Iraq Lacks a Nuclear Weapons Program - 2003-06-26

A spokesperson for the United Nations atomic observers states that Iraq has not had a nuclear weapons program for the past twelve years. Mark Gwozdecky, spokesperson for the International Atomic Energy Agency, said today in Vienna that the history of components of the nuclear weapons program recently discovered dates back to 1991 and confirms the agency's assessment that Iraq lacks a nuclear weapons program. This statement comes a day after a U.S. intelligence report quoted a former Iraqi nuclear scientist about Iraq's past access to a gas centrifuge. U.S. intelligence officials say this Iraqi scientist, identified as Mahdi Abidi, buried components and plans related to Iraq's nuclear weapons under a rose bush in his garden twelve years ago at the behest of Saddam Hussein's regime. Ari Fleischer, spokesperson for the White House, said the new evidence indicates that the declarations Iraq made to the United Nations about its weapons programs before the war were false and reflect the difficulties the world faces in uncovering Iraq's hidden weapons programs. He stated that President Bush hopes other Iraqis who are aware of Iraq's weapons programs will voluntarily come forward with information, inspired by this example. Gas centrifuges are used to enrich uranium and are a component of nuclear weapons. The majority of Iraq's nuclear weapons program was dismantled following United Nations inspections in the early 1990s.