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To: geedee
David Albright says . . . administration officials “were selectively picking information to bolster a case that the Iraqi nuclear threat was more imminent than it is, and, in essence, scare people.”

Interesting. I did a quick online search. On August 6, 2002, Mr. Albright wrote a piece for The Guardian. He wrote . . . You would think that if Iraq had a nuclear weapon, it would have done something to show it. But then you can't be certain. Another factor that increases the uncertainty is that Iraq is well aware that Russian controls on nuclear material are terrible, and is excellent at illicit procurement. It works with insiders, it doesn't deal with middlemen, and it has a fighting chance of getting highly enriched uranium and not being discovered. Once it gets the gas-centrifuge programme, you have to assume that it could make [a bomb] in half a year. That sounds pretty scary to me. Granted, I don't know a gas-centrifuge from sic 'em but he admits no one really knows what Iraq has been doing. You can read this entire article at . . . http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0%2C2763%2C769816%2C00.html

Then I found an article written by By David Albright & Kevin O'Neill, Fall-Winter 2001 where they wrote . . . Expert opinions regarding how close Iraq may be to acquiring nuclear weapons are uncertain and vary from a few months to several years, depending on the scenario. The most optimistic projection is offered by the U.S. government, which according to Einhorn, views Iraq as not capable of indigenously building a nuclear explosive for at least five years from early 2001.*46 Former Action Team Leader Dillon argues that as of 1998, Iraq would have needed "five years, plus or minus two years" to enrich sufficient uranium and produce a nuclear explosive. However, he adds that Iraq would need only "one year, plus or minus one year" to build a nuclear explosive if it secretly acquired enough fissile material or, in the extreme, a functional nuclear weapon.*47 ISIS's own assessment concluded that, as of late 1998, Iraq needed two to seven years to enrich enough uranium for a first nuclear device.*48 If Iraq should acquire fissile material abroad, ISIS estimated that it could assemble a nuclear explosive in less than one year.*49 Again, pretty scary stuff to me. http://www.iraqwatch.org/perspectives/cns-miis-albright-2001.htm

Then in May/June 1998, in an article titled Masters of deception, Mr. Albright wrote . . . The stakes are high. Inspectors believe that Iraq could reconstitute its nuclear weapons program quickly, once sanctions are lifted. Although Iraq might need several years to recreate its enriched-uranium or plutonium programs, it might be able to acquire fissile material on the black market. In that case, it has already learned enough to be able to build a nuclear weapon in less than a year. As a result, Iraq’s nuclear potential must be carefully scrutinized by international inspectors for some time to come. http://www.bullatomsci.org/issues/1998/mj98/mj98albright.html

Maybe it's just me, but the above articles seem to disagree with what Mr. Albright said on 60 Minutes tonight.

26 posted on 12/08/2002 7:09:59 PM PST by geedee
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To: geedee

"Maybe it's just me, but the above articles seem to disagree with what Mr. Albright said on 60 Minutes tonight."

Maybe Mr. Albright's opinion is for sale to the highest bidder!

36 posted on 12/08/2002 7:55:36 PM PST by Turbodog
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