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Iraq nukes soon { September 16 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-417076,00.htmlhttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-417076,00.html
World News
September 16, 2002
Iraq 'will have nuclear bomb in months'
By Katty Kay in Washington, Paul Martin and Melissa Kite
Bush security chief tells of Saddam links with al-Qaeda
IRAQ could produce nuclear weapons within months using pirated German equipment and uranium smuggled from Brazil, according to a dissident Iraqi nuclear scientist.
The revelations painting an alarming picture of President Saddam Hussein’s nuclear capabilities came as the White House made its strongest link yet between Saddam and al-Qaeda, and demanded a United Nations resolution as soon as this week.
Dr Khidir Hamza, who was science adviser to the Atomic Energy Establishment and later helped to start and direct Iraq’s nuclear bomb programme before he defected in 1994, claims in an interview with The Times today that Saddam could be in a position to make three nuclear weapons within the next few months, if he has not already done so.
Dr Hamza gave warning that UN inspectors would be useless because even if they were given “unfettered access” they would find it far more difficult than before to detect the nuclear assembly line. “The beauty of the present system is that the units are each very small and in the four years since the inspectors left they will have been concealed underground or in basements or buildings that outwardly seem normal,” Dr Hamza said.
Dr Hamza gave evidence before Senator Joe Biden’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Iraq in Washington last August but it was only after the recent International Institute for Strategic Studies report on the threat from Saddam that he became aware of the West’s imperfect understanding of the urgency of the situation.
Dr Hamza’s new estimation of the speed with which a nuclear bomb could be produced is centred on the number of pirated centrifuges that Baghdad has been able to produce and the rapidity with which the re-processing programme is being undertaken. The scientist’s intelligence suggests a more immediate threat than reported last week by the IISS, which concluded that Iraq could make a bomb only if it smuggled in the necessary uranium or radioactive material.
According to Dr Hamza, that material is already inside Iraq and is currently being processed to weapons grade. He said that Iraq was using a centrifuge method to get a bomb which is easier and quicker than other methods. “Unless he’s stopped soon, Saddam will have set up a whole nuclear bomb industry, not just have made a couple of bombs,” Dr Hamza said.
The Bush Administration yesterday made its strongest public connection between Iraq and al-Qaeda. National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said that al-Qaeda personnel had been spotted in Baghdad and that the Iraqi regime had ties to the network.
Until now the Administration has shied away from linking Iraq to al-Qaeda, prompting widespread speculation that the US had no evidence of links between the two. Yesterday Dr Rice suggested that was not the case: “Iraq has clearly links with terrorism that would include al-Qaeda.”
Dr Rice backed away from any implication that Saddam was involved in the September 11 attacks, but said that there was sufficient evidence against him to justify action without ties to the attacks on New York and Washington. “Let’s be clear. There’s plenty to indict Saddam Hussein without a direct link to 9/11,” she said.
There were growing signs that the international community was moving in America’s favour to support an urgent UN deadline for Iraq to readmit weapons inspectors. Washington maintained pressure on the international community to move fast and start work on resolutions in the next few days. “I expect we’d work on a resolution in fairly short order, in the next week,” Dr Rice said.
In a key strategic victory for the US, Saudi Arabia said yestrday that if America had UN authority, it would be allowed to use bases in the desert kingdom for an attack against Iraq.
Jack Straw, at the UN General Assembly, said there was a growing consensus about the nature of the demands to be imposed on the Iraqi regime. The Foreign Secretary said that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Britain, France, China and Russia — had not yet made a final decision about whether there would be one resolution or two.
As diplomats discussed their options for Baghdad, US and British jets bombed an air defence communications facility near Tallil, 160 miles (257km) south of Baghdad. There were no reports of casualties.
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