Posted on 09/21/2002 9:03:58 PM PDT by blam
Dossier to show Iraqi nuclear arms race
Peter Beaumont and Kamal Ahmed
Sunday September 22, 2002
The Observer
Compelling details of how Saddam Hussein has created a massive secret weapons procurement network to rebuild his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes will form the heart of Tony Blair's long-awaited dossier on the threat posed by Iraq. The dossier, to be released on Tuesday, is expected to show how Saddam has accelerated his efforts to acquire banned technologies, particularly nuclear and ballistic missiles, since UN inspectors left Iraq in 1998. It will claim that the Iraqi dictator is more dangerous than he was in 1998, when the last UN inspectors were forced to leave Iraq.
It is also expected to show how he has masked his activities behind a series of front companies, smuggling networks and middlemen in neighbouring states, all paid for by illegal oil transactions.
Although the dossier is not believed to contain a 'smoking gun' - evidence that Saddam has already acquired the material to make a nuclear device - it will reveal his continuing vigorous efforts to do so. 'It is a sober assessment,' said one Number 10 official. 'On its own, it should not be seen as justification for military action, but it makes the case about his efforts to obtain weapons of mass destruction.'
Another official said that it would 'confirm beyond any doubt' that Iraq would be willing to launch a 'first-use' strike against neighbouring states.
The 50-page dossier, which has been agreed with the White House, will become the centrepiece of what Downing Street aides have described as the 'key week' in the action against Saddam. Yesterday, Russia, a member of the UN security council, indicated that it would agree to a new UN resolution only if was provided with convincing evidence that action needed to be taken.
The Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, said that the first group of U.N. arms inspectors could arrive in Iraq in early October.
Government sources said that they were hopeful that a new UN resolution could be agreed as early as this week, with a clear deadline for Saddam to comply with weapons inspectors or face a second resolution proposing military action. Although German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder reiterated his opposition to military action yesterday, officials said that the international community was falling behind the position mapped out by President George Bush and Blair - a last chance for UN inspections or military action will follow.
But yesterday Baghdad said it would not agree to any new UN conditions. It said it already had agreed with Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, on how to proceed with weapons inspections.
An Observer investigation has revealed that Saddam's covert procurement network has been modelled on the same techniques he used in the 1980s to procure the tools, materials and expertise necessary to build weapons of mass destruction.
Co-ordinated by the Ministry for Military Industrialisation, Iraqi officials have been trying to acquire high-specification machine tools, production lines, computer equipment and expertise for its long-range missile and nuclear weapons efforts.
Among countries that have been identified as partners are Belarus and the Ukraine, which have been at the centre of the secret Iraqi procurement effort since the mid-1990s. Arms control experts - including former UN weapons inspectors - have identified both countries as being of 'grave concern' in the proliferation of banned technology to Iraq.
The involvement of both Belarussian and Ukrainian companies was uncovered by UN weapons inspectors before they were forced to leave in 1998 and is understood to be continuing.
Among technologies uncovered at sites in Iraq were machines that could spray nuclear bomb components with anti-corrosion material, and gyroscopes for missile guidance systems.
The Security Council has more authority than Kofi Annan I believe!
At this rate Bush can take out the UN and Iraq, now that would be really good!
It would be only a slight modification of some of his already released Doctrine!
Bush Doctrine Unfolds :
| To find all articles tagged or indexed using Bush Doctrine Unfold , click below: | ||||
| click here >>> | Bush Doctrine Unfold | <<< click here | ||
| (To view all FR Bump Lists, click here) | ||||
CNN will not be involved...
Sen Fred Thompson confirms Iraq is threat to U.S.
Links to information on Iraqi Nuclear Weapons Systems and Design (VERY Scary!)
Ran across the article on Raging bull BBS IBM discussion so it is getting spread far and wide!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.