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Iraq Could Assemble Nukes
Monday, September 9, 2002
The Associated Press

“I think it would take a little bit of time once he had got his fissile material and put together the physics package, so to speak, to be able to arm a warhead on a ballistic missile,” Chipman said. “So until that time, he would have to deliver them from a plane or through some other terrorist (route).”

LONDON -- AP
Iraq could assemble a nuclear weapon within months if it obtained radioactive material, and developing weapons of mass destruction remains one of its top priorities, a leading think tank warned Monday.

The report by the respected International Institute for Strategic Studies said Iraq retains substantial chemical and biological weapons and the capability to quickly produce more. It said the regime has hidden away around a dozen medium-range missiles but that much is unknown about its weapon programs.

“War, sanctions and inspections have reversed and retarded but not eliminated Iraq’s nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and long-range missile capabilities,” said the report.

Evidence indicates that Iraq is trying to gain nuclear weapons, the report said. Its efforts to develop weapons-grade nuclear material on its own are still far from succeeding, and it probably isn’t able to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. But it may have other options, the report’s authors said.
(More: The Israel Daily News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

“Certainly we believe he has retained a small force of 400-mile-range ballistic missiles. Those could hit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Israel, Iran, Turkey,” said the institute’s director John Chipman.

Anyone care to speculate -- wildly, I know -- just which U.S. asset might be a “most likely target”?

Dan