APRIL 2003 : (GERMAN AUTHORITIES ALERT FRENCH CONCERNING ALUMINUM TUBES LOADED ONTO A FRENCH SHIP; TUBES BELIEVED TO BE DESTINED FOR NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PROGRAM) THE German government has intercepted a shipment of German-made aluminium tubes probably destined for use in North Korea's nuclear program, according to a German magazine. The weekly Der Spiegel says in its latest issue that 22 tonnes of aluminium tubes, essential in the manufature of enriched uranium, were loaded onto a French ship in Hamburg in early April just as German authorities vetoed the shipment. The German government alerted the French authorities, who ordered the ship's captain to unload the containers in Egypt. Officially the tubes were on their way to a Chinese aeronautics company, but according to Der Spiegel Berlin believes this company was a front for North Korea. The German firm's business contact was a North Korean national, it says. The magazine says the head of the German company, called Optronic and based at Koenigsbronn in southern Germany, was detained for questioning. The prosecutor's office in Stuttgart confirmed it had opened an investigation into a local firm suspected of contravening foreign trade regulations, but gave no further details. On Thursday, in the first direct high-level contact between the United States and North Korea since the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear program erupted last October, North Korea confirmed it possessed nuclear weapons.- "'Nuke-related' shipment for N.Korea," News.com.au, 4/27/03 * See also : French Freighter intercepted by Germans in Egypt carrying Nuclear Material
JUNE 2003 : (DR. DAVID KELLY IS INTERVIEWED BY THE UK'S SUNDAY TIMES : KELLY REVEALS THAT IRAQ CONCOCTED A DIRTY BOMB DURING THE IRAN-IRAQ WAR) In a June interview with the newspaper, Kelly revealed that Saddam originally built the dread weapon [a dirty bomb] capable of causing cancer and birth defects for use against Iranian troops during the Iran-Iraq war as a tactical weapon and an instrument of terror. Moreover Kelly insisted that said Iraq still "possessed the know-how and the materials to build a radiological weapon, "adding that the threat posed by such weapons was potentially more serious than some other weapons of mass destruction because Iraq still retained the main ingredients to build dirty bombs such as nuclear material and high explosives. When the Times asked why this shocking information was not featured in the British government's case for going to war against Iraq, Kelly said he did not know, but added that there were people in government who were skeptical about the potency of such a weapon. In private, Kelly is said to have believed the evidence should have been included in the dossier because of the possibility that Iraq could reactivate the program even after it had been stripped of other non-conventional weapons. - "Dead U.K. Expert: Saddam Built a Dirty Bomb," by Phil Brennan, NewsMax.com, Monday, Aug. 4, 2003