Posted on 09/15/2002 5:24:06 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
The one-time head of Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program said Saturday that the Iraqi dictator now possesses enough uranium to construct three workable nuclear bombs.
"[Iraq] already has a stockpile [of uranium], something like ten tons, and some of it's likely enriched uranium," Dr. Khidir Hamza told Fox News Channel's Geraldo Rivera.
"The stockpile itself is already enough for three nuclear weapons," Dr. Hamza contended.
"What I'm afraid of is the production of the fissile material in Iraq is of more danger than just Iraq getting enough fissile material for one or two bombs, because then Iraq would be a major nuclear power," explained the former Iraqi nuke scientist, who defected to the U.S. in 1994.
Although the nuclear weapons expert said he still believed Saddam was still two years away from perfecting a nuclear bomb, others say the capacity to produce enriched uranium could considerably shrink that time frame.
"We certainly believe he has the ability to put together a nuclear weapon very quickly, in a matter of months," the International Institute of Strategic Studies' John Chipman told the BBC earlier this week.
Chipman is the author of the highly respected think tank's report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program.
The British weapons expert said that in order for Saddam to perfect the bomb that soon he would have to "obtain fissile material from abroad, steal it or buy it in some way," since he didn't think the Iraqi madman had developed the capacity to produce enriched uranium.
But if Dr. Hamza's report to Fox News is accurate, Saddam "likely" already has the key nuclear component.
BUMP
We have seen no recent pictures of the bastard.
I think just the opposite.
He is quivering in his boots and preparing for a quick departure to a friendly country.
He had the same "nonchalance" back before Desert Storm, when he was cockily predicting the "mother of all battles". Back then I was thinking, "what does he have up his sleeve?". The answer, it turned out, was nothing but his megalomaniacal arrogance. So I'm not too worried this time.
If he actually had some nukes, his best move would have been to detonate one in a public test, so as to scare the world's sheeples into backing off from supporting his ouster.
Keeping them secret would *not* be in his best interest. If he waits until the attack is already underway, *then* nukes something, he'll have a) Some *REALLY* pissed off adversaries, who b) already have the forces poised to destroy him utterly. Guess what the outcome will be?
</sarcasm>
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