IraqGate: Scientists Still Deny Iraqi Arms Programs

US Scientist with SAIC-ties wants to "help out" today

Scientists Still Deny Iraqi Arms Programs

U.S. Interrogations Net No Evidence

By Walter Pincus and Kevin Sullivan
WP -Thursday, July 31, 2003; Page A01

Photo: David Kay (ex-SAIC)

Despite vigorous efforts, the U.S. government has been unsuccessful so far in finding key senior Iraqi scientists to support its prewar claims that former president Saddam Hussein was pursuing an aggressive program to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, according to senior administration officials and members of Congress who have been briefed recently on the subject.

The sources said four senior scientists and more than a dozen at lower levels who worked for the Iraqi government have been interviewed by U.S. officials under the direction of the CIA. Some scientists have been arrested and held for months, others have made deals in return for information and at least one has agreed to be interviewed outside Iraq.

No matter the circumstances, all of the scientists interviewed have denied that Hussein had reconstituted his nuclear weapons program or developed and hidden chemical or biological weapons since United Nations inspectors left in 1998. Several key Iraqi officials questioned the significance of evidence cited by the Bush administration to suggest that Hussein was stepping up efforts to develop new weapons of mass destruction programs.

...David Kay, the CIA's representative in Iraq to coordinate the search for weapons of mass destruction, returned to Washington this week and met with President Bush on Tuesday. Kay is scheduled to appear today before the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Infos on David Kay:

http://www.potomacinstitute.org/who/staff_kay.cfm
Dr. David Kay, Senior Research Fellow

Currently Dr. David Kay is a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies with a concentration on counterterrorism and homeland security issues.

He was formerly a Corporate Senior Vice President at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). He was a leader in SAIC's efforts to support the U.S. Government's counter-terrorism initiatives and efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

He served as the UN's Chief Nuclear Weapons Inspector, leading numerous inspections into Iraq following the end of the Gulf War to determine Iraqi nuclear weapons production capability. He led teams that found and identified the scope and extent of Iraqi uranium enrichment activities, located the major Iraqi center for assembly of nuclear weapons, and seized large amounts of documents on the Iraqi nuclear weapons program, spending four days as a Saddam hostage in a Baghdad parking lot. He also led the analysis of the nature of the Iraqi nuclear program and its implications for non-proliferation and arms control activities.

Dr. Kay has frequently testified before Congress, and his articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Quarterly and The New Republic, and a number of scholarly journals. He also has appeared on Nightline, McNeal-Lehrer, Today, Good Morning America, CNN and the evening news programs of PBS, ABC, CBS and NBC and has been a frequent BBC commentator on nuclear and defense matters.

He has had fifteen years of international management experience with international organizations and trade associations, including the International Atomic Energy Agency and as Secretary General of the Uranium Institute, in London, United Kingdom, which is the international industrial association for energy from nuclear fuel, comprising 82 companies from 21 countries. Dr. Kay has extensive business experience in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

He has served on a number of official U.S. government delegations and government and private advisory commissions, including the Defense Science Board, U.S. State Department's Advisory Commission on International Organizations, the Rockefeller Foundation's Advisory Group on Conflicts in International Relations, and the U.S. Delegation to the UN General Assembly.

Dr. Kay holds a BA degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master's in International Affairs and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. He is the recipient of the IAEA's Distinguished Service Award and the U.S. Secretary of State's Commendation.

SAIC

"It would help the enemy if they knew our sources"(President Bush)

SAIC is the nation's largest employee-owned research and engineering company, providing information technology, systems integration and eBusiness products and services to commercial and government customers. SAIC is not only working as a private military contractor for the Pentagon, but also for the CIA. SAIC supports the navy and air defenses of Saudi Arabia (C4 systems for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces program).

SAIC and its subsidiaries, including Telcordia Technologies, have more than 41,000 employees at offices in more than 150 cities worldwide.

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