Iraq admits radiation bomb project in letter to UN
Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Saturday, May 12, 2001
NICOSIA — Iraq has acknowledged an attempt to develop a
radiation bomb for use against Iran.
The Iraqi admission came in a letter to United Nations secretary-general
Kofi Annan on Monday. The letter said Baghdad dropped the idea because
the radiation bomb was not deemed as feasible.
The letter to Annan from Iraq's envoy to the UN, Mohammed Douri, said
the regime of President Saddam Hussein examined the proposal in 1987, a year
before Iran announced a ceasefire. The bomb was meant for use against
Teheran.
"[An] Iraqi expert introduced the idea of making a defensive radiation
bomb," the letter said. "Specialists studied the technical and practical
aspects of the idea and then decided it was not useful. It was found out
that the bomb would contaminate soil and plants. The idea died and the bomb
was not manufactured."
Last month, U.S. officials confirmed that Iraq was suspected of
conducting a radiation bomb test in 1987. Such a bomb is meant to spread
deadly radiation without the blast of nuclear weapons.
Iraq has denied that it conducted a radiation bomb test. The letter,
quoted by the official Iraqi News Agency, said Baghdad informed the
Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency of the radiation bomb
project. It did not elaborate.
The UN said on Wednesday that its sanctions committee has suspended 71
contracts with Iraq in the communications sector worth $208 million. The
United States
has blocked many of these contracts out of concern that they are being used
to improve military communications and anti-aircraft systems.
In a related development, the U.S. Defense Department is examining a
recommendation by two senior U.S. military commanders to reduce patrols by
U.S. and British jets over northern and southern Iraq. U.S. Central Command
chief, Gen. Tommy Franks, and Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston warned that Iraq
was improving its capability of shooting down Western planes.
Saturday, May 12, 2001
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