According to a CIA report, Iran, North Korea, and Syria have been actively attempting to amass a nuclear weapons program.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran “vigorously” pursued programs to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and sought help from Russia, China, North Korea and Europe, a CIA report said on Friday.
delta.com: Click Here“The United States remains convinced that Tehran has been pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program,” according to a semi-annual unclassified report to Congress on the acquisition of technology relating to weapons of mass destruction.
“Iran sought technology that can support fissile material production for a nuclear weapons program,” said the report, covering the period Jan. 1 to June 30.
Satellite imagery showed Iran was burying a uranium centrifuge enrichment facility at Natanz, a town about 100 miles south of Tehran, probably to hide it in case of military attack, the CIA report said.
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The report also briefly discussed North Korea’s nuclear ambitions. In late February, Pyongyang restarted its five-megawatt nuclear reactor, which could produce spent fuel rods containing plutonium.
In April, North Korea told U.S. officials that it had nuclear weapons and signaled its intent to reprocess the spent fuel for more. “We continued to monitor and assess North Korea’s nuclear weapons efforts,” the CIA said.
Syria has a nuclear research center at Dayr Al Hajar and broader access to foreign expertise provides opportunities to expand capabilities, “and we are looking at Syrian nuclear intentions with growing concern,” the report said.
The threat of terrorists using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials “remained high” during the first half of 2003, the CIA report said. But terror groups would probably continue to favor conventional tactics like bombings and shootings, it said.
Documents and equipment recovered from al Qaeda facilities in Afghanistan showed that Osama bin Laden had “a more sophisticated unconventional weapons research program than was previously known,” the report said.
Al Qaeda also had ambitions to acquire or develop nuclear weapons, it said. Also it was possible that al Qaeda or “other terrorist groups” might try to launch conventional attacks against the chemical or nuclear industrial infrastructure of the United States to cause panic and economic disruption.
It is crystal clear to me that the price of sitting idly by while the enemies of The United States gain weapons of mass destruction is a disastrous policy for our security. We need to immediately show these enemies that it is not to their benefit to threaten the U.S. with weapons of mass destruction. This is not done by ignoring them, this is not done by cowering to their terror and their threats and negotiating with them, but rather it is shown by using force against them and eliminating the threat completely. In that respect, I support President Bush’s campaign to remove the Iraqi dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, on the grounds that we should be eliminating ANY dictatorship or enemy of The United States that is pursuing a weapons of mass destruction program to use against us. However, I do not believe that Iraq was the best choice for a government to eliminate, on the grounds that countries such as Iran and North Korea pose a more serious threat to our security. And, I fully condemn his policy of negotiation with Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.
