Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Jun 5, 2002. pg. A.11

A dam collapsed in northern Syria and flooded several villages Tuesday, killing at least two people, residents and officials said.
After the Zeyzoun Dam burst, villagers said some areas were submerged under 13 feet of water. But the flood receded quickly, and a few hours later the water level was down to about 4 inches.
The dam, built in 1996, burst near Idlib, about 160 miles north of Damascus, the Syrian capital. It is on the Orontes River.
In the nearby village of Ziara, residents described a sudden deluge of water flooding homes and farmland shortly after 2 p.m.
Yasser Ibrahim, 33, a farmer, said two women were killed by the flooding. "The water took them," he said.
The Irrigation Ministry was coordinating rescue efforts and investigating the collapse.
Credit: Associated Press

THE WORLD; IN BRIEF; Death Toll From Dam Burst Grows to 10; [HOME EDITION]
Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, Calif.: Jun 6, 2002. pg. A.4
The death toll from a dam burst in northern Syria reached at least 10, the state-run news agency said, as villagers began returning to a scene of devastation.
About 100 homes were destroyed when the Zeyzoun Dam burst Tuesday, dumping nearly all of its water over 23 square miles of farmland and swamping several villages. President Bashar Assad ordered immediate assistance of $1,000 to the families of each of those killed.
Near the village of Zeyzoun, where most of the houses were destroyed, the corpses of sheep and goats floated around a huge, gaping rent in the dam. Residents said they had warned authorities of cracks in the dam days ago.

WORLD; In Brief; [FINAL Edition]
The Washington Post. Washington, D.C.: Jun 7, 2002. pg. A.23
Associated Press
DAMASCUS, Syria -- The death toll from flooding caused by a dam collapse in the north of Syria has jumped to 20 and could climb higher, the official media said.
Hundreds of homes were destroyed when the Zeyzoun dam north of Hamah developed cracks and ruptured Tuesday, submerging Zeyzoun under water and mud and flooding other nearby villages.
"It is impossible to know the number of lives lost in the collapse at this time," the state-run SANA news agency quoted the Hama provincial governor, Mohammad Said Aqil, as saying. He added that subsiding waters could reveal more deaths.



According to these reports, the death toll was probably over 20 but there was no mention of any foreign aid, let alone aid from Iraq.