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Rumsfeld rejects calls for more Iraq proof By Richard Wolffe in Washington and Alexander Nicoll in London Published: September 9 2002 21:26 | Last Updated: September 9 2002 21:26 Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, rejected calls on Monday for the US to provide further evidence of Iraq's attempts to develop nuclear weapons in order to justify any strikes against Saddam Hussein's regime. Mr Rumsfeld said the US was not seeking to place the Iraqi leader on trial or to "punish somebody for doing something wrong". "That really isn't the case here," he told ABC's Good Morning America. "This is self-defence. And the United States' task is to see that we don't allow an event to happen that then one has to punish someone for." However, a study yesterday cast doubt over Iraq's ability to develop nuclear weapons. The International Institute for Strategic Studies said Iraq could have designed, tested and produced key components for a small number of nuclear weapons but it lacked the fissile mat- erial necessary to complete them. In a 78-page assessment of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capacity, the London-based think-tank said weapons-grade nuclear material, plutonium or highly enriched uranium, was the "vital missing ingredient for an Iraqi bomb". But the study warned that if Iraq managed to obtain it, the country might be able to produce a nuclear weapon "in a matter of months". The Bush administration has walked a fine line between providing limited information about Iraq's attempts to develop nuclear weapons and its insistence that such evidence is unnecessary in confronting Iraq. President George W. Bush failed to win any commitment from Canada to back intervention in Iraq during a 45-minute meeting with Jean Chrétien, Canadian prime minister, in Detroit on Monday. Mr Chrétien said he urged Mr Bush "to go and convince other countries through the United Nations" of the need to attack Iraq. Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, has said there is no evidence that Iraq represents a growing threat to the west, while President Jacques Chirac of France says he has seen no evidence that Iraq has links with the al-Qaeda terrorist network. The IISS, which drew on non-classified data as well as its own government contacts for its report, said domestic production of highly enriched uranium without detection was unlikely because of the large facilities needed and the equipment it would need to import. Acquisition of fissile material on the black market "is not a high probability but has to be seen as a real risk that could dramatically and quickly shift the balance of power". Of the three types of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear arms were "furthest from Iraq's grasp". Original Source Location: http://news.ft.com/s01/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1031119181922&p=1012571727088 |
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