EFL
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, offering a rare insider’s assessment. 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.
If only we had followed Kerry’s courageous position in 91, he could have had even more foreign leaders supporting him today. |