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Iraq: Powell Presents U.S. Evidence of Nuclear Efforts to U.N. Security Council By Mike Nartker Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “is determined to get his hands on a nuclear bomb,” Powell said. The United States has obtained intelligence information from a number of sources outlining Iraq’s attempts to acquire magnets and high-speed balancing machines — both of which can be used in a centrifuge uranium enrichment program, Powell said. For example, in 1999 and 2000 Iraq negotiated with several companies throughout the world to purchase a magnet production plant capable of producing magnets weighing between 20 to 30 grams — the same size of magnet Iraq used in its uranium enrichment program before the 1991 Gulf War, he said. Hussein has also devoted more attention to Iraqi nuclear scientists, or as Hussein calls them, his “nuclear mujahedeen,” Powell said. “He regularly exhorts them and praises their progress. Progress toward what end?” Powell asked. In his presentation, Powell described to the council Iraq’s attempts to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes, which can also be used in a gas centrifuge uranium enrichment program. Iraq has said the tubes were used to build conventional rockets; a charge that Powell criticized, noting that the specifications for the tubes had become more refined with each effort to acquire the tubes. For example, the latest shipment included tubes with an anodized coating on extremely smooth inner and outer surfaces. “I am no expert on centrifuge tubes, but just as an old Army trooper, I can tell you a couple of things: First, it strikes me as quite odd that these tubes are manufactured to a tolerance that far exceeds U.S. requirements for comparable rockets,” Powell said. “Maybe Iraqis just manufacture their conventional weapons to a higher standard than we do, but I don’t think so,” he added (White House release, Feb. 5). Other experts, however, have challenged the U.S. claims that the aluminum tubes were meant for an Iraqi nuclear program, according to the Washington Post. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which oversees nuclear inspections in Iraq, reported last month that the tubes were not suitable for use in an enrichment program without significant modification (see GSN, Jan. 10). Other sources have said the tubes matched the dimensions of rockets already in Iraq’s arsenal and that Iraq ordered the same tubes during the 1980s to restock its rocket supply, the Post reported. While the tubes may not have been perfectly designed for use in a uranium enrichment program, Iraq might have ordered them anyway in an attempt to hide its intentions, said Khidhir Hamza, a former Iraqi physicist who defected in 1994. “Of course Iraq would not order cylinders with exact specifications for centrifuges, because such tubes would never have been shipped,” Hamza said. “This is a standard Iraqi ploy,” he added (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, Feb. 6). For further information, see: Powell’s presentation slides (U.S. State Department)
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