Does Iraq Already Have the Atomic Bomb?

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 10/20/02 | Thomas Lipscomb

[Clodia Pulcher]

In looking for international support, the Bush administration continues to argue that Saddam Hussein's Iraq may be close to creating a nuclear weapon. But after revelations about the extent of the North Korean atomic weapons program a more likely assumption may be that Iraq already has one or more.

Forgotten in the current speculation over progress in Iraq is the history of the United States' own atomic bomb program

[Clodia Pulcher]

Looks pretty convincing to ME!

[caltrop]

Looks convincing to me, too.

It's also occurred to me that perhaps North Korea, recognizing it's also on our axis of evil list, might share its efforts and equipment with the Iraqis.

[Common Tator]

Germany was on to what it takes to make Atomic weapons long before we were. Hitler would have had atomic weapons if we had not blown up his heavy water plants and a few other facilities he needed. Hitlers so called secret weapon to win the war was indeed atomic bombs. We knew his secret and blew the plant up. He never got any made.

If Saddam were close to having a plant that could make nukes the Israelis would have destroyed it. The last time Saddam was close they Jews bombed his plant to kingdom come their will be done.. Long before Saddam could get it operational.

The best evidence that Saddam has no facility to make Atomic weapons is the Israelis have not bombed it into tiny pieces yet.

Saddams danger is not so much atomic weapons but that he can train all sorts of terrorists who are not Iraqi nationals and send them to kill Americans. Once aftghanistan was down the militant muslims needed a place to train snipers and other terrorists. Iraq makes a good place. He can arm them with things like anthrax and nerve gas. He can send them out to kill and deny he had any involvement.

Do you think that any people that hate us fail to see the possibilities of what the washingont sniper has accomplished. If we don't start kicking butt pretty soon. The saftest place in the US.. the one with the fewest snipers.. the place where you are least likely to be shot in the back .... will be the current Washington D.C. Area.

Liberal appeasement... ain't it amazing.

[Yasotay]

It is pretty clear to me that Saddam has had nukes for awhile. There are just too many indications that says yes he has them.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

we will find out soon enough

[brbethke]

Much as we'd like to believe it, the Mossad is not infallible.

The day we know for certain that Iraq has the bomb will be the day that they have five or six in inventory, at least two already pre-positioned in, say, London and Paris, and a team ready to conduct a test detonation in Tel Aviv.

We can't afford to wait until we know that they have a nuke.

[Nick Danger]

I don't understand what difference it makes whether he has nuclear weapons. All of the human casualty models show far more deaths from an attack with biological weapons, especially anthrax. The nuke will make a bigger flash and bang, but the anthrax will kill more people. He has that now, and we know it.

I think the whole issue of whether he has a nuke is a red herring. The only thing he could do with a nuke that he can't do with anthrax is render some fraction of the world's oil reserves unuseable. I'd rather have that than an anthrax attack.

[adam stevens]

If there is any chance then we must bomb Iraq immediately!

[SicTransitGloriaMundi]

"Germany was on to what it takes to make Atomic weapons long before we were. Hitler would have had atomic weapons if we had not blown up his heavy water plants and a few other facilities he needed. Hitler's so called secret weapon to win the war was indeed atomic bombs. We knew his secret and blew the plant up. He never got any made."

From what I remember, Heisenberg, who was in charge of German efforts, missed a critical part of the calculation of the efficiency of the nuclear chain reaction. He concluded that the bomb wouldn't work because he didn't account for some sort of reflection effect. Supposedly he didn't believe the allies had succeeded at Hiroshima, until American scientists pointed out his mistake.

[Common Tator]

The information presented to Eisenhower was that Heisenberg was very close to having a bomb. He lacked heavy water and a few other things. We managed to keep him from getting them.

After the war we decided we needed Heisenberg nearly as much as Werner Von Braun. So cover stories were invented. Among them that he was realy opposed to Hitler and kept the Germans from making a bomb with purposeful math errors.

The truth was several people tried to get him out of germany in the 1930's and he refused to come out. He was not opposed to Hitler.

We killed and or imprisoned most German leaders as war criminals except for the ones we needed. For those we made cover stories.

The Russians got a number of the German Nuclear Scientist. They were the ones that created the Soviet bombs.

It is interesting to note that former German Scientists under the NATZI regime did both the American missiles and the Soviet atomic bombs.

[Tennessee_Bob]

It is interesting to note that former German Scientists

Not just the scientists, but a great deal of their equipment as well. Arnold Engineering and Development Center (an Air Force base in Middle Tennessee) has a lot of the Nazi wind tunnel equipment. We took a tour there in 1981 in my high school electronics class. The tunnel techs pointed out different parts of the equipment that still had the Reich Eagle and swastikas on them - covered in paint, but still standing out.