Posted on 04/04/2003 8:58:33 AM PST by Tom Pain
Ex-Iraqi official touts war
Iraq's former nuclear chief speaks at IWU
By Kelly Josephsen Pantagraph Staff
BLOOMINGTON -- Khidhir Hamza was a member of the Iraqi elite -- part of Saddam Hussein's inner circle and the top official in the country's nuclear weapons program. Yet he and millions like him left their native land because they saw no hope.
"We gave up," Hamza said.
Now, Hamza is preparing to go back to Iraq in a month.
His return will probably be during wartime, and he goes back a defector who had to escape through the mountains of Turkey in 1994. But he goes home filled with hope, and he does it to help rebuild his country.
"There could be no change in Iraq without war," Hamza said at Illinois Wesleyan University on Thursday.
"It is impossible to change the system from within. Without an external force going in an uprooting the system, there is no way anyone has enough leverage to get rid of him."
Hamza admitted his opinion might not be popular with his mostly student audience. IWU students have used peace rallies and protests to question the justification for "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
Students say they aren't sure Hussein has nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. They're skeptical of the link between Iraq and al-Qaida.
Hamza told them not to be.
"Iraq has two technologies that can enrich uranium," he said. "And it is full of bases for training terrorists. The relationship to al-Qaida is an extensive, long-term kind of coordination."
Hamza spoke as someone who met Hussein several times and lived in the presidential compound in Baghdad for several years.
He was born in Iraq in 1938 but came to America to study, earning a doctorate in nuclear physics at Florida State University in 1968.
He taught at FSU until 1970 when a student, who had been placed by the Iraqis, approached him about returning to his native land. The request turned into threats against his family.
He was named director general of the Nuclear Weapon Program in 1987. His job was to design the country's first nuclear weapon from scratch.
Now, Hamza believes Iraq is not far from completing that weapon -- it could have three nuclear weapons by 2005 or 2006.
"I know the background. I know the people. I know the program," Hamza said. "If Iraq goes nuclear, it's another North Korea -- but with oil. It's an even more insurmountable problem."
Hamza said he also believes Iraq also has biological and chemical weapons.
Hamza said it is important to eliminate Iraq's weapons because of the country's links to terrorism.
He gave an eerie assessment of how the Sept. 11 hijackers coolly "slaughtered" airliner crews with box cutters, noting they probably learned to do so on Iraqi soil.
"You can't do that without hands-on killing experience. There were no training grounds for that in Afghanistan, but we have one in Iraq. The killing could have been done on Iraqi prisoners."
The links could extend to terrorists attacking America with Iraq's weapons, he warned.
But with the war, Hazma believes that can be avoided.
He also believes democracy can succeed in his country: "Democracy has to be nurtured. Civil society has to take hold. The United States has to stay long enough to prevent any attempts to go back. But it is possible."
1) This article is top article on front page of Bloomington(IL) Pantagraph of Friday April 4, 2003. Just below article is story(w/photo) of funeral for US Marine Capt. Ryan Beaupre of St. Anne, Illinois. Beaupre was one of the first casualties of the Iraq war. AND, Beaupre is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University.
2) These Ill Wesleyan students can NOT accept the testimony of an Iraqi insider. Because it challenges their worldview.
A million Iraqi refugees giving their testimony in the backyards of these colleges won't change the minds of liberal college students. These students have already been brainwashed by thier peers to believe this is all ficticious and political propaganda.
This is yet another reason why this war is so right. Removing Saddam and his Brutal Regime of Cut Throats is another big step in draining the swamp of Islamic Terrorism. Though the network of terrorism is often described as being amorphous and adept at infiltrating just about any country on earth, they still need central bases from which to operate and plan. With Afghanistan and Iraq out of the picture, the IslamoFascists are quickly running out of real estate...and any country take welcomes them or permits them to operate freely faces, well, regime change.
Just ask them. They'll tell you.
Ca-Ching!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.