UN Watchdog Says Nuclear Equipment Vanished In Iraq

NUKEWARS

These calutrons were to be used by Iraq to enrich uranium.

United Nations (AFP) Oct 12, 2004
The UN's nuclear watchdog raised concerns on Monday about material and equipment from Saddam Hussein's regime which could be used to make a nuclear weapon, which have since vanished in Iraq.

In a letter to the Security Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was concerned about the "widespread and apparently systematic" dismantling of entire buildings that contained specialised equipment.

Satellite images show the buildings, which housed so-called "dual-use" equipment such as electron beam welders and high-precision milling machines, have disappeared, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in the letter.

Meanwhile, material such as high-strength aluminium has also vanished from open storage areas, he said.

While the watchdog agency has previously indicated that some military equipment in Iraq later turned up in scrap yards abroad, "none of the high-quality dual-use equipment or materials ... have been found," he said.

"The disappearance of such equipment and materials may be of proliferation significance," ElBaradei said.

The United States blocked the return of IAEA inspectors to Iraq after last year's invasion ousted Saddam from power. The inspectors left the country just before the war began in March 2003.

US President George W. Bush said Saddam's push for weapons of mass destruction was one reason for launching the war.

But a new report last week from chief US weapons inspector Charles Duelfer concluded that Saddam had stopped trying to build WMD after international inspections were begun following the 1991 Gulf war.

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NUKEWARS

Pakistan Test-Fires Nuclear Capable Missile

Islamabad (AFP) Oct 12, 2004
Pakistan conducted its fourth test this year of a nuclear-capable missile Tuesday, test-firing the intermediate Ghauri missile, which can hit targets deep inside rival neighbour India.

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