Posted on 02/19/2002 5:43:00 AM PST by ex-Texan
Saddam's Bombmaker: Iraq Working on 'Hiroshima Size' Nuke
Iraqi madman Saddam Hussein will likely have a "Hiroshima size" nuclear bomb within the next 24 months, the physicist who headed up Iraq's nuclear weapons research program said Monday.
Citing U.S. intelligence estimates, Dr. Khidir Hamza told nationally syndicated radio taker Sean Hannity, "I don't think he has [nuclear weapons] right now but it may not take long for him to have it - a year or two probably."
"U.S. intelligence estimates at least a year. Germany estimates by 2005, three nuclear weapons," the top Iraqi nuke scientist said.
Dr. Hamza, who defected to the U.S. in 1994, warned about Hussein's nuclear weapons program in his autobiography, "Saddam's Bombmaker," three years ago. More recently he has been working closely with U.S. intelligence agencies.
He declined to describe the precise nature of his cooperation with those agencies, telling Hannity, "I cannot talk about that. You know that."
Hamza did reveal that the 1991 Gulf War interrupted Iraq's A-bomb program in its final stage, just as he and the rest of Saddam's nuke team were in the process of acquiring materials for the bomb's nuclear core.
HAMZA: We [scientists] dragged our feet. We really had enough material to make the bomb then. We delivered it now back to the French but we claimed that we could not extract enough uranium to put in a nuclear core. ...
HANNITY: So you're saying you did have enough - you could have built nuclear weapons but you dragged your feet?
HAMZA: We could have, yes. Actually, everybody [dragged their feet], including the chemists who were in the process of extracting the uranium from the French bureau. Nobody wanted to give Saddam a bomb because we know he would use it recklessly and finish Iraq with it. (End of Excerpt)
German intelligence now believes Hussein once again has all the bombmaking materials he needs except for the enriched uranium necessary for the nuclear core.
"According to the Germans he, more or less, has 30 to 35 percent of the technology needed to enrich uranium for bomb grade," said Hamza, adding, "so he will have enough uranium, and he already has a stockpile of uranium to use."
The top Iraqi nuke scientist said that, based on what he witnessed, Hussein is working on "Hiroshima size" weapons of "12 to 20 kilotons."
But he cautioned:
"There was some enhancement to the bomb that could raise it to 40 kilotons. So you are looking at [a]realistic nuclear weapons stockpile equivalent to that of, say, at least India and Pakistan - and if it continues, probably larger."
Nuclear enrichment aka spent fuel rod reprocessing is a big international business for the French and it is not very profitable. The temptation to sell to Sodamn Insane is there and they (their press) does not approve of U.S. intervention in the area. Go figure. The French also sold most of the stuff necessary for Isarel to obtain the bomb although it was paid for with U.S. foreign aid. Ignoring the details of who is on who's side, the French are no better than the ChiComs when it comes to proliferating weapons of mass destruction to third world dictatorships. Russia with their sloppy handling of nuclear weapons technology has a better record of keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of mad dictators than the Frogs do.
"I think Bush is "the axis of evil" in todays world."
I'll answer your above statement with your own words below:
"This is the biggest load of crap I have ever heard in my life."
Very approriate then, even more so now.
Bill in Peoria
Wouldn't US spy satellites pick this up?
Why are they trotting this guy out for reasons other than propaganda?
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