''The nuclear bomb hoax''

["Nello Margiotta" <animarg@tin.it>]

Printed on Friday, February 07, 2003 @ 00:00:19 EST   (  )

 By Imad Khadduri
Former Iraqi nuclear scientist
YellowTimes.org Guest Columnist (Canada)

(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
Iraq is hiding or is still working (it is hard to discern from the tangle of
his word what is really meant) on its "third" uranium enrichment process by
referring to the cache of documents seized in the house of Faleh Hamza.

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 Iraq had tried to
get nuclear grade fissile material since 1998. He vainly gave the impression
that everything was set and readily waiting for just this material to be
acquired and the atomic bomb would be rolling out the other door. He did not
bother to ask himself the following questions:

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 America's request, to receive negative answers to all of the
questions above. Instead, he chose to fabricate an untruth.

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 Iraq would be able to militarize these pipes. According to the
"American experts" themselves, such a process would need kilometers of
strung out, highly tuned, delicately controlled spinners to fulfill their
ill-wish for Iraq. Not to be noticed by their satellites, PowerPoint
presentations and colored arrows would then be an intelligence folly. This
is not even mentioning the lack of a stable electric power supply in Iraq or
the phantom of highly technical staff to run these kilometers long "very
high grade and expensive" mortar casings that are not made to U.S. military
standards. Perhaps Powell's grievance was, "How dare Iraq think of such
expensive mortars?"

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 University of Michigan (United
States) and a PhD in Nuclear Reactor Technology from the University of
Birmingham (United Kingdom). Khadduri worked with the Iraqi Atomic Energy
Commission from 1968 until 1998. He was able to leave Iraq in late 1998 with
his family. He now teaches and works as a network administrator in Toronto,
Canada. He has been interviewed by the Toronto Star, Reuters, and various
other news agencies in regards to his knowledge of the Iraqi nuclear
program. This article was originally printed in YellowTimes.org.]

Imad Khadduri encourages your comments: imad.khadduri@rogers.com

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Nello

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