March 09, 2004

Iraq was close to producing nuclear weapons, scientist says

By Bassem Mroue
Associated Press


BEIRUT, Lebanon — Iraq was three years away from producing a nuclear bomb before the 1991 Gulf War, the No. 2 Iraqi scientist on the secret atomic program said Tuesday.
Noman Saad Eddin al-Noaimi, a former director-general of Iraq’s nuclear program, told The Associated Press the Iraqis were able to produce less than 2.2 pounds of highly enriched uranium before the program was halted. It is estimated that a bomb would require at least 22 pounds.

“Producing the appropriate amount would have required at least two more years, under normal circumstances,” he said. “Putting that substance into a weapon could have taken an additional year,” he said on the sidelines of a Beirut meeting on the repercussions of the Iraq invasion.

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

“This is my personal estimation. Others could be more optimistic or more pessimistic, but my personal assessment is that we were two to three years away from that, if everything went according to the required level and speed,” he said.

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.

Iraq, which lost the 1991 Gulf War to a U.S.-led international military coalition that ousted Saddam’s forces from Kuwait, had to throw open its doors to U.N. inspectors mandated with destroying Baghdad’s chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and the programs to develop them.

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.




The American Marine Division has the highest combat effectiveness in the American armed forces. It seems not enough for our four divisions to surround and annihilate its two regiments.

---Mao Tse Sung to General Song, prior to Chosin Reservoir

very interesting article. I still cannot believe that America joined other nations in condemning the israeli bombing of a nuclear reactor (osirik?) the the french helped build near baghdad. I hear it was bombed because they were months away from producing the bomb. occurred in 1981.

Did the US condemn that attack? I was too young at the time to take interest in what was going on in the world, so I don't recall. If we did we were definately wrong, and foolishly short-sighted.

The American Marine Division has the highest combat effectiveness in the American armed forces. It seems not enough for our four divisions to surround and annihilate its two regiments.

---Mao Tse Sung to General Song, prior to Chosin Reservoir

un ambassador jean kirpatrick (sp?) condemned israel (reagan administration) and the condemnation was pretty much unanimous. guess what country expressed glee at the bombing raid? iran, who was at war with iraq and had unsuccessfully tried to take out that reactor.

lol I typed 'ochirac' on google and got some neat info on the french building that nuclear reactor. I remember as a child seeing pictures of saddam and chirac touring that reactor just before it was destroyed.

one such article:
the French can spend as much time as they like pretending that they are opposed to war as a matter of principle, but it won't make their stance any more believable. The French are opposed to war because they want to sell Saddam more Mirages; because TotalElfFina has been making some serious money over there, which won't continue after Saddam is dead; because Jacques Chirac has been a friend of Saddam for over 25 years, and was the main person responsible for France's sale of the Osirak (also known jokingly as "Ochirac") nuclear reactor to Iraq. Chirac did not sell him that reactor with the expectation that he would use it to make electricity. At any rate, for every bit of US backing that Saddam had during the eighties, you can rest assured that, between the government, Dassault, Aérospatiale, ELF, Thomson-CSF, he had a hundred times as much from the French. This isn't about principle, it's about dollars, and I'm astounded that the Frogs have managed to convince anyone of the opposite.

I agree about the French. Their government's opposition to the current war in Iraq was largely based on economic considerations.

The American Marine Division has the highest combat effectiveness in the American armed forces. It seems not enough for our four divisions to surround and annihilate its two regiments.

---Mao Tse Sung to General Song, prior to Chosin Reservoir

'I agree about the French. Their government's opposition to the current war in Iraq was largely based on economic considerations.'

as was the US's case for war





After 9/11

'I believe that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the meeting.'

General Norman Schwartzkopf

A few years ago, I watched a documentary on the BBC about the Iraqi nuclear bomb, I still have it on tape!
It interviewed many different Iraqi scientists who had defected from Iraq, and they all said that Iraq bout about 20 kilograms of Highly Enriched Uranium from Brazil or South Africa, and detonated its own bomb as a test under a lake in central iraq!
They also said that the U.S knew about all this but didn’t want to tell the public so not to worry them!
Maybe the U.S still knows allot and it's not telling us!

“THE WORLD IS A BRIDGE, CROSS IT, BUT BUILD
NO HOUSE UPON IT!”

Ta Khoon Dar Rage Mast, Khomaini Rahbare Mast!






CIA agent Geoffrey Kemp talking about Saddam Hussein:

“WE KNEW HE WAS A SON OF A BITCH, BUT HE WAS OUR SON OF A BITCH”