ÿş<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">  <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Al Jazeera - objective and balanced global news coverage and analysis- Features</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=UTF-16"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type><LINK href="article-fighting-misinformation_files/style.css" type=text/css rel=stylesheet> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2722.900" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY leftMargin=0 topMargin=10 rightMargin=0> <DIV align=center xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <CENTER> <TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-BOTTOM: 10px" align=left><IMG src="article-fighting-misinformation_files/banner.gif"></TD></TR> <TR> <TD><IMG src="article-fighting-misinformation_files/mainheader.jpg"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></CENTER></DIV> <DIV align=center> <CENTER> <TABLE id=AutoNumber2 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#999999 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=770 border=1> <TBODY> <TR> <TD> <TABLE id=AutoNumber3 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=dates id=hDate dir=ltr style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" width="80%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD> <TD dir=ltr width="20%" bgColor=#cccccc></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> <TABLE id=AutoNumber4 style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=768 border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD width=565> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0> <TBODY> <TR> <TD colSpan=2 height=5></TD></TR> <TR> <TD style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px" colSpan=2> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"> <TBODY> <TR> <TD class=indicationLink2 vAlign=top><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/index.html">Homepage<IMG src="article-fighting-misinformation_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0></A><IMG src="article-fighting-misinformation_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0><IMG src="article-fighting-misinformation_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0>/ <IMG src="article-fighting-misinformation_files/spacer.gif" width=2 border=0><A class=indicationLink href="http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/al-jazeera/topics/index8eb6.html?cu_no=1&template_id=277&temp_type=42">Features<IMG src="article-fighting-misinformation_files/spacer.gif" width=3 border=0></A>/ </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR> <TR> <TD colSpan=3 height=6></TD></TR> <TR> <TD width=10></TD> <TD><INPUT id=item_cu_no type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=item_no type=hidden value=521 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=version type=hidden value=1 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=date1 type=hidden value=25/03/2003 xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=dateTime type=hidden value=" 9:47PM" xmlns:UDF="http://mycompany.com/mynamespace" xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt"><INPUT id=articalText type=hidden value="<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Teaching computer networking part-time at Seneca College in Toronto while writing his memoirs about his life in Iraq and his role in&nbsp;his country's&nbsp;nuclear weapons program afforded Dr Imad Khadduri the kind of anonymity he sought. Especially after agents from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service paid him a visit and suggested that he keep a low profile.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>But his anonymity did not last for long. The former Iraqi nuclear scientist, who left Baghdad for Canada in the summer of 1998,&nbsp; is now countering the “misinformation campaign mounted by the United States and Britain and fueled by&nbsp; people with little credibility.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dr Khadduri says he discerned US intent last August on using a sustained misinformation campaign about Iraq’s alleged nuclear capability to launch an attack on his country. “I decided to speak out and to do my part to counter the criminal agenda of the neo-conservatives – the likes of Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Kenneth Pollack and others in the State Department and think-tanks.” </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>While the Iraqi scientist's arguments are now backed by UN reports, he has found it difficult to put forward his views. His statements were ignored by the mainstream media in Britain and the US, with letters and articles finding their way to waste bins without explanation.<BR></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>After Yellowtimes.org published his article on February 7, 2003 refuting Powell’s allegations, the site was shut down by its hosting company for “technical reasons”. Even CBS channel, which after showing initial interest in interviewing him for their “60 Minutes” show, cancelled it. The channel said it was acting on ‘advice’ about Khadduri being not aware of Iraq’s nuclear weapons program as the CIA had contrary information.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“If the CIA did have such valuable information, why didn't they tell the UNMOVIC teams about them? What is the CIA waiting for?” asks the scientist. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>&nbsp;“Iraq neither has nuclear weapons nor the&nbsp; means to deliver them,” asserts Khadduri, who worked for the Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission from 1968 to 1998. “Claims that Iraq could be months away from building a nuclear weapon are ridiculous.”</FONT></P>
<P><STRONG>Dissenting colleague</STRONG></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>However, that is not what his former colleague Khidhir Hamza believes. Hamza details in his recent book “Saddam’s Bombmaker: The Terrifying Inside Story of the Iraqi Nuclear and Biological Weapons Agenda” how he helped design a nuclear bomb over the course of 22 years. “I have no doubt that Iraq is pursuing the nuclear option. The 1991 Gulf War slowed development but failed to shut it down,” Hamza said.. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>In his interview Khadduri trained his guns on Hamza’s claims as well as allegations made by Washington.In October of 2002, Hamza testified before a US Senate panel investigating Iraq’s nuclear armaments. Hamza, who defected to the US Embassy in Hungary in 1994, said Iraq was three years away from creating up to three atomic bombs.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>“What sources of information does he have when he has not been in Iraq for the last eight years?” asks Khadduri.&nbsp; “He contradicts himself several times. In 1999, he told the Seventh Carnegie International Non-Proliferation Conference in Washington, that plans were made for an eventual production of six bombs in five to 10 years.” </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Moreover, according to Khadduri, at no time did Hamza get involved in any research work related to&nbsp;a nuclear bomb or the effects of a radioactive accident. There is not a single documented scientific report of any work by Hamza relating to critical mass or a nuclear bomb in the archive of the Nuclear Research Centre contrary to the impression his book gives.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hamza knew nothing, contrary to what he claims, about the Al-Atheer center for the design and manufacture of an Iraqi nuclear bomb, says Khadduri. “In early 1987, and within a few months of being assigned the job of gathering a team of scientists for the design of the bomb, Hamza was sacked, stripped of all privileges and sent to the Physics Department at the Nuclear Research Centre.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>What the Iraqi scientist was driving at was this: when Iraq could not produce a bomb after a 10-year intensive covert program, and before the US/UK bombings and intensive UNSCOM monitoring, how could it possibly make three, let alone six bombs now? </FONT></P>
<P><STRONG>Brain drain</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG></STRONG><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>It is a point that is reinforced by the latest briefing made to the UN by its chief nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei on March 7. Making a general observation ElBaradei said that during the past four years, at the majority of Iraqi sites, industrial capacity has deteriorated substantially owing to the absence of foreign support that was often present in the late 1980s, the departure of large numbers of skilled Iraqi personnel in the past decade, and the lack of consistent maintenance by Iraq of sophisticated equipment. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Khadduri says that Iraq’s nuclear weapons program ceased to exist&nbsp;after the&nbsp;1991 Gulf War.&nbsp;The program was in a shambles. The whole organizational structure was disbanded three years later. At the time, Iraq only had a few grams of fissionable material and the delivery system was years away. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>After the 1991 war, all nuclear scientists and engineers focused their attention on the reconstruction of damaged electric power stations, oil refineries and telephone exchanges. “Their careers – and mine –&nbsp; came to an end then,” says the senior scientist .</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The war opened the door to weapons inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). After the demolition of the Al-Atheer nuclear facility early on, IAEA inspectors managed to obliterate whatever remained of the nuclear weapons program. “It was by then nothing more than memories, reports and lots of ruined buildings,” says Khadduri dismissing claims that to the contrary. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>On 5 February, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in a speech to the UN Security Council: “We have no indication that Saddam Hussein has ever abandoned his nuclear weapons program. Iraq has continued efforts to develop nuclear weapons and missiles capable of striking targets at a distance of up to 1,200 kilometres (745 miles). Saddam has a cadre of nuclear scientists with the expertise, and he has a bomb design but lacks the fissile material needed for a nuclear explosion. In an effort to develop fissile material, Saddam has made repeated covert attempts to acquire high-specification aluminum tubes from 11 different countries even after inspections resumed. Iraq had no business obtaining such tubes, even if they were for use in conventional rocket programs as Iraq and some experts have claimed.”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>US claims don't add up</STRONG></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Powell’s statements verge on the ridiculous, says Khadduri. “Did he have his kilometres right? Is he talking about the one percent deviation of the 150 km Al Sammud II or some other ballistic missiles thrown up by his imagination? If work on nuclear weapons was really going on, don’t you think there would be some traces – even in minute amounts - of certain half-life isotopes that would surely be detected by the ultra sensitive instruments used by IAEA inspectors scouring Iraq daily?”</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>According to Khaddouri, Powell erroneously claimed that Iraq is still hiding or still working on its "third" uranium enrichment process by referring to documents provided by Faleh Hamza. Faleh’s low-key research concluded in 1988 that it was not yet viable to further pursue this line of enrichment on a production scale and the whole project was folded up.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>It had no part whatsoever in the Iraqi nuclear weapon program. This was well documented and explained by Iraq in its final report to the IAEA inspectors in late 1997, which the inspectors later confirmed and referred to in their own final report on the matter.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>UNMOVIC chief Hans Blix brought that matter up in his report to the Security Council in the last week of January 2003 but was immediately overruled the following day by Mohamed ElBaradei for not taking into account IAEA's knowledge on this matter. The documents provided by Faleh were personal financial statements and his own lifetime’s research that had nothing to do with the nuclear weapons program, says Khadduri.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The aluminum tubes issue was also a brazen attempt by Powell to twist facts, says the scientist. The reverse-engineering attempt by Iraqi military engineers demanded definite tolerances in order to ensure the success of their attempt to manufacture locally the combustion chamber for a solid propellant rocket. “Powell's only claim to annoyance is that they were more expensive than American aluminum tubes used for this purpose." </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Powell hypothesis was that the tubes might be diverted for nuclear centrifuges. “It was also amusing to see the generous outpouring by American scientists of detailed technical information in support of Powell's claim on how these aluminum tubes could be converted into centrifugal isotope enrichment cylinders. I can only hope that these scientists will not want to be paid for their generous technical advice from Iraq’s Oil for Food program revenue,” says Khadduri whose claims are now supported by the latest IAEA report. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>The IAEA said that extensive field investigations and document analysis have failed to uncover any evidence that Iraq intended to use the 81mm tubes for any project other than the reverse engineering of rockets. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>It said that the original tolerances for the tubes were set prior to 1987, and were based on physical measurements taken from a small number of imported rockets in Iraq's possession.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Based on available evidence, the IAEA concluded that Iraq's efforts to import the tubes were not likely to have been related to the manufacture of centrifuges and, moreover, that it was highly unlikely that Iraq could have achieved the considerable redesign needed to use them in a revived centrifuge program.&nbsp;</FONT></P>
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