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Iraqi Nukes

September 9, 1998

From NPR interview

NPR’s Dan Charles reports how Iraq acquired some of its nuclear know-how and hardware before the Gulf War. His source is Khidhir Hamza (ISIS consultant 1997-1999), an MIT-trained scientist who ran Iraq’s quest for a bomb until he defected to the United States. Hamza says Iraq easily acquired much of the needed hardware from Western corporations. But he says the key to Iraq’s bomb project was, and continues to be, Iraq’s experts, many of whom were trained abroad. Hamza also credits an international cadre of “technological mercenaries” who sell their expertise. (9:00)