Those statements are true. It would take very little time to develop a working nuclear weapon IF one were simply given a supply of the proper fissionable materials.

The possibility of an entity with reasonable engineering resources simply acquiring such materials on the black market, rather than having to build massive facilities to refine them, has always been a major concern in the terrorism arena.

As mentioned in Bush's comments, it is a near-certainty that had the first Gulf War never been fought, that Saddam would have had nuclear weapons several years ago. This was the assessment of the U.N. officials that discovered and dismantled that program after the Gulf War--a program they had known little or nothing about prior to the war.

This program, successfully hidden from the outside world until after the Gulf War, was another data point in the decision to go to war this time.