Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has stepped up his efforts to obtain nuclear materials and would have a nuclear bomb by now if it were not for the sanctions imposed by the West, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, said Tuesday.
Writing in The Times Straw, expressing even higher the rhetoric against Iraq prior to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s scheduled discussions with US President Bush next month, claims that if Saddam Hussein refuses to open his weapons program to international inspection, “he will have to live with the consequences”.
In clear regard to the findings of Western Intelligence, Straw said that evidence is building that the threat from Iraq’s weapons program is once again growing, with many of the facilities damaged in 1998 by Operation Desert Fox repaired.
“There is evidence of increased efforts to procure nuclear-related material and technology and that nuclear research and development work has begun again. Without the controls which we have imposed Saddam would have had a nuclear bomb by now.”
Furthermore, he said, “We cannot allow Saddam to hold a gun to the heads of his own people, his neighbors and the world . . . let no one - especially Saddam - doubt our resolve”. (Albawaba.com)
