Rice Misleads Again on Iraq's Nuclear Program

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The New York Times revealed yesterday that top administration officials grossly mislead the public about Iraq's supposed nuclear weapons program.¹ The government's top nuclear scientists said that the aluminum tubes Iraq had acquired were "too heavy, too narrow and too long" for use in creating nuclear weapons.² They were perfectly suited, however, for use in Iraq's existing legal rockets.³ Meanwhile, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice went on CNN before the invasion of Iraq and said the tubes "are only really suited for nuclear weapons programs."⁴

In October 2003, David Kay - the administration's handpicked weapons inspector - concluded, "We have not uncovered evidence that Iraq undertook significant post-1998 steps to actually build nuclear weapons or produce fissile material."⁵ Stunningly, appearing on talk shows yesterday morning, Rice continued to insist that Iraq may have been pursuing nuclear weapons and that the aluminum tubes may have been involved in that process. On ABC's "This Week" Rice said, "As I understand it, people are still debating this."⁶ David Albright, the president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said Rice "is being disingenuous, and just departing from any effort to find the truth."⁷

Sources:

1. "How the White House Embraced Disputed Arms Intelligence," New York Times, 10/03/04.


2. Ibid.


3. Ibid.


4. "Ritter Meets With Iraqi Leaders," CNN, 9/08/04.


5. "Statement by David Kay ," CIA, 10/02/03.


6. "Rice: Iraqi nuclear plans unclear," MSNBC, 10/03/04.


7. Ibid.