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U.S. Investigators Dedicated Few Resources to Searching for Iraqi Nuclear Program, Members Say
The Iraq Survey Group, which is searching for evidence of suspected Iraqi WMD stockpiles and programs, has devoted few resources to searching for evidence of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s nuclear efforts and has found that high-strength aluminum tubes obtained by Iraq were not intended for uranium enrichment, the Washington Post reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 20). One investigator said that the search for evidence of a nuclear weapons program was “the least significant of the missions” and that more resources were allocated to the search for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons. “A lot of guys over there read more novels than they will the rest of their lives,” a recently returned investigator said, referring to the members of the nuclear search team stationed at one of Hussein’s former palaces. “You’ve got some bored people over there, big time.” the investigator said. The Post reported that only about 12 of the Iraq Survey Group’s 1,500 members had nuclear-related assignments. In addition, only three of 19 top suspect WMD-related Iraqi sites were nuclear weapons-related, according to the Post. The Iraq Survey Group has also determined that high-strength aluminum tubes obtained by Iraq were “innocuous,” according to Australian Brig. Gen. Stephen Meekin, head of the largest of six units that report to chief U.S. weapons inspector David Kay. Prior to the war, the Bush administration had cited the tubes as one of the strongest pieces of intelligence that Iraq was seeking a uranium enrichment capability to rebuild its nuclear weapons program, the Post reported. “They were rockets,” Meekin said. “The tubes were used for rockets,” he said. A U.S. official, however, said Meekin was not qualified to make such a judgment. Unit members have also said that little effort has been made to collect the 20,000 tubes Iraq was estimated to have obtained, according to the Post. “If you told me they had access to these tubes and have chosen not to seize and destroy them, it undermines the judgment that these tubes are usable for, if not intended for, centrifuge development,” said Robert Gallucci, dean of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, Oct. 26).
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