[A.A. Cunningham]

bomb

[harrycarey]

our nuclear program could have been reinstituted at the snap of Saddam Hussein's fingers. The sanctions and the lucrative oil-for-food program had served as powerful deterrents, but world events - like Iran's current efforts to step up its nuclear ambitions - might well have changed the situation.

Very interesting.

Nice post.

[theFIRMbss]

>Hundreds of my former staff members and fellow scientists possess knowledge that could be useful to a rogue nation eager for a covert nuclear weapons program. The vast majority are technicians who, like the rest of us, care first about their families and their livelihoods. It is vital that the United States ensure they get good and constructive jobs in postwar Iraq. The most accomplished of my former colleagues could be brought, at least temporarily, to the West and placed at universities, research labs and private companies

Good job hunting skills --
Hire us or we'll make small nukes
for your enemies . . .

[MizSterious]

"In addition to the inspections, the sanctions that were put in place by the United Nations after the gulf war made reconstituting the program impossible."

I'm sorry, but this is a crock. The Oil For Food graft would have made it entirely possible.

[Jim Robinson]

The Times continues spinning their pro-terrorist agenda, but the truth comes out elsewhere:

Syria seeking to oust Iraqi nuclear scientists

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1227670/posts

[Criminal Number 18F]

Interesting post, ND.

Professional intelligence officers deal more in enemy capabilities than in intentions. The reason is, the capability is the worst-case threat to you, and intentions can change, for instance if a government that favours you is overthrown (Iran '78), or, in this case, if a madman gets a wild impulse.

As I read it, he is saying the principal reason that Iraq did not resume its hard push for nuclear weapons (which started long before the ill-fated Kamel entered the scene) was that it wasn't Saddam's number one priority. Had Saddam changed his priorities (again, as I read this essay), he could have had a nuclear device in hand in less than twenty-four months.

The world will always have nukes and it will always have nutcases. Most of the world's nations are committed to keeping the intersection of the two sets very small.

As for his suggestion of bringing in Iraqi scientists: I think that is an outstanding idea, and think it should be extended to promising grad students, etc. There is plenty of precedent, notably with the Overcast/Paperclip operation at the end of the European theatre of war in 1945. Many of the German, Austrian, Czech etc., scientists that came to the USA under the auspices of that program remained and became valuable, productive citizens (Wernher von Braun, Alexander Lippisch, Walter Dornberger, to name a few). Others went back to Germany with a new, positive view of the USA.

One reason that some Iraqis hate America is that they know so little about it. By and large, the more educated, well-read, and cosmopolitan in outlook an Iraqi or other middle easterner is, the more likely he or she has a positive view of our nation. This can only be enhanced by a scientific exchange program (even if in the first few years the exchange is all one way).

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F