Iraq's Nuclear Threat Is Real

Saddam's Nuclear Threat Is All Too Real
The Case for Military Action Against Iraq
Posted Tuesday, July 16, 2002*

With Saddam Hussein paying $25,000 to every family who hires their children to blow themselves up along with innocent men, women and children, Arab Muslim "Palestinians" are

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Denice Gary Pandol

Editor's Note:
Perspicacity & Paradigms is pleased to be able to bring our readers this important article, the first in a series, by Denice Gary Pandol, a lecturer and consultant on Middle Eastern affairs who, we are delighted to announce, will be a regular contributor to our pages.

learning a powerful lesson from Iraq's dictator about murdering Jews in Israel -- it pays.

Next stop America? Noting several instances of Muslim extremists targeting Americans both here and abroad in suicide missions, terrorism specialist Dr. Ehud Sprinzak, dean of the Lauder School of Government, Policy and Diplomacy, will tell you of their strategic value.

However, the greater threat is not a strategy of homicide bombings in a war of attrition against the U.S. and Israel. According to recent statements by Dr. Khidhir Hamza, Iraq's former leading nuclear physicist, the greatest threat the West faces today is Saddam's nuclear weapons capability.

While some dismiss the risk of a Nuclear-capable Iraq as remote at best, Ms. Pandol's in-depth investigation into the issue documents convincingly that there is great cause for concern and a compelling need for U.S. action.

Ms. Pandol's writing is based on extensive, solid research as well as first-hand interviews with knowledgeable Middle-Eastern sources. Watch for her follow-up to this piece, exploring in greater detail the Iraqi weapons-of-mass-destruction threat.

Also to come shortly in Perspicacity & Paradigms: Ms. Pandol's well-argued analysis on why restraining Israel won't deter Palestinian terrorism.

At a recent meeting in Los Angeles, Hamza told me that Saddam's nuclear weapons program is being rebuilt aggressively by his atomic research teams.

According to Hamza and German intelligence, surface-to-air missiles are now deployable and the use of three nuclear weapons will be possible by 2005.

Hamza contended that it is Saddam's desire to deploy Iraqi missiles to deliver nuclear, chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction against both Israel and the U.S.

Hamza as, well as others, suggest that Saddam, in order to draw attention away from his own weapons program, is backing al-Qaida and other Arab terrorists against Indians in Kashmir.

While Saddam's commitment to pouring all his resources into building a massive nuclear weapons arsenal is real, where do the funds come from?

Reportedly, the Saudis do a superb job of selling Iraqi oil as the international community, most notably the U.S., continues to turn a blind eye to this illegal smuggling. According to British diplomats, the Iraqi regime receives an estimated $1 billion annually from oil exports to Syria alone.

The chief economist at the Centre for Global Energy Study in London estimates that the Syrian pipeline alone moves at least 150,000 barrels daily, while U.S. intelligence puts the figure closer to 200,000 barrels a day. Government sanctioned cargo shipments, oil tankers and huge illegal profits make their way into Jordan, Turkey and Baghdad, according to recent articles in the London-based Arabic Al-Hayat newspaper.

In short, previous efforts by the elder Bush in conducting weapons inspections to dismantle weapons of mass destruction in the aftermath of the Gulf War have been reversed.

What hope remains? A military confrontation in order to eliminate one of the most destructive Islamic terror threats to the West -- the military dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.

This will help eliminate the threat to both the U.S. and Israel of these weapons of mass destruction if it is coupled with the establishment of democratic institutional processes in Iraq.

But according to Hamza, the Saudis informed President Bush during recent negotiations on Iraq that he needs to "drop the democracy nonsense."

* This article originally appeared in the
June 15, 2002 issue of The Bakersfield Californian.