''The nuclear bomb hoax''
Friday, February 07, 2003
By Imad Khadduri
Former Iraqi nuclear scientist
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (
(YellowTimes.org) – In his speech in front of the
U.N. Security Council on February 5, 2003, Colin Powell did not offer any
viable new evidence concerning Iraq's nuclear weapon capability that Bush and
his entourage continue to wave as a red flag in front of the eyes of the
American people to incite them shamefully into an unjust war.
On the contrary, the few flimsy so-called pieces of
evidence that were presented by Powell regarding a supposed continued Iraqi
nuclear weapon program serve only to weaken the American and British
accusations and reveal their untenable attempt to cover with a fig leaf their
thread bare arguments and misinformation campaign. The false and untrue pieces
of evidence follow:
Powell, in a theatrical query, asked why the Iraqi scientists were asked to
sign declarations, with a death penalty if not adhered to, not to reveal their
secrets to the IAEA inspection teams. Exactly the opposite is true. The four or
five, as I recall, such declarations, which I read in detail, held us to the
penalty of death in the event that we did not hand in all of the sensitive
documents and reports that may still be in our possession! Had Powell's
intelligence services provided him with a copy of these declarations, and not
depended on "defector's" testimonies who are solely motivated by
their self-promotion in the eyes of their "beholders," and availed
himself to a good Arabic translation of what these declarations actually said,
he would not, had he any sense been abiding by the truth, mentioned this as
"evidence."
This is exactly the cause of the second untruth
brandished by Powell: that
Faleh, according to
my explanation of the above declarations, did not consider the reports on his
work to be covered under this declaration for the following reason: Faleh did dabble during the eighties at the Physics
Department in the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center itself -- but not under the nuclear weapon program
activities which came under the label of the PetroChemical
3 program -- with the uranium laser enrichment process using a couple of medium
range copper lasers.
His low-key research concluded that it was not yet
viable to pursue this line of enrichment on a production scale and the whole
project folded up after it reached its cul-de-sac in 1988. He packed up and
then joined the PC3 working on the Calutron
enrichment method in 1989. Furthermore, this was well documented and explained
in our final report to the IAEA inspectors in late 1997, which they confirmed
and referred to in their own final report on the matter.
Yet, fully aware of this fact, the James Bondian and insulting manner with which UNMOVIC (following
in the footsteps of their CIA infiltrated UNSCOM predecessors) invaded the home
of Faleh and searched it, even the private belongings
of his family to the glare of the cameras, added insult to injury and
exponentially increased Faleh's position
vis-à-vis the authorities who were trying to protect the scientists from
such American theatrics.
Arrogantly, the Americans are wondering why other
scientists are not coming forward. Even worse, Blix
chose to wave this torn flag in front of the Security Council in his report on
Monday January 27, 2003. This fact alone was one of the reasons I have decided
to come out. Even Mohamed Baradei, the head of the
IAEA, chided Blix the following day for not taking
into account IAEA's knowledge on this matter, which
was that the 3000 pages of documents were financial statements and Faleh's own lifetime research work, and had nothing to do
with the nuclear weapon program. That is why he kept them at his home. It was
becoming apparent that Blix was succumbing to the
American pressure tactics and leaned backwards to provide them with flimsy
"proof" at the expense of his supposed fairness and mandate as a U.N.
official. Powell grasped even this straw.
Powell only accused but did not provide any evidence
that
Where is the scientific and engineering staff required
for such an enormous effort when almost all of them have been living in abject
poverty for the past decade, striving to simply feed their families on $20 a
month, their knowledge and expertise rusted and atrophied under heavy
psychological pressures and dreading their retirement pension salary of $2 a
month?
Where is the management that might lead such an
enterprise? The previous management team of the nuclear weapon program in the
eighties exists only in memories and reports. Its members have retired,
secluded themselves, or turned to fending for their livelihood of their
families.
Where are the buildings and infrastructure to support
such a program? The entire nuclear weapon program of the eighties has been
either bombed by the Americans during the war or uncovered by the IAEA
inspectors. It is impossible to hide such buildings and structures. Powell
should only take a look at North Korea's atomic weapon facilities, or perhaps
even Israel's, to realize the impossibility of hiding such structures with the
IAEA inspectors scouring everything in sight.
Powell need only ask those on the ground, the IAEA
inspectors delegated by the U.N. upon
Finally, the infamous aluminum
pipes that are supposed to be used in a centrifugal enrichment process. Powell
and Bush should be able to relax regarding this point, for they would have at
least a ten-year attack period before
Powell said: "Let me now turn to nuclear weapons.
We have no indication that Saddam Hussein has ever abandoned his nuclear
weapons program." This verges on being humorous. But as the Arabic proverb
goes: The worst kind of misfortune is that which causes you to laugh.
[Imad Khadduri has a MSc in
Physics from the
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