Trom the Telegraph, a threat that, according to the Liberal Common Wisdom, cannot possibly exist.

Syria's President Bashir al-Asad is in secret negotiations with Iran to secure a safe haven for a group of Iraqi nuclear scientists who were sent to Damascus before last year's war to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

...A group of about 12 middle-ranking Iraqi nuclear technicians and their families were transported to Syria before the collapse of Saddam's regime. The transfer was arranged under a combined operation by Saddam's now defunct Special Security Organisation and Syrian Military Security, which is headed by Arif Shawqat, the Syrian president's brother-in-law.

The Iraqis, who brought with them CDs crammed with research data on Saddam's nuclear programme, were given new identities, including Syrian citizenship papers and falsified birth, education and health certificates. Since then they have been hidden away at a secret Syrian military installation where they have been conducting research on behalf of their hosts.

...Under the terms of the deal President Asad offered the Iranians, the Iraqi scientists and their families would be transferred to Teheran together with a small amount of essential materials. The Iraqi team would then assist Iranian scientists to develop a nuclear weapon.

Swell. If only it had actually been true that Saddam had no current weapons programs, or an intent to build atomic bombs. These scientists and their blueprints and data would then not have existed, and would not now be threatening us from other nations instead of from Iraq.

Bonus points for anyone who can come up with a rational answer to the question of what the hordes of WMD scientists and technicians--some hauled in after the war, some escaping--were doing for a living when we invaded.