IRAQ - Sept. 14 - Scientists Say N-Programme Ended.

The FT quotes an Iraqi scientist "who formerly headed a department in 'Bomb Design Group Four' and who asked not to be named" as saying that, throughout 12 years of UN sanctions and weapons inspections, Iraqi nuclear scientists who denied the existence of a nuclear weapons programme were accused of being bought and threatened into silence by Saddam's regime. "Now", the FT says, "at last, they are free to talk without fear of repercussions and they are still saying the same thing - that 'the programme was scrapped long ago. It was surprising to hear these things from the Americans, that we could build a nuclear bomb in six months, while meanwhile we were sitting here scrounging for a screwdriver'". Now that he is "free to talk without fear of the regime", the FT adds, "he admits that he and his colleagues were instructed to lie to UN inspectors about Iraq's nuclear weapons programme for about four years, starting when the inspectors arrived in 1991, until the defection of Hussein Kamel (Al Majid), head of weapons programmes (and Saddam's son-in-law) in 1995. For the past seven years, he says, they have been telling the truth: that Iraq's nuclear weapons programme was shut down following the 1991 Gulf war and never restarted". The FT quotes him as adding: "Before (Hussein Kamel's defection), we had had to sign a declaration that we cannot tell inspectors anything about the true aims of the programmes. Otherwise we were liable for dangerous repercussions. Afterwards, we had to sign another declaration: if we don't tell the truth and hand over all the documentation, then we will be punished". He said the equipment that was not destroyed in the 1991 war was tracked down and eliminated by inspectors from the UN and the IAEA during the first few years of the UN sanctions". (If what the scientist says is true, it will further undermine pre-war claims by the US government that Iraq's nuclear programme was an imminent threat. While the IAEA inspections found little to contradict Iraq's claim the programme was defunct, the US continued to sound the alarm before the war over Iraq's nuclear capability. US Secretary Powell told the UN Security Council on Feb. 5: "We have no indication that (Saddam) Hussein has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons program. On the contrary, we have more than a decade of proof that he remains determined to acquire nuclear weapons"). However, the FT says "not all scientists appear to have followed the instructions to hand over prohibited equipment, either because of personal decisions or because they were singled out as exceptions. Mahdi Obeidi, a nuclear scientist, told inspectors in May he had buried parts for a gas centrifuge under his rose garden at the request of Qusay Hussein, son of the dictator. IAEA investigators said the burial was evidence that the programme had not been restarted but US officials said this might have indicated a plan to begin the nuclear programme again after sanctions were lifted". Then the FT quotes the first scientist as saying: "I honestly don't know what (Obeidi) was thinking". The paper says the scientist, "who believes his former colleague to be outside Iraq now". (One thing still puzzling experts is why Saddam should have gone to such lengths to prevent scientists from travelling outside Iraq and not to co-operate more with the inspections if Iraq had nothing to hide). The FT responds: "The scientist says one reason is the number of Iraqi defectors who, he says, made exaggerated claims to US authorities". (On July 31 2002, Khidir Hamza, a former nuclear scientist who defected to the US in 1994, told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee: "With a workable design and most of the needed components for a nuclear weapon already tested and in working order, Iraq is in the final stages of putting together its enrichment programme to enrich enough uranium for the final component needed in the nuclear core"). The FT says: "The scientist dismisses Mr Hamza's information as untrue. 'To tell the truth, we all thought the reason these defectors made these claims was because the Americans made them do it', he says". The paper says Hamza, "who has apparently returned to Baghdad, could not be reached for comment. Others have speculated that many Iraqi defectors had trumped up their own importance and claims to become more attractive candidates for asylum in the US).