Iraqi: Saddam 3 Years From Nukes in '91

Tuesday, March 9, 2004
(9:49 AM ET)
By Bassem Mroue

Associated Press Writer

Scientists, engineers and technicians involved in the program dispersed after the 1991 Gulf War and the program was dismantled on Saddam's orders. Al-Noaimi and Jafar said Iraq never revived its nuclear weapons program.

Noman Saad Eddin al-Noaimi, a former director-general of Iraq's nuclear program, speaks in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday March 8, 2004. Al-Noaimi said Tuesday March 9, 2004, that Iraq was three years away from producing a nuclear bomb before the 1991 Gulf War.

Image Credit: Hassan Ammar -- AP

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- AP
Iraq was three years away from producing a nuclear bomb before the 1991 Gulf War, the No. 2 Iraqi scientist on the secret atomic program said Tuesday.

Noman Saad Eddin al-Noaimi, a former director-general of Iraq's nuclear program, told The Associated Press the Iraqis were able to produce less than 2.2 pounds of highly enriched uranium before the program was halted. It is estimated that a bomb would require at least 22 pounds.

``Producing the appropriate amount would have required at least two more years, under normal circumstances,'' he said. ``Putting that substance into a weapon could have taken an additional year,'' he said on the sidelines of a Beirut meeting on the repercussions of the Iraq invasion.

Al-Noaimi, who retired in the late '90s, cautioned that other scientists may have different estimates on how close Saddam Hussein was to having a nuclear bomb.

``This is my personal estimation. Others could be more optimistic or more pessimistic, but my personal assessment is that we were two to three years away from that, if everything went according to the required level and speed,'' he said.

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Dan