Iraq admits it had radiation bomb plan

From Ronni Berke
CNN United Nations Correspondent

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Iraq has told the United Nations it had considered building a radiation bomb in 1987, but shelved the idea after determining it was not feasible.

No such weapon was ever manufactured or tested, Iraqi Ambassador Mohammad al-Douri said in a letter, released Friday, to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

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In 1987, when Iraq was at war with Iran, "an Iraqi technician conceived the idea of making a defensive radiological bomb," al-Douri said. "Iraqi specialists explored the technical and practical aspects of this idea, and they ascertained that it was not feasible."

Al-Douri claimed that in 1995 Iraq had provided the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with complete files on all nuclear issues, including the 1987 proposal for a defensive radiological bomb.

Those explanations satisfied the IAEA that Iraq had no nuclear weapons or weapons-useable nuclear material, al-Douri said.

In the letter, al-Douri criticized The New York Times for publishing a report in April that said Iraq had tested a radiological bomb. He accused the Bush Administration of using the "false report" from the Times, which he called "the mouthpiece of world Zionism," as a pretext for retaining the economic embargo against Iraq.

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Iraqi Presidency
Iraqi National Congress
U.N. Office of the Iraq Programme
U.S. Department of Defense

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