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Iraq II: Bill Would Provide Safe U.S. Haven for Iraqi Scientists A bill introduced this month in the U.S. Senate would grant immigrant visas and permanent residency in the United States to some scientists, engineers and technicians who have worked in Iraqi weapons of mass destructions programs. According to the text of the bill, the proposed Iraqi Scientists Liberation Act, the legislation is designed to encourage “critical aliens” to share information on Iraq’s nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs without fear of reprisal by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (see GSN, April 5; Iraqi Scientists Liberation Act of 2002). “For nearly four years, Iraq has been able to pursue its weapons of mass destruction programs free of international inspections,” said Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.), who introduced the bill Oct. 8 with Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), in a press release. “Effective renewed inspections must rely on candid interviews with scientists who might have information about what has happened in those four years,” Biden said. “If the scientists are monitored and subjected to pressure by agents of Saddam Hussein’s murderous regime, they will never provide honest answers” (U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee release, Oct. 9). Five prominent arms control experts sent senators a letter this week calling the legislation “vital to ensuring the viability of any strengthened inspection regime.” The bill says that, in addition to strengthening weapons inspections, an exodus of skilled technicians would cripple Hussein’s weapons programs (see GSN, Nov. 8, 2001). “The emigration from Iraq of key scientists, engineers, and technicians could substantially disable Saddam Hussein’s programs to produce weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them,” it says. To qualify, a defector must be “a scientist, engineer, or technician who has worked at any time since Dec. 16, 1998, in an Iraqi program to produce weapons of mass destruction or the means to deliver them,” the bill says. An applicant must also have “critical reliable information” about Iraq’s programs and be willing to share it. The legislation would also apply to immediate families of eligible asylum seekers. The offer would end 36 months after the bill is enacted and would be limited to 500 asylum-seekers, not counting family members. The bill was referred to the Judiciary Committee before the current recess (Iraqi Scientists Liberation Act).
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