Dead scientist revealed Iraq dirty bomb

Sunday Times ^ | 08/03/03 | Nicholas Rufford

[Pikamax]

Dead scientist revealed Iraq dirty bomb

By Nicholas Rufford / The Sunday Times

London - David Kelly, the British weapons expert at the centre of the Iraq dossier row, had amassed firm evidence to show that Saddam Hussein built and tested a "dirty bomb."

Designed to cause cancer and birth defects, the radiological weapon could have been used by terrorists to create panic and widespread contamination in a crowded city.

Kelly, who committed suicide last month, presented evidence of the bomb to the government in 1995 and recommended to Foreign Office officials that it feature in the government's intelligence dossier on Iraq. However, despite secret Iraqi documents being produced to prove its existence, it was not included.

In an interview with The Sunday Times in June, Kelly said the dirty bomb was originally built by Saddam for use against Iranian troops during the Iran-Iraq war as a tactical weapon and an instrument of terror.

He said Iraq still "possessed the know-how and the materials to build a radiological weapon." The threat was potentially more serious than some other weapons of mass destruction, he said, because Iraq still retained the main ingredients - nuclear material and high explosives.

Asked why it had not formed part of the government's case against Iraq, Kelly said he did not know but said there were people

in government who were skeptical about the potency of such a weapon.

In the wake of Kelly's death, further questions are likely to be asked about the bomb. One reason it may have been left out of the dossier was that Iraq ended the trials in the late 1980s and there was no evidence they ever restarted. But a defence source suggested an alternative explanation: that in 1987 when Iraq conducted the trials, British military scientists were interested in the results. At that time Britain still had unofficial friendly relations with Saddam.

During evidence to the foreign affairs select committee in July, in remarks which have been largely overlooked, Kelly told John Maples, a former Conservative spokesman on defence and foreign affairs: "On one inspection that I led ... the acknowledgment was made by General Fahi Shaheen, together with Brigadier Hassan (two senior Iraqi weapons specialists), that they had undertaken experiments with radiological weapons in 1987."

Maples asked: "Do you think that is true?" to which Kelly replied: "Undoubtedly it is true."

Maples pressed Kelly on why details had not been included in the dossier, saying: "A dirty nuclear bomb, I would have thought, was pretty significant." Kelly said: "You cannot include everything."

Maples said this weekend he remained puzzled and uneasy over why the government had excluded evidence of the dirty bomb from its dossier: "It is a mystery why this issue (of the dirty bomb) was not picked up by the government and why Kelly gave me the answer he did - that there was lots of other stuff that had to be included."

"They (the government) were obviously looking for ways of making the dossier as attractive as they could, and as threatening as they could, and you would have thought Iraq's ability to let off a dirty nuclear weapon was pretty serious."

In private, Kelly thought the evidence worthy of inclusion in the dossier because of the possibility that Iraq could reactivate the programeven after it had been stripped of other non-conventional weapons.

Iraq's dirty bomb was made from a material called radioactive zirconium which was packed into a bomb casing with high explosives. Iraq had access to zirconium stored at its Al-Tarmiya reactor site - under United Nations safeguards - ostensibly for use in its peaceful nuclear power program.

One of the main reasons cited by British and American governments for invading Iraq was the danger that Saddam could pass weapons of mass destruction to al-Qaida terrorists.

[tsmith130]

Maples pressed Kelly on why details had not been included in the dossier, saying: "A dirty nuclear bomb, I would have thought, was pretty significant." Kelly said: "You cannot include everything."

WTF???

[mtbopfuyn]

They (the government) were obviously looking for ways of making the dossier as attractive as they could, and as threatening as they could.

Huh? Oh well, there's lots of this Kelly stuff that's confusing and contradictory.

[sirchtruth]

"A dirty nuclear bomb, I would have thought, was pretty significant." Kelly said: "You cannot include everything."

I take that to mean there would be way too much wading thru.

With evidence do you have to show it ALL to make your case?

[sirchtruth]

They (the government) were obviously looking for ways of making the dossier as attractive as they could, and as threatening as they could.

You know the implication in the above statement suggest all the gov't was doing was lying about everything so they had to doctor up the dossier.

Who here believes the gov't was lying about Iraq and it's WMD?

[skinkinthegrass]

Hmmm, You can bet the Congressional 'RATS,ABCNNBCBS/NYT/LAT/WP shall not say a thing about this. It would shredd, what little credibility they have left.

[gulfcoast6]

I can name a lot who believe there are no WMD's They are found in Washington and are called democracts.

[chiller]

Dirty bombs scare the hell out of me. Easier to make and use, and sufficiently devastating. I put 'em at the top of the list of 'most likely' WMD's.

[chiller]

Dirty bombs scare the hell out of me. Easier to make and use, and sufficiently devastating. I put 'em at the top of the list of 'most likely' WMD's.

[Dog]

Seems this article was posted this morning and people missed it.

[Dog]

During evidence to the foreign affairs select committee in July, in remarks which have been largely overlooked, Kelly told John Maples, a former Conservative spokesman on defence and foreign affairs: "On one inspection that I led ... the acknowledgment was made by General Fahi Shaheen, together with Brigadier Hassan (two senior Iraqi weapons specialists), that they had undertaken experiments with radiological weapons in 1987."

Maples asked: "Do you think that is true?" to which Kelly replied: "Undoubtedly it is true."

Maples pressed Kelly on why details had not been included in the dossier, saying: "A dirty nuclear bomb, I would have thought, was pretty significant." Kelly said: "You cannot include everything."

[EGPWS]

Dirty bombs scare the hell out of me. Easier to make and use, and sufficiently devastating.

Let alone the difficulties involed with tracking down the source of it.

[Dog Gone]

Thanks, I was one of those who missed it.

[Palladin]

Very interesting. Where is Kelly's amassed evidence now? I hope GWB and Condoleeza have full access to it. Is Blair sharing?

[Dog]

I found this at instanpundit....and checked to see it had been posted and sure enough it was..

[Dog]

I wonder what else Dr. Kelly mentioned in his appearance that the media missed.

[Mr. Mulliner]

The other story that was posted there I just linked to ATRW before you pinged me.

[Dog]

I saw it Kurt......how reliable is that reporter who found the "smoking gun".

[TD911]

Scientists, Inspectors, Intelligence agents (see the Italians and "forged" documents), State Dept. losers attempting to control matters of war and peace. How utterly frightening!

Why have elections when we can be ruled, I mean over-ruled by these backstabbing bureaucrats?

The CIA
is unable to corroborate the uranium story.
is unable to locate Bin Laden, Hussein, or WMDs.
is unable to predict or stop 9/11.
is unable to predict the complete economic collapse of the Soviet Union.

We won't even go to the Arab slurping Foggy Bottom.

See a trend here?

It's time to purge all of these "institutions."

Bring back the Illuminati.





Just kidding
about the Illuminati part.

[Destro]

Becareful what you wish for. Rumsfeld bungled and did not secure nuclear waste and storage locations and they were looted pretty much as American troops sat back and watched.