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Joe Chalupa
08-12-2004, 02:19 PM
Saddam Gave Up WMD's in 1991 (http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6721.htm)

Saddam 'gave up WMDs in 1991'

From correspondents in London

August 11, 2004 "Agence France-Presse" -- SADDAM Hussein gave up all of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, the scientist who headed his nuclear program, Jaffar Dhia Jaffar, said in a BBC interview today.

"There was no capability. There was no chemical or biological or any what are called weapons of mass destruction," said Mr Jaffar in what BBC television called his first-ever broadcast interview.

Speaking in Paris, where he now lives, Mr Jaffar - who ran Saddam's nuclear program for 25 years - said there was "no development" of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons "at any time after 1991".

He said he knew that for a fact "because I am in touch with the people concerned".

Saddam's quest for weapons of mass destruction - and the fear that they might fall into the hands of global terrorists - was one of the prime reasons given for the US and British invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Nearly 18 months on, no such weapons have been uncovered - a fact that both US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have been forced to concede.

Mr Jaffar told the BBC he remained loyal to Saddam's regime until he slipped out of Iraq via Syria two days before the fall of Baghdad which signalled the collapse of the longtime Iraqi dictator.

The nuclear scientist - who was educated in Britain, and has been described by some as the father of Iraq's nuclear program - said he had been approached by the US to defect, but was never tempted to do so.

"I don't think it's right to defect," he said.

A transcript of Mr Jaffar's interview with the current affairs show Newsnight was released in advance of broadcast. Excerpts also appeared on the BBC's website (www.bbc.co.uk/news).

He revealed that under Saddam, Iraq "specifically" adopted a program to build a nuclear bomb in late 1987 - six years after Israeli warplanes bombed the country's Osiris nuclear reactor for fear it might actually do just that.

Asked how close Iraq actually got to building a bomb before the 1991 war, Mr Jaffar replied: "I cannot say really how close ... It's difficult to estimate, but perhaps a few years."

"The facilities of the program were damaged during the war and Iraq did not have, would not have had the resources under (UN) sanctions to continue," he explained.

He added: "Saddam took a decision in July 1991 to abandon the (nuclear) program and destroy what remained of its equipment."

"We had orders to hand over the equipment to the Republican Guards, to the special Republican Guards, and they had orders to destroy the equipment that we handed over to them."

"Everything was destroyed, such that the program couldn't be restarted at the time at all, and it never restarted," Mr Jaffar said, adding that there was also no request to do more research.

On chemical weapons that UN arms inspectors were never able to account for, Mr Jaffar said "books were not kept, you know, precisely" because nobody thought they would return in the weeks before last year's US-led invasion.

On British and US allegations that Iraq had tried to procure uranium from Niger, Mr Jaffar said it did so in the 1980s, declared as much to the International Atomic Energy Agency, but did not seek more afterwards.

"We had 500 tonnes of yellow cake (uranium) in Baghdad at the time, so why should we go and buy another 500 tonnes from Niger?" he said.

On US and British claims prior to the March 2003 invasion that Saddam had restarted Iraq's nuclear program, Mr Jaffar said with a laugh: "My reaction? I knew they were lying to their people. That was my reaction."

---What say you?

SpursWoman
08-12-2004, 02:29 PM
I gave up smoking in 1991, too. And 1992, 1993, 1994......


etc. :wink

Joe Chalupa
08-12-2004, 04:27 PM
:p So did I...except I quite in 1980, 81, 82...

exstatic
08-12-2004, 05:53 PM
I quit in 2000. :spin

Yonivore
08-12-2004, 10:07 PM
"Agence France-Presse"
Fucking French.

Joe Chalupa
08-13-2004, 02:27 AM
Oui