Posted on 03/26/2003 3:17:13 PM PST by FairOpinion
Gazi George, a consultant for Titan in Quincy, says 39 rods of uranium were hidden in a specially built swimming pool.
A former Iraqi scientist says Iraq is hiding materials that could be used to make nuclear weapons. He knows this because he helped hide some of the materials more than 20 years ago.
Gazi George, who lives near Detroit, Mich., and does consulting work in Quincy, fled Iraq in 1981 after helping to hide 39 rods of enriched uranium — enough to build two nuclear bombs.
At the time, George was working for the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission. He was assigned to the Osirak nuclear power plant at Tuweitha when the commission received intelligence that the plant was being targeted by enemy forces during the Iraq-Iran War, which was then about a year old.
In an interview this morning with The Quincy Herald-Whig, George told how he devised a plan to remove the uranium from the nuclear plant’s reactor and hide it in a specially built swimming pool about a mile from the plant.
The plant was subsequently destroyed by Israeli fighter jets, and the uranium was never discovered. “Until today, I don’t think it’s accounted for,” George said.
George, now an American citizen, said he decided now to speak out about his experiences because he wants to show support for the U.S. military efforts in Iraq.
“I wanted to tell this story to anybody to let them know they are living in the best country in the world,” he said. “It’s the fairest country where you can speak, and freedom is guaranteed to you. In my case, I had to fight for my freedom. And they finally decided to kill me because I was fighting for it too hard.”
George said an international inspector was dispatched to the bombed site in 1981 to check for radiation. George said he was ordered to contaminate the grounds with a dusting of alpha emitters — a material that mimics a uranium spill — and the inspector went away satisfied that the plant’s nuclear material had been destroyed.
“The whole thing was faked,” he said.
George realized he knew too much about Iraq’s nuclear program and began fearing for his safety. His contract with the Iraq Atomic Energy Commission was going to expire in 1981. However, when he asked for permission to leave the country temporarily to witness the birth of his son because his wife was in the United States at that time, Iraqi officials denied the request.
“We’re not going to let you go anywhere,” he said he was told.
That’s when George started plotting his escape.
He called his sister in the United States who, in turn, contacted some friendly Iraqi doctors. They provided fake medical reports showing that George had contracted cancer and needed medical treatments in Europe. At the same time, George was quietly selling his house and making arrangements for his mother and aunt to leave the country as well.
George received permission to go to Europe in August 1981, but only after he turned over his wife’s passport to Iraqi officials. What the Iraqis didn’t know is that the passport he gave them was a duplicate — and that his wife was already safely out of the country.
George, his British-born wife and their first-born son lived with her relatives in England for a time. One day the telephone rang at the house. It was an official from the Iraqi embassy in London trying to locate George. The Iraqi official told George’s mother-in-law that the government had a big check for George, but he would have to pick it up himself at the embassy headquarters. George knew this was a trick to bring him back to Iraq — probably in a body bag.
“If you go to the embassy, you don’t leave the embassy,” he said.
George said his wife took the phone and, in quick-thinking fashion, conjured up a story. She told the Iraqi official that she and George had divorced a year earlier, and she hadn’t seen him since.
George and his family hastily moved to Scotland. He later received a tip that the Iraqis had issued a death sentence against him.
“I knew they were after me,” he said.
That’s when he decided to come to the United States, where he now lives with his wife and three children.
George, 52, owns a chemical and environmental consulting business in the Detroit area. For the past 12 years, his work has brought him to Quincy frequently to do consulting work for Titan International, a company owned by his friend Morry Taylor.
“Morry Taylor is one of the best Americans I have ever seen,” George said.
For years, George has kept quiet about his involvement in Iraq’s nuclear program. He only recently broke his silence after the U.S. and British military invaded Iraq.
George said he still fears for his life, but he’s more worried about possible Iraqi or terrorist reprisals against his family.
George believes the United States is justified in its military action against Saddam Hussein.
“This is not a war. This is the liberation of the Iraqi people from tyranny and dictatorship,” he said. “Saddam Hussein is a master of denial and deception. I hate to see war happen, but force is the only language that Saddam understands.”
George said he supports President Bush “100 percent” in his quest to liberate Iraq.
“The president is trying to restore the pride of the Iraqi people,” he said. “He’s trying to restore democracy to an area that needs it.”
George is confident U.S. military personnel in Iraq will eventually uncover evidence that Saddam was producing weapons of mass destruction. He even provided some information to the U.S. government after United Nations inspectors started looking for possible weapons of mass destruction.
George said France, Germany and Russia “really made a big point” of opposing the war in Iraq.
“The main reason is those three countries aided Saddam Hussein during the embargo period, during the sanctions period,” he said. “It’s started coming out now that the Russians sent them all the satellite-jamming equipment and the night-vision equipment. I could assure you they are going to find chemical and probably biological materials in there with equipment that is labeled ‘Made in France’ on it. This is why those guys are scared.”
George said he had reason to become suspicious while working for Iraq that Saddam was developing the means to develop nuclear weapons. But he couldn’t speak out against the program for fear of being put to death.
“I was used as a workhorse,” he said. “You can’t say no.”
George said he saw many disturbing things while working for the Iraqi government. One of the most troubling involved a secret bunker where political prisoners were taken to be tortured.
George said prisoners were locked in cages too small for a person to stand up. The prisoners were injected with radiation and exposed to high doses of radiation until they died.
George said he’s glad he left Iraq when he did.
“For anyone who says the United States is not a good country, let them go and live somewhere else. I lived in seven countries in my life. This is the best country in the world. There is no match for the United States,” he said.
Contact Staff Writer Edward Husar at ehusar@whig.com or (217) 221-3378
France is not just a sorry excuse of an ally. They're our enemy all the way.
MM
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