Posted on 06/29/2007 9:40:30 PM PDT by Anita1
UNITED NATIONS -- In a wide-ranging compendium on Saddam Hussein's secret weapons programs, the U.N. Monitoring, Observation, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) reveals that in late 1989, Saddam's military launched a modified Scud missile that could have carried a nuclear warhead. In a document released on Thursday, UNMOVIC states . . . Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, repeatedly waved off Western concerns about the missile program. Now, it has become clear that such concerns were justified . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
The issue of Iraqi nuclear missiles had been periodically raised by Russian authorities when it became known that the Al Abid missile had the potential of reaching Moscow.
The missile was also believed capable of reaching as far west as Paris.
Iraq's deputy prime minister, Tariq Aziz, repeatedly waved off Western concerns about the missile program.
Now, it has become clear that such concerns were justified.
The 1,160-page report to be examined by the U.N. Security Council on Friday is likely to be the last by the U.N. inspectors. The U.S. and the UK intend to introduce a resolution to disband the inspection unit.
Down from more than 300 personnel, the remaining 34 UNMOVIC staffers had spent most of their time these days analyzing docuements they had impounded before Saddam was overthrown in 2003.
They NEED to have MORE staffers - NOT less!
jveritas: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1718125/posts
No, that’s not possible, so many Freepers have told me Saddam was never a threat...
That’s funny. I seem to remember a whole bunch who “knew” bin Laden was dead too.
ping
Scuds themselves were notoriously inaccurate. Did Saddam’s weapons developers think they could target this thing more precisely than, say, half a hemisphere?
God bless our troops.
Another reason that George the 1st should have finished the job in ‘91 instead of letting Saddam off the hook.
All it does is prove Saddam was looking to acquire and use nukes, no big deal.
Why aren't the American masses in overjoyed that they know for sure Saddam can never deliver a nuclear device? Or give praise that we severely destroyed Saddam's capability back in 1991, without witch Saddam's Iraq would have been a nuclear power?
Just how accurate do you have to be with a nuclear tipped missile?
And it's fallout.
It's only a WMD if it's aimed at liberal interests.
There are Scuds and there is the Al-Hussein. The missiles that Saddam launched during Gulf War I were Al-Husseins. The Iraqis chopped up three Russian Scuds to make two Al-Hussein, which had longer range and a smaller payload.
The Scud had pretty good accuracy, a coupla hundred meters CEP. The Al-Hussein, like the Scud, was non-separating by design. The longer range by itself would lead to larger errors, obviously. The problems of the Al-Hussein were multiplied by the fact that it was aerodynamically unstable on reentry and would oscillate violently in angle of attack. (Not a prescription for accuracy in a ballistic missile.) The oscillations would cause the jury rigged airframe (bits of one and a half Scuds welded together by crack Iraqi craftsmen) to break up which did not enhance its accuracy very much.
It still had like a kilometer size CEP and could hit cities and posed a threat to large targets like airbases.
There is still the problem of “carrying a nuclear warhead”? During the 1950’s the question was, “Would the AEC make ballistic missiles practical?” Early nuclear weapons needed something the size of a B-29 to carry them. It took the U.S. years of effort and billions of dollars to make nuclear weapons light and rugged enough to be carried by ballistic missiles.
Hussein spent about ten billion ( 1e10) dollars on his nuclear weapons program prior to Gulf War I; he had 100,000 people working full time for ten years on nuclear weapons. He may have been about a year away from making a nuclear weapon in 1990. Had he waited, the invasion of Kuwait may have been completely unnecessary.
bad guys in the middle east + other bad guys in the middle east = no cause for concern
/sarc
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