Iraq's 'Nuclear Mastermind' Tells Tale of Ambition, Deceit

Los Angeles Times ^ | October 3, 2004 | Bob Drogin, Times Staff Writer

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

WASHINGTON — On most days now, Mahdi Obeidi rides his new mountain bike, plays with his grandkids and works on getting a U.S. patent for technology he originally developed to build a nuclear bomb for Saddam Hussein.

Obeidi, who headed Hussein's uranium enrichment program until it was shut down in 1991, is the only Iraqi weapons scientist that the CIA is known to have brought to the United States after the invasion last year. The CIA also flew eight of his family members here in August 2003 and secretly set them up in three adjoining apartments in a leafy Virginia suburb close to downtown Washington.

But it is far less clear what happened to most of the 500 other scientists U.S. officials considered to be at the core of Hussein's programs to build missiles and nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

U.S. officials have intercepted offers from Iran in recent months to hire several former Iraqi nuclear and missile scientists. None are known to have gone to Tehran, which Washington believes is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

But U.S. officials are also concerned about the danger that remains inside Iraq. "The immediate fear is the proximity of these scientists to the insurgents and terrorists in Iraq," a U.S. official who travels frequently to Baghdad said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "That has become a compelling issue for us."

And Obeidi is speaking out now to warn how easy it would be for someone to build a nuclear weapon.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

A must read article.

Firefox and the extension bugmenot will help.

[SunkenCiv]

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[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

But Duelfer also has told colleagues that evidence indicated that Hussein intended to mobilize his scientists to resume production of illicit arms if Iraq ever were free of U.N. inspections, trade sanctions and other international oversight. He found evidence of small clandestine laboratories, procurement of banned materials overseas, and work on illegal missiles and drones.

Obeidi described himself as "a high-rev engine," a scientist of incessant curiosity and intense energy. His dark eyes and mouth twitched nervously as he spoke. He was proud of his work, repeatedly calling himself "Saddam's nuclear mastermind," and expressing no regrets or remorse.

"It never crossed my mind to take the other path and be a nobody."

Creepy.