U.S. AMBASSADOR Madeleine K. Albright, who recently completed a tour of six foreign capitals, is making headway in her quest to persuade foreign leaders to keep international sanctions on Iraq.
By reminding these leaders of the deceit and duplicity of Saddam Hussein, Albright hopes to head off a move by French and Russian officials to have the U.N. Security Council lift the sanctions.For months after the Persian Gulf War, Iraq kept U.N. inspectors at bay, while denying that a nuclear weapons building effort was under way. But the inspection teams began peeling away the layers of deception.
The first major clue came from some Western hostages held by Saddam at a strategic location before Desert Storm. They returned home with radioactive particles in their coats, suggesting there was a uranium enrichment facility at the hostage site.
The second clue came in the spring of 1991, when a key Iraqi engineer defected. He revealed details of a massive uranium enrichment program using electro-magnetic isotope separation (EMIS).
The third clue came when the U.N. inspection team was taken to the Al Hamath workshop. They saw a crane labeled, "Iraqi Atomic Energy Commission." Another clue was the presence of a large electrical power grid needed for nuclear-related plants.
The fourth big break came in June 1991, when the team arrived at the Abu Gharaib military barracks. The military refused to let them in, but the team could see large crates and equipment that seemed to be related to the defector's account of a huge program to produce bomb-grade uranium.
Armed with intelligence showing that all of the equipment had been moved to a site called Fallujah, American inspector David Kay devised a plan for the team to bluff its way into getting what it needed.
The military commander wouldn't let them in, but he did allow two of the (five) team members to climb a water tower next to the base. The two men spotted a convoy of more than 100 suspect trucks.
One of the water tower men hopped into a Jeep and made a 30-kilometer end run, guessing where the convoy was going. The team soon had photographic proof of the massive EMIS uranium enrichment program.
"The events at Fajullah totally shocked the Iraqis," Davis told us. "Coupled with the subsequent threats made by both the United States and the U.N. Security Council after we were withdrawn from the country . . . they divulged much more than we expected about their EMIS enrichment program - and perhaps much more than they needed to."