California Conservative

The New York Times is reporting that sensitive information from the thousands of documents found in Iraq after the 2003 invasion has made its way onto the federal government web site at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, where the document archive is based. They are widely known as the “Iraqi Documents”. The site is down until further notice, pending the removal any sensitive material. In an apparently attempt to hurt Republicans on the war on terror issue in next week’s mid-term elections, the New York Times article, “U.S. Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Primer” , says that U.S. carelessness may have helped Iran develop it’s nuclear weaponry. Here are some excerpts:

Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency , fearing that the information could help states like Iran develop nuclear arms, had privately protested last week to the American ambassador to the agency, according to European diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. One diplomat said the agency’s technical experts “were shocked” at the public disclosures.

The documents, roughly a dozen in number, contain charts, diagrams, equations and lengthy narratives about bomb building that nuclear experts who have viewed them say go beyond what is available elsewhere on the Internet and in other public forums. For instance, the papers give detailed information on how to build nuclear firing circuits and triggering explosives, as well as the radioactive cores of atom bombs.

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq had abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.

Ray E. Kidder, a senior nuclear physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, an arms design center, said “some things in these documents would be helpful” to nations aspiring to develop nuclear weapons and should have remained secret.

A senior American intelligence official who deals routinely with atomic issues said the documents showed “where the Iraqis failed and how to get around the failures.” The documents, he added, could perhaps help Iran or other nations making a serious effort to develop nuclear arms, but probably not terrorists or poorly equipped states. The official, who requested anonymity because of his agency’s rules against public comment, called the papers “a road map that helps you get from point A to point B, but only if you already have a car.”

Some of the first posted documents dealt with Iraq’s program to make germ weapons, followed by a wave of papers on chemical arms.

Let’s review:

• Iraq had graphic, detailed documents so specific in nature that it could help nations like Iran or N. Korea in developing a nuke.
• “Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.”
• Iraqi “failures” in developing a nuke also outlined how to get around such failures and successfully make a nuclear weapon.
• Iraqi documents could show Iran and other countries how to develop and use nuclear weaponry
• Iraq was proficient in chemical and germ weaponry.

Here’s the analysis: Essentially, pre-2003 Iraq had more developed nuclear know-how than Iran and North Korea. This sustains the international belief that Saddam Hussein was indeed capable of and engaging in the development of a nuclear program.

Now imagine the Middle East with Saddam in power, with North Korea testing nuclear bombs, with Iran proudly on its way to do the same, and an Iraq more developed and sophisticated than those two countries. If that were not enough, “experts” say that Saddam was only a year away from potentially building a nuclear bomb. No threat to America? Are North Korea and Iran threats to America? How about to the rest of the world? Are 2 defiant nuclear countries better or worse than 3? The reason Iran and North Korea have posed a threat over recent years was not because of an executed nuclear test (although N. Korea has now done so), but because of the POTENTIAL. Clearly Iraq had that same potential and seemed to be the leader fo the pack.

Pres. Bush was right, we know now more than ever, for invading Iraq, getting rid of Saddam Hussein and referring to Iran/Iraq/North Korea as the “axis of evil.”

Although the intent of the New York Times article is obvious, this will make it tricky for the Times to misinterpret the rest of the thousands of documents already translated which show Saddam was developing a nuclear program, did have contacts with the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and that he did have WMD which he hid and moved like a shell game when U.N. inspectors came to inspect. It looks like the U.S. didn’t follow faulty intelligence after all.

Jveritas at Translating the Iraq Documents has this commentary:

On the subject of nuclear program, I translated and posted a document last month dated January 2001 that shows with a shadow of doubt that Saddam was personally involved with his nuclear scientist to re-build the nuclear program. In this document it states that Saddam personally approved his Iraqi Atomic Energy Agency to re-use nuclear equipments that include something called “Degussa Furnaces” that were used in the previous and prohibited Iraq nuclear program. These furnaces can be used to melt uranium and other nuclear related activities.

The New York Times had an article in 1998 titled “An Iraqi Defector Warns of Iraq’s Nuclear Weapons Research” where the Degussa furnaces were mentioned as part of “previous” Iraq nuclear program and the controversy surrounding the sale of these furnaces and the investigations later on. The irony is that this is not only a New York Times article but also it was written by JUDITH MILLER and JAMES RISEN once of the worst accusers (liars) that the Bush administration lied about Iraq WMD. Where are you Scott Shane????

Touche’!

Cross-posted at Amy’s Blog: Bottom Line Up Front

This entry was posted on Friday, November 3rd, 2006 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Author: Amy Proctor, Iraq. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.