Iraqi: Saddam 3 Years From Nukes in '91

[underpants]

21 minutes ago

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=4&u=/ap/20040309/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_nuclear

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Iraq (news - web sites) was three years away from producing a nuclear bomb before the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites), the No. 2 Iraqi scientist on the secret atomic program said Tuesday.

Al-Noaimi, who retired in the late '90s, cautioned that other scientists may have different estimates on how close Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was to having a nuclear bomb.

Examining the history of Iraq's nuclear program, Al-Noaimi co-authored a paper with Jafar Dhia Jafar, the father of Iraq's nuclear bomb program. The scientists presented their paper Monday to the conference, declaring that most Iraqi nuclear facilities were damaged or destroyed in the 1991 U.S.-led Gulf war. They said scientists, engineers and technicians involved in the program dispersed after the war and the program was dismantled on Saddam's orders.

Al-Noaimi and Jafar said Iraq never revived its nuclear weapons program.

A British intelligence dossier made public in September 2002, as U.S. and British leaders were building their case for war against Iraq, maintained that if U.N. sanctions against Iraq were lifted, Saddam could develop a nuclear weapon in one to two years.

However, the International Atomic Energy Agency has said Iraq's nuclear program was in disarray before last year's war and was unlikely to be able to support any active effort to build atomic weapons.

[indepat]

1. I don't recall how close Pakistan was to developing nukes in 1991,

whether it was three years or more or less or whether they already had 'em.

[Barrett808]

2. This claim is completely at odds with the overwhelming bulk of evidence

So what's up with this?

[underpants]

3. I don't think it helps that the article is written backwards

The concrete evidence from this insider is that the program was completely dismantled. He says that his 3 year estimate is just that an estimate and will probably be disputed by others.

To me this looks like the report is garnering attention basically for the headline not the fact that he states that there was no program after '91.

[Khephra]

4. kick

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. Another piece on the same subject:

http://www.sacbee.com/24hour/world/story/1197003p-8172395c.html